Jesse Shapiro
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bjesseshapiro.bsky.social
Jesse Shapiro
@bjesseshapiro.bsky.social

Macrobe qui aime les microbes

http://www.shapirolab.ca/

Jesse M. Shapiro is an American economist who has served as the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard University since 2022. He was previously the George S. and Nancy B. Parker Professor of Economics at Brown University from 2015 to 2019, and the Eastman Professor of Political Economy at Brown from 2019 to 2021. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021. .. more

Economics 40%
Political science 16%
Pinned
One of my favourite serendipitous results from the lab came about because we were long-read sequencing bacterial:

Vibrio cholerae, which is "supposed to" have TWO circular chromosomes (3 + 1 million base pairs) often has just ONE fused chromosome (4 Mbp).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

(1/n)
Prevalent chromosome fusion in Vibrio cholerae O1 - Nature Communications
The pathogenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae typically has two circular chromosomes. Here, Cuénod et al. analyse 467 clinical isolates and identify several independent chromosome fusion events that are li...
www.nature.com

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

As expected, Canada has lost its measles-free status because of the long-running outbreak there. With it goes the #measles elimination status of the entire zone of the Americas, the only division of the #WHO to ever have achieved measles elimination. www.statnews.com/2025/11/10/m...
Canada loses measles elimination status — as does the entire Americas region
Canada has formally lost its measles elimination status, the country’s public health agency announced, triggering the loss of that status throughout all of the Americas.
www.statnews.com

If you’re at @astmh.bsky.social #ASTMH2025 check out our session today on Enteric Pathogen Genomics & Evolution (room 717, 16:30) featuring @ksbakes.bsky.social on Shigella, plus 2 other great talks on V. cholerae phages, and Salmonella!

Absolutely!

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

The Quebec government kneecapped one of Canada's great universities, now Carney stepping in to finish the job.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Concordia announces cost-saving measures due to foreign student drop | CBC News
Concordia University says it's deferring sabbaticals and won't be renewing some teaching contracts in response to federal and provincial immigration policies.
www.cbc.ca

Great view of the first snow of the season on the train from Montreal to Toronto for @astmh.bsky.social #ASTMH2025. Maybe in my lifetime this trip will take 3 hours instead of 5…

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

In almost suspiciously perfect timing of the #ASTMH #TropMed25 starting; hot off the press Allan Zuza's first author paper taking a deep dive into genome dynamics of #Klebsiella long-term lingering lineages, congratulations Allan! 🎉
#MicroSky #IDSky 💻🧬
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Temporal genome dynamics of ST39 Klebsiella pneumoniae in a neonatal unit in Blantyre, Malawi
Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kpn) is an important cause of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). In low and middle-income countries, HAI due to Kpn disproportionally affects neonates. In this ...
www.medrxiv.org

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

C’est comme si, une fois que tu es suffisamment riche, on te dit: «Félicitations! Vous avez gagné au capitalisme. En échange, on vous donne des cadeaux fiscaux. Vous n’avez plus besoin de payer d’impôts sur 50 % de votre revenu.» C’est complètement ridicule
www.lapresse.ca/contexte/202...
Un café avec… Claire Trottier | L’ultrariche la plus atypique du Québec
Membre du 1 % des plus riches au Québec, Claire Trottier milite pour payer plus d’impôt parce qu’on assiste, déplore-t-elle, à une « accumulation de richesse et de pouvoir absolument hors contrôle ». ...
www.lapresse.ca
Delighted that our review on resistance to last-resort antibiotics in Enterococci has been published in FEMS Microbiology Reviews

academic.oup.com/femsre/advan... (accepted manuscript version)

TL;DR: the Enterococci are really good at evolving resistance to antibiotics in new and creative ways.
Resistance to last-resort antibiotics in enterococci
Abstract. The genus Enterococcus comprises a diverse group of species, many of which are commensal members of the gut microbiota of humans and animals. The
academic.oup.com
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

A massive JAMA Internal Medicine study of 1.8M Americans found last season’s COVID booster still packs a punch—especially against severe illness and death.

The data are clear:

📉 Infection risk ↓ 45% at 4 weeks, 36% at 10 weeks,

#BlueSky #MedSky #SciSky #IDSky #NurseSky #EMSky
Opinion | How long does covid booster protection last? A new study offers answers.
More evidence highlighting the benefit, and limitations, of covid-19 vaccines
shorturl.at

I don't know, it just appeared. Doing due diligence by reporting this information in this public forum, for the record.

Coming right up! (For real though, if you order the flow cells, we can probably do it...)

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

Can we leverage bacterial competition for targeted replacement of harmful strains? Maybe! Our recent piece in @natmicrobiol.nature.com provides a theoretical framework and a set of experiments to show what it might take: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Strain displacement in microbiomes via ecological competition - Nature Microbiology
Mathematical modelling and experimental tests reveal principles that govern displacement of a resident strain by an invader in microbial communities.
www.nature.com

We heard the Kassen lab’s sequencer was being badly neglected so we have adopted it.

It’s being fed a healthy diet of high molecular weight DNA.

Will return it when your computer is fixed @reeskassen.bsky.social ;)

Reposted by Alan McNally

Shout out to people routinely working in their 2nd or 3rd language.

Yesterday I gave a 1-hour research seminar in French. Afterwards, my brain was pretty much done for the day.

Respect to the loads of scientists who do this daily (and usually a lot more effectively than me!)

That's the first name. Last name: Cholerson.
It's irritating that they describe the effects of his racism as limited to causing controversy within science and reputational consequences for himself rather than giving an immeasurable boost, false veneer of legitimacy, and idiot-friendly prestige to modern scientific racism and eugenics.

Yep
The mobilization of the research community by Gaynor Watson-Creed and others has been successful, and Parliament has withdrawn its abusive data request. Via @widowweb.bsky.social on www.linkedin.com/posts/maydia...

Merci pour l’invitation! C’était vraiment le fun. A la prochaine!

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

If you're interested in using pangenome graphs for comparative genomics, check out my webinar, part of EMBL-EBI's "Concepts, methods, and resources in pangenomics" series, available on-demand: www.ebi.ac.uk/training/eve...
Pangenome graphs as a new paradigm in comparative genomics -
Pangenome graphs as a new paradigm in comparative genomics -
www.ebi.ac.uk

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

Love the idea of the "deletion test" posed by @needhibhalla.bsky.social & coauthors in their commentary about costs of cutting DEI efforts in science.

What if that student were "deleted?" What will the costs be?

Screenshots attached to enhance access. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
If you're looking for a faculty position at the intersection of ecology and computing (both broadly defined), please apply to this joint search between the CEE Department and the College of Computing at MIT: cee.mit.edu/people/share...
Faculty Position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Schwarzman College of Computing - cee.mit.edu
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), together with the Schwarzman College of Computing (SCC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge MA, seeks candidate...
cee.mit.edu

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
To Finish the Pandemic Agreement, WHO Needs a Trustworthy Viral Database | Think Global Health
Online platforms for sharing virus sequences are in disarray. The World Health Organization has a chance to build something new
www.thinkglobalhealth.org

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

🧬 🦠 🏙️
Urban vs rural lifestyles create dramatically different gut microbiomes. But how do these different gut microbiomes affect the host?

Excited to share our new paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

Are you looking for a #tenuretrack or #openrank job in #biostatistics or #statistics? @fredhutch.org is hiring! Seattle is a wonderful place to grow your career; the bio/stat & science scene here is world-class; and you will work w/ amazing UW Biostat students. Apply!
apply.interfolio.com/176402
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

Continuons d'avancer! 🚲

Le REV Saint-Denis, une piste cyclable qui atteint des sommets www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/chr...

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

Il n'y a aucune raison valable pour faire un "audit" des pistes cyclables à Montréal. Une fois construites, elles sont utilisées et c'est parce qu'elles sont sécuritaires! Est-ce qu'on va faire un audit des voies automobiles, pour savoir lesquelles sont dangereuses?

www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/chr...
Un graphique qui dit tout | Le REV Saint-Denis, une piste cyclable qui atteint des sommets
Le vélo a été un sujet polarisant dans la dernière campagne municipale à Montréal. Pourtant, les pistes cyclables montréalaises n’ont jamais été aussi utilisées.
www.lapresse.ca

Reposted by Jesse M. Shapiro

We should be paying more attention to this situation. An online letter has been put together and is being circulated to stop this data from being disclosed. Please sign the online letter here, if you are comfortable: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
How much are MPs entitled to know about research grants? Not as much as they think. A parliamentary committee is asking for researchers' personal information in what seems like an anti-DEI crusade, by @picardonhealth.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... via @theglobeandmail.com
Opinion: How much are MPs entitled to know about research grants? Not as much as they think
A parliamentary committee is asking for academics’ private information on a strange anti-DEI crusade
www.theglobeandmail.com