Jesse McNichol
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jcmcnch.bsky.social
Jesse McNichol
@jcmcnch.bsky.social
Asst Prof in Biology dept @ StFX, NS, Canada. Microbial ecology, oceanography, bioinformatics. I enjoy gardening, fermenting things, cooking, and spending time outdoors. Cover photo credit: P. McNichol.
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Happy that our work on the evolution of Yellowstone cyanobacteria is now published in @elife.bsky.social: doi.org/10.7554/eLif...! Did a lot of work in revision—many thanks to the anonymous reviewers for great suggestions! Also see the eLife digest for a summary: elifesciences.org/digests/9084...
Hybridization breaks species barriers in long-term coevolution of a cyanobacterial population
Analysis of hundreds of single-cell genomes from Yellowstone National Park shows bacterial species are less cohesive than previously thought.
doi.org
December 31, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Today is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. On this day, we honour those killed and injured during the École Polytechnique tragedy, and all women who experience violence. It is also a day to commit to ending gender-based violence.
École Polytechnique Tragedy (Montreal Massacre)
On 6 December 1989, a man entered a mechanical engineering classroom at Montreal’s École Polytechnique armed with a semi-automatic weapon. After separating t...
buff.ly
December 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
“Every year, when I see 14 beams of light projected into the sky above Mount Royal, I have to catch my breath.

“36 years ago, 14 young women were murdered in one of the most violent examples of misogynistic terrorism Canada has ever known.”

An editorial by @mtltoula.bsky.social.

#December6
Gender-based violence is an everyday reality, and it starts with minimizing misogyny
As we highlight 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and the upcoming anniversary of the Montreal massacre, can we take a moment to reflect on all the different forms this violence takes?
cultmtl.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
This nice summary by @michiwagner4.bsky.social makes it easy to fit my post in a few characters.
Amplicon sequencing is still an affordable and quick way to get good insights into who lives in your samples. Our new primers make sure your vision is 20/20.
Try em, and contact me if you have questions!
📢 New preprint on bioRxiv!

We introduce V4-EXT, a revised 16S rRNA V4 primer set that dramatically improves detection of Patescibacteria and other undersampled lineages

✅ 938 samples
✅ More novel ASVs

Primer choice matters 👀

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

@ppjevac.bsky.social #HuifengHu
November 28, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Let me excerpt the concluding paragraph:
October 31, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Today, our article "The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly" is finally published in PNAS. I hope that it proves to be a wake-up-call for the whole scientific community.

reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...
A do-or-die moment for the scientific enterprise
Reflecting on our paper “The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly”
reeserichardson.blog
August 4, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Horrific details emerging from El Fasher, Sudan: pools of blood so large they’re visible by satellite, people being killed systematically. Last week, MSF teams assessed 165 children under 5 fleeing the area and found 75% were acutely malnourished. An accelerating genocide before our eyes.
Signs of latest massacres in Darfur are visible in satellite imagery
Analysis concludes paramilitary soldiers are conducting mass killings in house-to-house operations
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
October 20, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

― George Orwell, 1984
Mike Johnson: "Let me look right into the camera and tell you very clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about healthcare. Republicans are the party working around the clock everyday to fix healthcare. This is not talking points for us: we've done it."
October 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
I’m excited to share our effort to obtain one of the first estimates of the net rate, in physical time, of lateral gene transfer (LGT) – nature’s own genetic engineering - across a complex, global microbiome:
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
September 7, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Not just classes are cancelled. DFA members have been locked out by the admin since August 20th: we can't sign students in from waitlists, can't advise them, can't share syllabi, can't help them with scholarship applications, etc. etc.

#KeepDalStrong

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
'I just want to learn': Students in limbo as many Dalhousie classes cancelled amid strike | CBC News
Classes at Dalhousie University are supposed to start on Tuesday, but most have been cancelled due to a strike.
www.cbc.ca
September 1, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Wow. Check this out.
Politicians actually trying to solve problems can achieve a lot!
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...
Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 30, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
“Suffering is not a death sentence; it can be confronted, it can be overcome. And we can be creative in how we address the human condition.” —Ofosu Jones-Quartey
Hip-Hop as a Contemplative Practice
Jessica Angima talks with Buddhist teacher and rapper Born I about Lyrical Dharma, the limits of language, and how we all contain the seeds of our ancestors.
tricycle.org
August 28, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
I am increasingly frustrated, even angry, about the hypocrisy—tempted to say disinformation—from @dalhousie.bsky.social’s administration. How can you say “the university’s priority is working with the DFA to reach a resolution” when they have not even tried to return to the table? #KeepDalStrong
‘Challenges and uncertainty:’ Dalhousie University faculty lockout leaves students worried
The lockout of Dalhousie University faculty is inching closer to the start of the school year, and it's fuelling concerns among students.
www.ctvnews.ca
August 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Chris Algar, Assoc Prof, Oceanography @dalhousieu.bsky.social Lessons in solidarity from the picket lines. This isn’t just a fight to #KeepDalStrong; it’s a fight against employer greed. @ansut.bsky.social @caut.bsky.social
August 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Sequestration by the biological carbon pump: Do we really know what we are talking about? aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #jcampubs 🌊
August 12, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Our latest, and the second paper led by Jordan Coelho this year. Want to remove bacteria from POM for single-cell microbiology/culturing/'omics applications? We've got some data:

Detergent-based separation of microbes from marine particles www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #jcampubs 🌊
Detergent-based separation of microbes from marine particles
Marine particles, typically composed of organic detritus and cellular debris, harbor microbial communities that are distinct from the planktonic, or free-living, communities in the pelagic ocean. Howe...
www.biorxiv.org
July 16, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Out in @natbiotech.nature.com: Metagenome taxonomy profilers usually ignore unknown species. SingleM is an accurate profiler which doesn't, even detecting phyla with no MAGs. Profiles of 700,000 metagenomes at sandpiper.qut.edu.au. A 🧵
July 16, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Please Re-Post. Our global GRUMP microbial ocean database is out in Scientific Data! Unfractionated, single universal PCR, with Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes all on the same scale with the same denominator. Pole to pole, depths to 6000m. Lots of metadata. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean
www.nature.com
July 2, 2025 at 4:19 PM
So excited to announce the GRUMP paper is published! This global dataset provides relative abundances for plankton spanning Archaea to Zooplankton from unfractionated (>0.2µm) water samples using 3-domain universal primers that amplify 16S and 18S in one PCR reaction.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean
www.nature.com
July 2, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
"Institutions must support transgender and gender nonconforming and other marginalized scientists by securing their safety and privacy; their access to legal aid and health care; and their opportunities in education, employment, and society," argues a new #LetterToScience. scim.ag/4kQCMtr
Protect transgender scientists
Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGnC) people are a primary target of the Trump administration. Multiple executive orders seek to erase TGnC protections; mandate denial of gender identity; and ba...
scim.ag
June 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
A healthy diet outperforms fecal transplants in restoring and protecting the gut microbiome, according to new research from the Simons Foundation’s Joy Bergelson and collaborators: www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/05/13/t... #science
June 2, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
NSF: "Biology, engineering, and education will all be slashed by over 70 percent..."
"The fleet of research ships [UNOLS] will essentially become someone else's problem"

Contact your representatives, even in blue states, as these cuts can still be stopped!

arstechnica.com/science/2025...
US science is being wrecked, and its leadership is fighting the last war
Facing an extreme budget, the National Academies hosted an event that ignored it.
arstechnica.com
June 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Jesse McNichol
Very grateful to #MarcGarneau for his kindness and support when we fought to protect environmental laws attacked by Harper administration. We have lost a truly great Canadian.. and far too soon. #RIP
June 5, 2025 at 3:15 PM