joy watts
joyemwatts.bsky.social
joy watts
@joyemwatts.bsky.social
Cheerleader for microbes.... using my skills in interpretative dance and environmental microbiology (ok I was lying about the dance).
Reposted by joy watts
ScienceWrite is a mentoring scheme for aspiring and early-career minoritised and marginalised UK-based STEM writers, supported by @royalsociety.org and co-founded by @hanaayoob.co.uk @romatheengineer.bsky.social.

There's just a week to go until this year's deadline >>
ScienceWrite 2026 is open for applications! 🧪

Our programme for minoritised/marginalised science writers based in the UK is running again!

Have an idea for a book, article or other writing project for a lay audience? This is for you!

Apply & find out more at sciencewrite.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Reposted by joy watts
When all your PCRs fail, except for the negative control 😱
October 30, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by joy watts
🚨 Come and work with us 🦠🧪🖥️
Postdoc position with lots of freedom available in my group

- 1.5 years with options to extend
- work on ecogenomics and physiology of N/CH4-cyclers
- remote work possible 🤓

more info here: isme-microbes.org/postdoc-ecog...

#microbesky
Postdoc in ecogenomics and physiology of nitrifiers/methane-cyclers – ISME
isme-microbes.org
October 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by joy watts
The Haunt, 1969, painting by by L.S. Lowry (The Lowry). #NorthernArt
October 31, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Reposted by joy watts
PhD opportunity: Exploring the western gut microbiome and how these transfer between family members (2nd Dec 25 deadline).
www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...
This bioinformatic-project will teach high-resolution metagenomics, population genetics, mobile DNA and about bacterial species theory. Please RT
PhD PhD Opportunity: Evolutionary and Ecological Impact of the Western Lifestyle on the Gut Microbiome (HILDEBRAND_Q26DTP) 2026/27 | UEA
PhD PhD Opportunity: Evolutionary and Ecological Impact of the Western Lifestyle on the Gut Microbiome (HILDEBRAND_Q26DTP) 2026/27 | UEA
www.uea.ac.uk
October 31, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by joy watts
When in the woods, best beware of dead man's fingers lurking there.
Reaching up above the ground, a creepy fungi to be found.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Photo: Sheringham Park by Rob Coleman
October 31, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by joy watts
We selected the laziest mouse at each round to inoculate the next batch of germfree mice: over rounds of selection and passaging, behavior shifted without changes to the mouse genome: rdcu.be/eM3rO
🦠🧫
Selection and transmission of the gut microbiome alone can shift mammalian behavior
Nature Communications - Here, the authors present evidence that the gut microbiome alone, without changes in the host genome, can shape how animals respond to selection, identifying a bacterium and...
rdcu.be
October 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by joy watts
You know those "mad", "woke" PhDs that the press go nuts over every so often? I think they sound great: www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
I never went to university but I’d love to do a mad PhD
‘I always thought students spent three years getting stoned, lying that they were into jazz — then got their parents’ mates to give them a job’
www.thetimes.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Unregulated and understudied cocktails of chemical pollutants in UK rivers, lakes and coastal environments can have harmful effects on aquatic ecosystems even when their individual components are present at ‘safe’ levels, our new report warns today: royalsociety.org/news/2025/10...
October 28, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by joy watts
We're advertising a PhD at the intersection of mathematical ecology, metallobiology, and microbiology to study the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @kateduncan.bsky.social and Denis Patterson. Come join us in lovely Durham!

iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
When nutrients turn toxic: how metals shape microbial coexistence
iapetus.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by joy watts
#microsky #mevosky @spp2389.bsky.social

A PhD position is available in my lab to work on:

Emergence and self-organisation of bacterial metabolism in consortia of cross-feeding bacteria.

Please RT

Deadline: 12.11.25

More infos 👇
shorturl.at/rAKAT
October 28, 2025 at 8:43 AM
appliedmicrobiology.org/ems-event-ca... Looking forward to MMEG 2025 in the Venice of the Midlands!
Molecular Microbial Ecology Group Meeting 2025
appliedmicrobiology.org
October 24, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Joy Division, Hulme, Manchester, late 1970s, photo by Kevin Cummins.
October 24, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Our @narjournal.bsky.social manuscript is out! It explores the growth of the GTDB (gtdb.ecogenomic.org) since its inception, as well as updates to the website, methodology, policies, and major taxonomic and nomenclatural changes over the past three years.

academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
GTDB release 10: a complete and systematic taxonomy for 715 230 bacterial and 17 245 archaeal genomes
Abstract. The Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB; https://gtdb.ecogenomic.org) provides a phylogenetically consistent and rank normalized genome-based taxonomy
academic.oup.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by joy watts
This is called HARKing

🧪Hypothesizing After Results are Known is a tactic to "fit" a narrative to data.
October 20, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by joy watts
I am hiring! - looking for a Staff Scientist to co-run my research group with me. Staff Scientist is a senior professional scientist role at EMBL. Please forward to people you might know who could be interested! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Staff Scientist
About EMBL-EBI EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute is a data powerhouse, utilised on a global scale to advance scientific discovery through bioinformatics and solutions to some of the world’s mos...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Rutgers Newark is hiring multiple new profs who work in microbial pathogenesis, structural bio, human/microbial genetics, genomics, biochemistry, or computational biophysics. I loved doing my PhD at Rutgers and I LOVE New Jersey. Reach out if you’re applying and have questions about the school/area.
Open Rank Faculty Position on the Tenure Track - Newark, New Jersey (US) job with Rutgers | 12844885
MULTIPLE TENURE-TRACK FACULTY POSITIONS AVAILABLE The Dept. of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
www.nature.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by joy watts
On National Poetry Day, the greatest poem I have ever read
October 2, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Come and work with me and @ariannebabina.bsky.social on #Streptomyces evolution and antibiotic production

Origins of a tangled bank: Adaptation and evolution in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces

www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

please repost
University of Glasgow - Postgraduate study - Centres for Doctoral Training - NorthWest Biosciences - Our Projects - Underpinning Bioscience - Paul A Hoskisson
www.gla.ac.uk
September 30, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by joy watts
🔊 Fully-funded 4yr PhD studentship with the NWB DTP, working on novel regulators of bacterial nitrogen metabolism 🦠
Primary supervisor: @ariannebabina.bsky.social (University of Glasgow)
Co-supervisors: myself (Queen’s Belfast)+ Dónal Wall (Glasgow)
🌟 please share 🌟

www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...
University of Glasgow - Postgraduate study - Centres for Doctoral Training - NorthWest Biosciences - Our Projects - Underpinning Bioscience - Arianne Babina
www.gla.ac.uk
October 1, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Professor (full) or Associate Professor (tenure track) in Microbial Genetics of Health (U. Turku Finland). Competitive starting package included! Please share.

duunitori.fi/tyopaikat/ty...
Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto - Työpaikat - Duunitori
Avoin työpaikka: Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto, Turku. Duunitorilla lisäksi yli 30 000 muuta avointa työpaikkaa. Lue lisää nyt!
duunitori.fi
September 30, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by joy watts
Horizon Europe has launched a €253M AMR partnership to accelerate innovation and move potential therapies closer to market. The first funding call, focused on treatments, will open in November following a pre-announcement in mid-October.
sciencebusiness.net/news/r-d-fun...
Horizon Europe’s new antimicrobial resistance partnership looks to the market
Horizon Europe’s partnership for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research launched last week with a plan to bring Europe closer to finding new anti-microbial therapies in the next decade. With more of ...
sciencebusiness.net
September 30, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Reposted by joy watts
In the lead-up to the Early Career Microbiologist of the Year talk prize final, taking place on 7 October 2025 during the Executive Committee meeting, we spoke to talk finalist Phoebe Crossley, from University of Glasgow, UK: microb.io/3I0PszW @phoebecrossley.bsky.social
microb.io
September 24, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by joy watts
When the Met Office shared that this summer was the hottest in UK records, the comment section was sadly all too familiar

Over on Instagram, we took the opportunity to reshare a Reel debunking a common bit of misinformation about climate change, using the superb Climate Stripes graphic.
September 24, 2025 at 1:12 PM