Kyle MacLea 🦠
@kmaclea.bsky.social
I study microbes (#Bacteria, #Phages) but love the whole #TreeOfLife @UofNH
@UNHManchester associate professor #MicrobialGenomics #ScienceEd (he/him/his)
@UNHManchester associate professor #MicrobialGenomics #ScienceEd (he/him/his)
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Dismantling the Institutional Review Board (IRB), that oversees all human subjects research, is bad. Really bad.
The entire HR department at the CDC is gone. Everyone at the IRB, which makes sure studies are conducted ethically and rigorously, and the ethics office, which oversee conflicts of interest for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Instability and confusion’ as CDC slashes 1,300 jobs before reinstating half
Trump administration says 700 notices were sent in error, while top CDC officer says ‘they didn’t think through what they were doing’
www.theguardian.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Dismantling the Institutional Review Board (IRB), that oversees all human subjects research, is bad. Really bad.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
New student loan limits could change who gets to become a professor, doctor or lawyer
New student loan limits could change who gets to become a professor, doctor or lawyer
Tighter federal borrowing limits may deepen inequities, especially for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
theconversation.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:39 AM
New student loan limits could change who gets to become a professor, doctor or lawyer
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
“Private equity billionaire Marc Rowan was revealed last week to be the driving force behind a Trump administration campaign pressuring nine major U.S. universities. Apollo Global Management, which Rowan co-founded in 1990, own[s] the for-profit University of Phoenix.”
Private equity gets its toothhold into firms through economic squeezing, devalues them, then breaks them into parts to sell off. This compact is the squeeze that will simultaneously advantage for-profit ed *and* make it easier to PE-ify non-profit ed. The ideological component is a means to an end.
an article with more context
www.republicreport.org/2025/billion...
www.republicreport.org/2025/billion...
October 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
“Private equity billionaire Marc Rowan was revealed last week to be the driving force behind a Trump administration campaign pressuring nine major U.S. universities. Apollo Global Management, which Rowan co-founded in 1990, own[s] the for-profit University of Phoenix.”
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Polysaccharide-degrading archaea dominate acidic hot springs: genomic and cultivation insights into a novel Thermoproteota lineage
Candidatus Marsarchaeota is now isolated and renamed as Tardisphaerales (phylum Thermoproteota) 🤓
@asm.org
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Candidatus Marsarchaeota is now isolated and renamed as Tardisphaerales (phylum Thermoproteota) 🤓
@asm.org
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
September 28, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Polysaccharide-degrading archaea dominate acidic hot springs: genomic and cultivation insights into a novel Thermoproteota lineage
Candidatus Marsarchaeota is now isolated and renamed as Tardisphaerales (phylum Thermoproteota) 🤓
@asm.org
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Candidatus Marsarchaeota is now isolated and renamed as Tardisphaerales (phylum Thermoproteota) 🤓
@asm.org
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
~40% of Hepatitis B infections are caught in childhood. It is contagious enough that it can be spread just from sharing common household objects.
The chance of chronic infection (ie does not clear, and is associated with high rates of liver failure and cancer) ranges from 50%-90% in this age group.
The chance of chronic infection (ie does not clear, and is associated with high rates of liver failure and cancer) ranges from 50%-90% in this age group.
There’s a rumor that Kennedy’s revised, biased ACIP will move hepatitisB age up to 4, creating real access issues to parents that want to to protect babies and setting babies up for lifelong harm.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Kennedy's vaccine panel expected to recommend delaying hepatitis B shot in children
RFK Jr.'s hand-picked panel of vaccine advisors is expected to vote to delay the hepatitis B shot for newborns. Doctors warn that could fuel a return of a disease virtually eradicated in U.S. kids.
www.npr.org
September 16, 2025 at 10:11 PM
~40% of Hepatitis B infections are caught in childhood. It is contagious enough that it can be spread just from sharing common household objects.
The chance of chronic infection (ie does not clear, and is associated with high rates of liver failure and cancer) ranges from 50%-90% in this age group.
The chance of chronic infection (ie does not clear, and is associated with high rates of liver failure and cancer) ranges from 50%-90% in this age group.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Lokiarchaea are tricky to work with in the lab: they grow very slowly, exclusively in an oxygen free environment with the presence of symbiotic bacteria. But with careful nurturing, scientists hope to witness their cell division at work.
Tiny Tubes Reveal Clues to the Evolution of Complex Life | Quanta Magazine
Scientists have identified tubulin structures in primitive Asgard archea that may have been the precursor of our own cellular skeletons.
www.quantamagazine.org
September 10, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Lokiarchaea are tricky to work with in the lab: they grow very slowly, exclusively in an oxygen free environment with the presence of symbiotic bacteria. But with careful nurturing, scientists hope to witness their cell division at work.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Preprint out for myloasm, our new nanopore / HiFi metagenome assembler!
Nanopore's getting accurate, but
1. Can this lead to better metagenome assemblies?
2. How, algorithmically, to leverage them?
with co-author Max Marin @mgmarin.bsky.social, supervised by Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social
1 / N
Nanopore's getting accurate, but
1. Can this lead to better metagenome assemblies?
2. How, algorithmically, to leverage them?
with co-author Max Marin @mgmarin.bsky.social, supervised by Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social
1 / N
High-resolution metagenome assembly for modern long reads with myloasm https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.05.674543v1
September 7, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Preprint out for myloasm, our new nanopore / HiFi metagenome assembler!
Nanopore's getting accurate, but
1. Can this lead to better metagenome assemblies?
2. How, algorithmically, to leverage them?
with co-author Max Marin @mgmarin.bsky.social, supervised by Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social
1 / N
Nanopore's getting accurate, but
1. Can this lead to better metagenome assemblies?
2. How, algorithmically, to leverage them?
with co-author Max Marin @mgmarin.bsky.social, supervised by Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social
1 / N
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Extraordinary paper. I LOVE this sentence:
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Net rate of lateral gene transfer in marine prokaryoplankton
Abstract. Lateral gene transfer is a major evolutionary process in Bacteria and Archaea. Despite its importance, lateral gene transfer quantification in na
academic.oup.com
September 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Extraordinary paper. I LOVE this sentence:
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
I gave a symposium talk at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology 2025 (#eseb2025) meeting last week and this was my title slide showcasing how I was speaking as an independent scientist because @dalhousieu.bsky.social @dalhousie.bsky.social has locked us out.
August 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I gave a symposium talk at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology 2025 (#eseb2025) meeting last week and this was my title slide showcasing how I was speaking as an independent scientist because @dalhousieu.bsky.social @dalhousie.bsky.social has locked us out.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Saddened to learn of the passing of Moselio "Elio" Schaechter—Distinguished Professor at Tufts, SDSU and UCSD—humanist and visionary leader in the fields of microbiology and scientific communication—mentor, friend, and inspiration to me and so many others
Small Things Considered
Big Things Achieved
Small Things Considered
Big Things Achieved
August 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Saddened to learn of the passing of Moselio "Elio" Schaechter—Distinguished Professor at Tufts, SDSU and UCSD—humanist and visionary leader in the fields of microbiology and scientific communication—mentor, friend, and inspiration to me and so many others
Small Things Considered
Big Things Achieved
Small Things Considered
Big Things Achieved
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
🧪 Update: NSF will *appeal* an earlier court order that blocked 15% indirect rates.
I'm mostly surprised it took this long for them to file an appeal. So the fight continues. See: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Article from June as context: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
I'm mostly surprised it took this long for them to file an appeal. So the fight continues. See: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Article from June as context: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
storage.courtlistener.com
August 14, 2025 at 7:39 PM
🧪 Update: NSF will *appeal* an earlier court order that blocked 15% indirect rates.
I'm mostly surprised it took this long for them to file an appeal. So the fight continues. See: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Article from June as context: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
I'm mostly surprised it took this long for them to file an appeal. So the fight continues. See: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Article from June as context: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Do you love alpine plants, ancient DNA, and/or population genetics? My lab will be hiring a postdoc soon to be based at the University of Maine! We’re looking for someone who uses genetic tools and thinks like a community ecologist. Happy to chat at #ESA2025 if you’re interested.
August 10, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Do you love alpine plants, ancient DNA, and/or population genetics? My lab will be hiring a postdoc soon to be based at the University of Maine! We’re looking for someone who uses genetic tools and thinks like a community ecologist. Happy to chat at #ESA2025 if you’re interested.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Latest paper elifesciences.org/articles/107... closes an important cycle in our efforts to study regeneration: week-long recordings allow us to observe the behaviour of cells during the entire course of regeneration in a crustacean leg – bright objects in movie are fluorescent nuclei of cells. 1/6
August 8, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Latest paper elifesciences.org/articles/107... closes an important cycle in our efforts to study regeneration: week-long recordings allow us to observe the behaviour of cells during the entire course of regeneration in a crustacean leg – bright objects in movie are fluorescent nuclei of cells. 1/6
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
W
T
A
F
This country is a joke. A very, very terrible joke.
T
A
F
This country is a joke. A very, very terrible joke.
JUST IN: Senate confirms Jeanine Pirro as US Atty for DC, 50-45
August 3, 2025 at 1:21 AM
W
T
A
F
This country is a joke. A very, very terrible joke.
T
A
F
This country is a joke. A very, very terrible joke.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Bacteria from a Yellowstone hot spring do something no other organism has been found to do: breathe oxygen and sulfur at the same time. 🧪 It's both aerobic and anaerobic, a beautiful freaky creature from a beautiful freaky place
The Cells That Breathe Two Ways | Quanta Magazine
In a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, a microbe does something that life shouldn’t be able to do: It breathes oxygen and sulfur at the same time.
www.quantamagazine.org
July 28, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Bacteria from a Yellowstone hot spring do something no other organism has been found to do: breathe oxygen and sulfur at the same time. 🧪 It's both aerobic and anaerobic, a beautiful freaky creature from a beautiful freaky place
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
🦠🧍♀️From bacterial to human immunity.
We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org
July 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
🦠🧍♀️From bacterial to human immunity.
We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
it's never been about antisemitism
Linda McMahon on Columbia settlement: "This is a monumental victory for conservatives who wanted to do things on these elite campuses for a long time because we had such far left-leaning professors."
July 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
it's never been about antisemitism
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Terrible Friday news dump.The wealth of expertise. The decades of scientific progress. The emerging and urgent challenges we were focused on tackling. It is all so short-sided and cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
www.nytimes.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Terrible Friday news dump.The wealth of expertise. The decades of scientific progress. The emerging and urgent challenges we were focused on tackling. It is all so short-sided and cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
M⃣I⃣S⃣S⃣I⃣N⃣G⃣ L⃣I⃣N⃣K⃣S⃣
𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 paper by Sikora et al: metagenomic data from 1,313 ancient human remains over 37,000 years
Identified >3,000 instances of known human pathogens
Zoonotic pathogens begin to appear ~6,500 years ago coinciding with the rise of livestock domestication—major epidemiological shift
𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 paper by Sikora et al: metagenomic data from 1,313 ancient human remains over 37,000 years
Identified >3,000 instances of known human pathogens
Zoonotic pathogens begin to appear ~6,500 years ago coinciding with the rise of livestock domestication—major epidemiological shift
The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia - Nature
Screening shotgun-sequencing data from ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history uncovers the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA and zoonotic pathogens coi...
www.nature.com
July 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
M⃣I⃣S⃣S⃣I⃣N⃣G⃣ L⃣I⃣N⃣K⃣S⃣
𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 paper by Sikora et al: metagenomic data from 1,313 ancient human remains over 37,000 years
Identified >3,000 instances of known human pathogens
Zoonotic pathogens begin to appear ~6,500 years ago coinciding with the rise of livestock domestication—major epidemiological shift
𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 paper by Sikora et al: metagenomic data from 1,313 ancient human remains over 37,000 years
Identified >3,000 instances of known human pathogens
Zoonotic pathogens begin to appear ~6,500 years ago coinciding with the rise of livestock domestication—major epidemiological shift
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
apart from its inherent qualities as a comic strip, I really appreciate that Watterson resisted the urge to franchise and merchandise C&H. There's no animated movie, no tv show, no line of toys, no ipad game.
it exists in its entirety as a comic strip written and drawn entirely by one man.
it exists in its entirety as a comic strip written and drawn entirely by one man.
Happy birthday to Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes! Born on July 5, 1958.
July 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
apart from its inherent qualities as a comic strip, I really appreciate that Watterson resisted the urge to franchise and merchandise C&H. There's no animated movie, no tv show, no line of toys, no ipad game.
it exists in its entirety as a comic strip written and drawn entirely by one man.
it exists in its entirety as a comic strip written and drawn entirely by one man.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Another day testing the limits of resilience.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
‘This is bull——”: National Science Foundation employees protest HUD's takeover
Dozens of National Science Foundation employees crowded the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday to protest the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, w...
www.nbcwashington.com
June 25, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Another day testing the limits of resilience.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Kennedy provides a bunch of references for his claim that thimerosal in vaccines (barely used anymore) is harmful.
If a high-school student submitted this as their reference list, they would fail.
I will do what Kennedy didn’t - actually look at them. 🧵
If a high-school student submitted this as their reference list, they would fail.
I will do what Kennedy didn’t - actually look at them. 🧵
June 25, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Kennedy provides a bunch of references for his claim that thimerosal in vaccines (barely used anymore) is harmful.
If a high-school student submitted this as their reference list, they would fail.
I will do what Kennedy didn’t - actually look at them. 🧵
If a high-school student submitted this as their reference list, they would fail.
I will do what Kennedy didn’t - actually look at them. 🧵
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
Alright fellas. Come one come all, #amateurbiology poster presentation at #asmicrobe on our first set of methylation screening results on Halococcus. Come ask about an exciting new finding I couldn't put on the poster! #archaeasky EEB 1147 🧪🧫🦠
June 21, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Alright fellas. Come one come all, #amateurbiology poster presentation at #asmicrobe on our first set of methylation screening results on Halococcus. Come ask about an exciting new finding I couldn't put on the poster! #archaeasky EEB 1147 🧪🧫🦠
Tardidoc and What the Microbe! with @markowenmartin.bsky.social and @binomicalabs.org #ASMmicrobe2025
June 19, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Tardidoc and What the Microbe! with @markowenmartin.bsky.social and @binomicalabs.org #ASMmicrobe2025
Reposted by Kyle MacLea 🦠
