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msumgi.bsky.social
MSU MGI
@msumgi.bsky.social
96 followers 14 following 140 posts
The official Bluesky account of the Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology of Michigan State University.
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msumgi.bsky.social
The Long-Term Evolution Experiment has returned home. Led by Professors Richard Lenski (@relenski.bsky.social) and Jeffrey Barrick, this groundbreaking work continues to reveal how bacteria evolve in real time. 12 flasks. 1 legacy.

🔗https://tinyurl.com/f6vjyjvr
Rich Lenski adds information to the Long-Term Evolution Experiment lab notebook after restarting the experiment at MSU. Jeff Barrick and Devin Lake stand behind him.
November 10, 2025 at 3:25 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Next up in our Micro Biography series is Abdul Osman, an MGI graduate student working in the Giri Lab at Henry Ford Health.

Read more about his research and goals here: tinyurl.com/26r28dkn
Abdul Osman smiles at the camera. The image also has a green banner with an arrow pointing to a QR code and words that say "Read more" as well as a quote from his micro biography that reads "I'm investigating neuroinflammatory processes in neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on how gut-derived metabolites and interactions between the immune and central nervous system reshape cellular metabolism and drive multiple sclerosis progression. Abdul Osman, MGI graduate student."
November 6, 2025 at 4:42 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Congratulations to MGI's newest Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Beth Ottosen!
Green and white flyer with a picture of Dr. Beth Ottosen on it. The flyer is congratulating Dr. Ottosen for successfully defending her doctoral dissertation today.
November 5, 2025 at 9:25 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Joshua Obar of Dartmouth College gave today's MGI Research Seminar. The topic was "Trans-Kingdom Interactions: Regulation of Anti-Fungal Immunity & Disease." Thank you for a terrific talk!
Joshua Obar of Dartmouth College presents the MGI Research Seminar.
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Today's Work in Progress Seminars were given by Heather Murdoch of the Abramovitch Lab and Imani Pascoe of the Bonito and Lebeis Labs.

Join us at noon each Monday in 1425 BPS to hear our doctoral students present their research!
Heather Murdoch answers a question during her WiPS talk. Imani Pascoe presents her WiPS talk.
November 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Congratulations to MGI's newest graduate & Jedi Knight, Jasper Gomez! He successfully defended his dissertation and was knighted by his advisor, Chris Waters, at his seminar today.
A green and white flyer saying "Congratulations Dr. Jasper Gomez. Dr. Gomez successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled, "Genetic bet-hedging: A phage strategy to overcome host defenses." The flyer has the logo from the MSU Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology on it. MGI Professor Chris Waters and newly minted PhD graduate Jasper Gomez stand in their Halloween costumes at Dr. Gomez's defense.
October 31, 2025 at 8:24 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
MGI graduate student Anuli Khairatkar recently wrote an article entitled "Cancer and the immune system: A Molecular Battleground." The piece was written for a site called Club SciWri that is dedicated to communicating scientific topics simply.

sciwri.club/archives/14387
Cancer And The Immune System: A Molecular Battleground
by Anuli Khairatkar Cancer is a universally feared condition, but what about it is so terrifying? The danger of cancer lies not just in its origins, but also in how it interacts within the body onc…
sciwri.club
October 31, 2025 at 2:11 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
In honor of our 125th anniv., MGI recently held the Whittam-Brubaker Symposium. The celebration kicked off with a welcome from MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and featured speakers David Relman of Stanford and Karla Satchell of Northwestern.

Read more:🔗https://tinyurl.com/5y8ap9ve
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz stands behind a lectern delivering welcoming remarks to the Whittam-Brubaker Symposium on Oct. 17. Behind him the symposium logo is partially visible on a large screen. A black and white image of the department in 1912. A black and white image showing the construction of Giltner Hall in 1954. A black and white portrait of Dr. Marvis Richardson, the first person in the department to earn an NSF fellowship. She is wearing fabulous cat-eye glasses and has her hair in an updo.
October 30, 2025 at 2:46 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Today, MGI Associate Professor Annette Rowe gave her Promotion Seminar: "Eating Rocks! Microbes gaining electrons from minerals, electrodes and other microbes" to a standing-room only crowd. Thank you for a fantastic talk!
Annette Rowe answers questions after her seminar. Behind her you can see the words "Microbes Rock!" on the screen.
October 28, 2025 at 7:42 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
MGI Associate Professor Rob Quinn is helping to organize the inaugural Microbes in Microbiomes conference being held this coming February in Miami, FL.

Learn more here: microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

@microbiologysociety.org
A flyer for the Microbes in Microbiomes conference shows a beautiful hotel right on the water with boats.
October 28, 2025 at 1:18 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Today's Work in Progress Seminars were given by Fatma Afify of the Hammer Lab and Kyleen Hall of the Manning Lab. Thank you for your great talks!

Join us each Monday at noon in 1425 BPS to learn about what our grad students are up to.
Fatma Afify stands by a computer delivering a talk. She is gesturing with her hand. There is a crowd of people watching her. Kyleen Hall stands by a computer delivering a talk. There is a crowd of people watching her.
October 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Two MGI faculty members, Phillip Delekta and Greg Bonito, joined MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz on the #SpartanBusTour. They met partners in healthcare, nutrition, education, and more!
The Spartan Bus Tour delegation stands in front of the bus. A body of water is visible in the background. The Mackinaw Bridge. A striking sunrise can be seen over a marshy body of water. President Guskiewicz, his wife, and three others including Phillip Delekta stand at the top of a lighthouse.
October 23, 2025 at 3:09 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
This week's Work in Progress Seminar presentations were given by Asia Hawkins of the Haus Lab and Jared Godfrey of the Olive Lab. Well done!

Join us each Monday at noon in 1425 BPS to hear MGI doctoral students present their current research.
Asia Hawkins stands at the front of a crowded lecture hall delivering a talk. Jared Godfrey stands at the front of a crowded lecture hall delivering a talk.
October 13, 2025 at 5:40 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Aathmaja Anandhi Rangarajan, a postdoc in MGI Prof. Chris Waters’ lab is lead author on a paper published in MBio, which describes new findings about how metal availability influences bacterial behavior, offering fresh insight into the persistence and spread of V. cholerae.

tinyurl.com/t2zwn7ve
Aathmaja Anandhi Rangarajan works at her bench. She is pipetting something.
October 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
This week's MGI Seminar was presented by Billy Tsai of the University of Michigan (@umich.edu). He spoke about "How a DNA and an RNA virus hijack the bidirectional secretory pathway to cause infection." Thank you, Dr. Tsai!

billytsailab.org
Billy Tsai delivers a seminar to a packed lecture hall. He is standing in front of a screen displaying a slide with pictures on it. The words "endosome, TGN/Golgi, and nucleus" are visible next to drawings.
October 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
This week's Work in Progress Seminars were presented by Maddy Quinlan of the Crosson Lab and Jie Wu of the Zhang Lab. Great work!

Join us each Monday from noon-1 pm in 1425 BPS to hear our doctoral students present their research.
Maddy Quinlan points at a screen with a laser pointer. She is talking in front of a crowd of people. Jie Wu points at a screen with a laser pointer. She is talking in front of a crowd of people.
October 7, 2025 at 12:11 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
MGI Professor Jeff Barrick was invested with his Hannah Professorship yesterday. Congratulations, Dr. Barrick!

Read more about him and his research here:
tinyurl.com/2s36k7nd
October 1, 2025 at 3:11 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
MGI Professors have some fantastic hobbies. Prof. Chris Adami will be singing at the Wharton Center this weekend!
chrisadami.bsky.social Chris Adami @chrisadami.bsky.social · Sep 30
For those of you in the area: I will be part of the MSU Choir at this Saturday's performance at the Wharton Center of Jocelyn Hagen's "The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci", which is a beautiful piece that marries orchestra, voice, and audiovisual effects. www.whartoncenter.com/events/detai...
The Planets | Wharton Center for Performing Arts
www.whartoncenter.com
October 1, 2025 at 3:06 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
We've had several fantastic seminars recently from our very MGI faculty. Two weeks ago, Prof. Chris Waters (left images) spoke, and yesterday, Assoc. Prof. Rob Quinn presented.

Thank you, both, for your terrific seminars.
MGI Prof Chris Waters stands at the front of a classroom and is gesturing as he speaks. There is a riddle on the board behind him that says "Riddle of the day: I have keys but no locks, I have space but no room, You can enter but you can't go outside. What am I?" MGI Associate Prof Rob Quinn delivers a talk to a crowded lecture hall. Behind him there is a screen that says "Our Research Areas - Lungs, guts, reefs. All mucosal associated microbial communities."
September 30, 2025 at 7:26 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Today's WiPS speakers were Emma Bush of the Zhang Lab and Roksana Riddle of the Contag Lab. Great work!

Please join us every Mon from noon - 1 pm in 1425 BPS to hear our grad students tell us about their current research.
Emma Bush stands at a computer behind a lectern and gestures while giving her talk. There is a graph on the screen behind her. Roksana Riddle holds a microphone while speaking to a crowded lecture hall.
September 29, 2025 at 7:36 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Congratulations to MGI PhD student Bassel Abdalla of the Abramovitch Lab who won the Best Oral Presentation Award at last week's Integrated Pharmacological Sciences Training Program Retreat.
Bassel Abdalla receives his Best Oral Presentation Award from Dr. Gina Leininger of the MSU Physiology Department.
September 29, 2025 at 3:26 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Congratulations to Dr. Sergio Hernandez-Ortiz, MGI's newest PhD graduate!
A celebratory poster indicating that Dr. Hernandez-Ortiz successfully defended his doctoral dissertation today.
September 26, 2025 at 7:03 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Next up in our Micro Biography series is Alex Wessel, an MGI doctoral student in Chris Waters' Lab.

Learn about him & his research right here:
tinyurl.com/4kjth4cj
This image is the micro biography template. It has a picture of Alex Wessel leaning against a brick pillar and smiling at the camera. Below him in a quote that says, "Broadly speaking, I'm a tool builder. Right now, I'm using one I've developed to screen for genes that direct the expression of phage defense mechanims. Alex Wessel, MGI doctoral student." There is also a QR code with an arrow that has the words "Read More."
September 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
MGI Asst. Prof. Phillip Delekta was recently featured on the Crowdmark Sessions podcast (Episode #5) discussing the challenges of conducting assessments in large classes.

Check it out here: crowdmark.com/crowdmark-se...
This image is a screenshot of the Crowdmark Podcast showing the host on the left, a professor laughing in the middle, and Asst. Prof. Phill Delekta speaking on the right. Everyone is laughing and in good spirits.
September 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
msumgi.bsky.social
Today's WiPS presentations were given by Bobby Zuñiga of the Mi Lab and Danielle Gregory of the Manning Lab. Great work!

Join us every Monday @ noon in 1425 BPS to hear our students present their Work in Progress Seminars.
Bobby Zuñiga stands by a computer giving a talk. There is a packed crowd in the room all looking at him. There is a screen behind him with a slide on it showing some graphs. There is text on the picture saying "Today's WIPS Presentations" as well as his name. The MGI picture is on the bottom right. Danielle Gregory stands by a computer giving a talk. There is a packed crowd in the room all looking at her. There is a screen behind herwith a slide on it showing some graphs. There is text on the picture saying "Today's WIPS Presentations" as well as her name. The MGI picture is on the bottom right.
September 22, 2025 at 7:29 PM