Dave Baltrus 🦦
@surtlab.bsky.social
Professor at UArizona interested in genome rummaging, microbial evolution, and occasional tales about having backyard farm animals.
“I’m something of a scientist myself”
Baltrus(at)Arizona.edu
“I’m something of a scientist myself”
Baltrus(at)Arizona.edu
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Buffalo Drive, by William R. Leigh, 1947, 📸 by @sickoscommittee.org
December 28, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Buffalo Drive, by William R. Leigh, 1947, 📸 by @sickoscommittee.org
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
(OK, I know this is not how I'd do it from the start, but I'm not doing it from the start)
Anyone know of a pipeline that uses nanopore reads to call SNPs in a bacterial genome. Kind of like breseq but nanopore (guessing there's way to do this with minmap etc... looking for something benchmarked)
Anyone know of a pipeline that uses nanopore reads to call SNPs in a bacterial genome. Kind of like breseq but nanopore (guessing there's way to do this with minmap etc... looking for something benchmarked)
December 27, 2025 at 10:27 PM
(OK, I know this is not how I'd do it from the start, but I'm not doing it from the start)
Anyone know of a pipeline that uses nanopore reads to call SNPs in a bacterial genome. Kind of like breseq but nanopore (guessing there's way to do this with minmap etc... looking for something benchmarked)
Anyone know of a pipeline that uses nanopore reads to call SNPs in a bacterial genome. Kind of like breseq but nanopore (guessing there's way to do this with minmap etc... looking for something benchmarked)
The Custom Oregon Plate WORM was previously assigned, but is now available for reservation. https://dmv2u.oregon.gov/eServices/?link=custom #Oregon #LicensePlate #VanityPlate #OregonPlates #CustomPlate #WORM
December 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
People who want to get morally superior about how they hand-wash everything really gotta reckon with the fact that machine dish-washing uses considerably LESS water and emits considerably fewer greenhouse emissions than standard handwashing practices do.
(And you save a lot of time...)
(And you save a lot of time...)
December 27, 2025 at 5:40 PM
People who want to get morally superior about how they hand-wash everything really gotta reckon with the fact that machine dish-washing uses considerably LESS water and emits considerably fewer greenhouse emissions than standard handwashing practices do.
(And you save a lot of time...)
(And you save a lot of time...)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Happy Pop-Tarts Bowl Day to all who celebrate
December 27, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Happy Pop-Tarts Bowl Day to all who celebrate
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Welcome to another member of the antiSMASH ecosystem of tools. When @marnixmedema.bsky.social and I were putting together antiSMASH version 1.0 15 years ago, I don't think our wildest dreams would have predicted where our little tool would go.
Merry X-SMASH!
My first first author paper is out on bioRxiv! 🖥
We present epsSMASH, a comprehensive and high-throughput tool for predicting exopolysaccharide (exoPS) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacterial genomes 🦠🧬🧫
1/8
My first first author paper is out on bioRxiv! 🖥
We present epsSMASH, a comprehensive and high-throughput tool for predicting exopolysaccharide (exoPS) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacterial genomes 🦠🧬🧫
1/8
December 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Welcome to another member of the antiSMASH ecosystem of tools. When @marnixmedema.bsky.social and I were putting together antiSMASH version 1.0 15 years ago, I don't think our wildest dreams would have predicted where our little tool would go.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Merry X-SMASH!
My first first author paper is out on bioRxiv! 🖥
We present epsSMASH, a comprehensive and high-throughput tool for predicting exopolysaccharide (exoPS) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacterial genomes 🦠🧬🧫
1/8
My first first author paper is out on bioRxiv! 🖥
We present epsSMASH, a comprehensive and high-throughput tool for predicting exopolysaccharide (exoPS) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacterial genomes 🦠🧬🧫
1/8
December 24, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Merry X-SMASH!
My first first author paper is out on bioRxiv! 🖥
We present epsSMASH, a comprehensive and high-throughput tool for predicting exopolysaccharide (exoPS) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacterial genomes 🦠🧬🧫
1/8
My first first author paper is out on bioRxiv! 🖥
We present epsSMASH, a comprehensive and high-throughput tool for predicting exopolysaccharide (exoPS) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacterial genomes 🦠🧬🧫
1/8
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Leaving out PTs and butter for The Risen Strawberry on this magical Pop-Tarts Bowl Eve. (cc @sickoscommittee.org @poptartsbowl.com)
December 27, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Leaving out PTs and butter for The Risen Strawberry on this magical Pop-Tarts Bowl Eve. (cc @sickoscommittee.org @poptartsbowl.com)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
1/ Our new preprint is out on biorxiv on how antibiotics bind to bacterial 30S subunits, please repost. #ribosome #antibiotics #microsky #rnasky doi.org/10.64898/202...
How medically important antimicrobials bind to the 30S ribosomal subunit in a bacterial pathogen
Ribosomes translate the genetic code in mRNA to synthesize proteins in all living organisms. Decoding of mRNA occurs in the small subunit of the ribosome and is mediated by tRNA anticodons. Regions ne...
doi.org
December 26, 2025 at 3:27 AM
1/ Our new preprint is out on biorxiv on how antibiotics bind to bacterial 30S subunits, please repost. #ribosome #antibiotics #microsky #rnasky doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
"Asking Muslim Couples Where They're From"
I dare anyone not to find this charming. And, surprising.
I dare anyone not to find this charming. And, surprising.
December 26, 2025 at 5:27 PM
"Asking Muslim Couples Where They're From"
I dare anyone not to find this charming. And, surprising.
I dare anyone not to find this charming. And, surprising.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
And I must give credit to people smarter than me i.e. @dacrotty.bsky.social who notes that any journal will very gladly publish a negative result as long as it is exciting enough. The bias against null results is really just another form of same old bias *for* perceived significance/impact.
Scooby Doo Fred Jones GIF
ALT: Scooby Doo Fred Jones GIF
media.tenor.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
And I must give credit to people smarter than me i.e. @dacrotty.bsky.social who notes that any journal will very gladly publish a negative result as long as it is exciting enough. The bias against null results is really just another form of same old bias *for* perceived significance/impact.
Evolution is pretty incredible
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1
December 25, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Evolution is pretty incredible
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1
December 25, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”
December 25, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Joshua Tree is the most Dr Seuss place on earth (complimentary)
Am I the only one seeing the faces of the happy Whoville denizens in the tree?
December 25, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Joshua Tree is the most Dr Seuss place on earth (complimentary)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
All you want for christmas is.... transposon mutagenesis!
Our new work at @cultivarium.bsky.social screening lots of transposon vectors in lots of bacteria, from @charliegilbert.bsky.social and team.
Transposon and promoter modular parts available on Addgene (pooled library will be there soon too)
Our new work at @cultivarium.bsky.social screening lots of transposon vectors in lots of bacteria, from @charliegilbert.bsky.social and team.
Transposon and promoter modular parts available on Addgene (pooled library will be there soon too)
December 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
All you want for christmas is.... transposon mutagenesis!
Our new work at @cultivarium.bsky.social screening lots of transposon vectors in lots of bacteria, from @charliegilbert.bsky.social and team.
Transposon and promoter modular parts available on Addgene (pooled library will be there soon too)
Our new work at @cultivarium.bsky.social screening lots of transposon vectors in lots of bacteria, from @charliegilbert.bsky.social and team.
Transposon and promoter modular parts available on Addgene (pooled library will be there soon too)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
I am beyond excited to announce that the Bisson Lab has a new home!!! Starting January 2026, I will join the Biology Department at Indiana University Bloomington as Associate Professor with tenure.
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
December 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I am beyond excited to announce that the Bisson Lab has a new home!!! Starting January 2026, I will join the Biology Department at Indiana University Bloomington as Associate Professor with tenure.
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
December 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Recent news brings back memories of friend and colleague Nate Nieto, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 44, in 2019. This disease has cut short many lives.
Nate was well known in the tick-borne disease community, particularly for his “citizen science” approaches.
#MicroSky
#TickSky
Nate was well known in the tick-borne disease community, particularly for his “citizen science” approaches.
#MicroSky
#TickSky
December 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
As people comb the Epstein files for some crime they can get Trump on I’m thinking about how he was found with boxes of stolen top secret files in his possession and somehow that ended up being impossible to prosecute.
December 24, 2025 at 12:09 AM
As people comb the Epstein files for some crime they can get Trump on I’m thinking about how he was found with boxes of stolen top secret files in his possession and somehow that ended up being impossible to prosecute.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Not now, haunted Victorian shoes
Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on Ogmore beach
Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on Ogmore beach
More than 400 leather hobnailed boots, thought to date back to the 19th Century, have been found.
www.bbc.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Not now, haunted Victorian shoes
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
I’m just about done tearing down the research institute that I spent the last two years building, and I can absolutely confirm that the investor/venture class gets to just walk away from financial commitments that they don’t feel like dealing with anymore.
One of the many painful rich person vs working class person "hacks" I discovered a few years back is that rich people just... Don't pay their debts. They default on mortgages all the time. Credit card debt, etc. When you can pay for everything in cash, your credit score doesn't matter. So why pay?
December 23, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I’m just about done tearing down the research institute that I spent the last two years building, and I can absolutely confirm that the investor/venture class gets to just walk away from financial commitments that they don’t feel like dealing with anymore.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Oh. My goodness. There's something for everybody in here. What a goldmine.
"If you can't get credit at my store, you can't get credit anywhere!" (Frog falls off couch)
"If you can't get credit at my store, you can't get credit anywhere!" (Frog falls off couch)
Please share YouTube links to the most regionally specific representations of where and when you grew up. Like… local sandwich shop commercials. Footage of amateur theater productions. Hyper regional news stories. I wanna see it all.
December 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Oh. My goodness. There's something for everybody in here. What a goldmine.
"If you can't get credit at my store, you can't get credit anywhere!" (Frog falls off couch)
"If you can't get credit at my store, you can't get credit anywhere!" (Frog falls off couch)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Our latest collaboration with Karthik Hullahalli's team on bacterial barcoding is now out! We developed a way to measure dissemination dynamics that controls for independent colonization events. This more accurately assesses how bacteria spread between tissues.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
December 23, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Our latest collaboration with Karthik Hullahalli's team on bacterial barcoding is now out! We developed a way to measure dissemination dynamics that controls for independent colonization events. This more accurately assesses how bacteria spread between tissues.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...