Dr. Alexander Pastora
@alexpastora.bsky.social
TS/MS Post-Doctoral Scientist at Eli Lilly. PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the O'Toole Lab at Dartmouth. (BA, Spatafora Lab, Middlebury College) he/him🏳️🌈🇳🇮
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Join CSSB! The Sondermann lab is interested in deciphering the molecular processes that determine bacterial interactions in microbial communities. They are looking for a PhD candidate to investigate the bacterial secretion systems involved in these processes.
Apply now: v22.desy.de/e67416/recor...
Apply now: v22.desy.de/e67416/recor...
November 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Join CSSB! The Sondermann lab is interested in deciphering the molecular processes that determine bacterial interactions in microbial communities. They are looking for a PhD candidate to investigate the bacterial secretion systems involved in these processes.
Apply now: v22.desy.de/e67416/recor...
Apply now: v22.desy.de/e67416/recor...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
We're hiring! My dept. is looking for a candidate with a research program focusing on plant systems. All areas of molecular and cellular biology research will be considered. Not sure if you'd fit? Reach out to me. Please share! #microsky
November 17, 2025 at 6:18 PM
We're hiring! My dept. is looking for a candidate with a research program focusing on plant systems. All areas of molecular and cellular biology research will be considered. Not sure if you'd fit? Reach out to me. Please share! #microsky
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
If you are #ASMBiofilms and would like a science friendship bracelet come find me! I have a variety of colors and special Biofilms 2025 bracelets! I'll be doing the 5K walk and at the poster session!
November 12, 2025 at 7:49 PM
If you are #ASMBiofilms and would like a science friendship bracelet come find me! I have a variety of colors and special Biofilms 2025 bracelets! I'll be doing the 5K walk and at the poster session!
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Exciting news! 🎉 In Jan 2026, I’ll be starting as an Assistant Professor at Mass General Hospital in Boston. The lab will study host–pathogen co-adaptation during chronic lung infections, and how it shapes treatment outcomes and disease progression.
🔗 Check out open positions: meirelleslab.org
🔗 Check out open positions: meirelleslab.org
October 15, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Exciting news! 🎉 In Jan 2026, I’ll be starting as an Assistant Professor at Mass General Hospital in Boston. The lab will study host–pathogen co-adaptation during chronic lung infections, and how it shapes treatment outcomes and disease progression.
🔗 Check out open positions: meirelleslab.org
🔗 Check out open positions: meirelleslab.org
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Pls share: Hofstra University is looking for a Tenure-Track Microbiologists!
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We are seeking a microbiologist with a research focus on a non-pathogenic bacterial model system.
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
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We are seeking a microbiologist with a research focus on a non-pathogenic bacterial model system.
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
hofstra.peopleadmin.com
October 10, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Pls share: Hofstra University is looking for a Tenure-Track Microbiologists!
-----
We are seeking a microbiologist with a research focus on a non-pathogenic bacterial model system.
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
-----
We are seeking a microbiologist with a research focus on a non-pathogenic bacterial model system.
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
New in JB: Banerjee, Chandler et al. link regulation of QS to the the nitrogen-related phosphotransferase system in P. aeruginosa, and thus virulence in this microbe.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
September 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM
New in JB: Banerjee, Chandler et al. link regulation of QS to the the nitrogen-related phosphotransferase system in P. aeruginosa, and thus virulence in this microbe.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Registration is open! Come join us at the sensory transduction in microorganisms GRC! Spread the word! www.grc.org/sensory-tran...
2026 Sensory Transduction in Microorganisms Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Sensory Transduction in Microorganisms will be held in Ventura, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
September 12, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Registration is open! Come join us at the sensory transduction in microorganisms GRC! Spread the word! www.grc.org/sensory-tran...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Happy to finally see this out! Bassam El Halfi (@bassamhafi.bsky.social - my first rotation student when I started my post-doc in @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social) did an amazing job investigating mechanisms of interspecies metabolic interactions. Check it out! #microsky
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa supports the survival of Prevotella melaninogenica in a cystic fibrosis lung polymicrobial community through metabolic cross-feeding | mBio
Polymicrobial interactions impact disease outcomes in pwCF who suffer from chronic
respiratory infections. Previous work established a CF-relevant polymicrobial community
model that allows experimenta...
journals.asm.org
September 12, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Happy to finally see this out! Bassam El Halfi (@bassamhafi.bsky.social - my first rotation student when I started my post-doc in @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social) did an amazing job investigating mechanisms of interspecies metabolic interactions. Check it out! #microsky
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Excited to share our latest work, driven by my recently graduated PhD student Kaitlyn Barrack, exploring the mechanisms of bacterial dysbiosis in the CF gut - including a role for a colorectal cancer-associated genotoxin in this competition.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@kbarrack.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@kbarrack.bsky.social
September 5, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Excited to share our latest work, driven by my recently graduated PhD student Kaitlyn Barrack, exploring the mechanisms of bacterial dysbiosis in the CF gut - including a role for a colorectal cancer-associated genotoxin in this competition.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@kbarrack.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@kbarrack.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Excited about our most recent collaboration with the Wong lab, lead by William Schmidt, describing a T4P and CdrA-mediated mechanism of sensing surface EPS. Fun stuff and great work William and team.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 5, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Excited about our most recent collaboration with the Wong lab, lead by William Schmidt, describing a T4P and CdrA-mediated mechanism of sensing surface EPS. Fun stuff and great work William and team.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Our newest manuscript on the gut-lung axis in CF, lead by Rebecca Valls, explores sex and intestinal regional differences in response to Bacteroides. Check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Our newest manuscript on the gut-lung axis in CF, lead by Rebecca Valls, explores sex and intestinal regional differences in response to Bacteroides. Check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Kenyon is hiring a TT microbiologist! Please share widely. I’m the search chair & am happy to answer any questions. careers.pageuppeople.com/695/cw/en-us...
Kenyon College - Details - Assistant Professor of Biology (Tenure-Track)
careers.pageuppeople.com
July 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Kenyon is hiring a TT microbiologist! Please share widely. I’m the search chair & am happy to answer any questions. careers.pageuppeople.com/695/cw/en-us...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
New in JB: Conaway, Hogan et al. link QS and phosphate metabolism in P. aeruginosa, with implications of pathogenesis.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
July 14, 2025 at 8:53 PM
New in JB: Conaway, Hogan et al. link QS and phosphate metabolism in P. aeruginosa, with implications of pathogenesis.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Just a reminder to the Biofilms community that the Early Registration period ends today (July 8) for the 10th ASM Conference on Biofilms (Nov 9-13, 2025, Portland, OR) at the lowest prices (asm.org/events/asm-b...). If you've already registered thanks; if not you can still catch these lower rates!
ASM Conference on Biofilms
Biofilms have a tremendous impact on industrial, clinical and natural environments. The ASM Conference on Biofilms will provide an interdisciplinary platform to discuss the latest biofilm research.
asm.org
July 8, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Just a reminder to the Biofilms community that the Early Registration period ends today (July 8) for the 10th ASM Conference on Biofilms (Nov 9-13, 2025, Portland, OR) at the lowest prices (asm.org/events/asm-b...). If you've already registered thanks; if not you can still catch these lower rates!
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Thrilled to share our new paper in @science.org describing our discovery that bacteria can switch from competitors to bonafide predators when resources run dry—arming nanoscale “spears” (T6SS) to stab & consume neighbours.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#MicroSKy #Microbiology
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#MicroSKy #Microbiology
Antagonism as a foraging strategy in microbial communities
In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependen...
www.science.org
June 13, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Thrilled to share our new paper in @science.org describing our discovery that bacteria can switch from competitors to bonafide predators when resources run dry—arming nanoscale “spears” (T6SS) to stab & consume neighbours.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#MicroSKy #Microbiology
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#MicroSKy #Microbiology
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
The 3rd International #Biosurfactants Conference will take place in Aachen, Germany September 8 -10 2025. Academia and industry will discuss the latest developments, and share cutting-edge insight in this exciting field of microbial #biotechnology #microsky biosurfactants.uni-hohenheim.de/en
July 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
The 3rd International #Biosurfactants Conference will take place in Aachen, Germany September 8 -10 2025. Academia and industry will discuss the latest developments, and share cutting-edge insight in this exciting field of microbial #biotechnology #microsky biosurfactants.uni-hohenheim.de/en
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Tiffany Zarrella et al. provide new insights into the role of the bacterial second messenger cyclic di-adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) in maintaining cell envelope homeostasis in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
#MicroSky #cyclic-di-AMP
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#MicroSky #cyclic-di-AMP
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Cyclic Di‐AMP Affects Cell Membrane Integrity of Streptococcus pneumoniae
When Streptococcus pneumoniae produces low amounts of the second messenger cyclic di-AMP (c-di-AMP), they do not survive in the presence of competence-stimulating peptide (CSP), which is used for tra...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 2, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Tiffany Zarrella et al. provide new insights into the role of the bacterial second messenger cyclic di-adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) in maintaining cell envelope homeostasis in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
#MicroSky #cyclic-di-AMP
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#MicroSky #cyclic-di-AMP
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
A get-together of Dartmouth folks at ASM Microbe!
#ASMicrobe
#ASMicrobe
June 22, 2025 at 1:53 PM
A get-together of Dartmouth folks at ASM Microbe!
#ASMicrobe
#ASMicrobe
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
New in JB: Tchadi, Taylor et al. use a heterologous expression system to show that binding of PqsE to RhlR fine-tunes RhlR activity and does so in a promoter-specific fashion.
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
@asm.org #JBacteriology
June 20, 2025 at 12:34 PM
New in JB: Tchadi, Taylor et al. use a heterologous expression system to show that binding of PqsE to RhlR fine-tunes RhlR activity and does so in a promoter-specific fashion.
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
@asm.org #JBacteriology
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
New in JB: Oladosu and Sauer show that FleQ, SagS and BrlR contribute to fine tuning the expression of genes contributing to antibiotic tolerance in P. aeruginosa biofilms.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
June 18, 2025 at 1:24 PM
New in JB: Oladosu and Sauer show that FleQ, SagS and BrlR contribute to fine tuning the expression of genes contributing to antibiotic tolerance in P. aeruginosa biofilms.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
#MicrobiologyMonday: Pseudomonas aeruginosa releases a surfactant that displaces Klebsiella pneumoniae from solid surfaces. By pushing K. pneumoniae away, the detergent allows P. aeruginosa to better compete for limited iron. Learn more in #mBio: asm.social/2sH
June 16, 2025 at 5:57 PM
#MicrobiologyMonday: Pseudomonas aeruginosa releases a surfactant that displaces Klebsiella pneumoniae from solid surfaces. By pushing K. pneumoniae away, the detergent allows P. aeruginosa to better compete for limited iron. Learn more in #mBio: asm.social/2sH
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Kaitlyn Barrack, who defended recently, was hooded at the Dartmouth Investiture last Saturday. We got all decked out in our robes!
June 16, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Kaitlyn Barrack, who defended recently, was hooded at the Dartmouth Investiture last Saturday. We got all decked out in our robes!
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Bacterial sporulation (endospore formation) is complicated,but it turns out a lot of steps are regulated by classically defined developmental "checkpoints", and not events that are intrinsically required for the next step to occur. Zac Park reviews these in #Bacillus subtilis
doi.org/10.1146/annu...
doi.org/10.1146/annu...
To Sporulate or Not to Sporulate: Developmental Checkpoints Monitoring Bacillus subtilis Sporulation | Annual Reviews
Developmental processes are carefully regulated programs that are present in multiple kingdoms of life and that generally result in cell differentiation and specialization. This regulation can be medi...
doi.org
June 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Bacterial sporulation (endospore formation) is complicated,but it turns out a lot of steps are regulated by classically defined developmental "checkpoints", and not events that are intrinsically required for the next step to occur. Zac Park reviews these in #Bacillus subtilis
doi.org/10.1146/annu...
doi.org/10.1146/annu...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Our paper on how a conveyor belt-associated protein of T9SS-driven gliding bacteria acts as a molecular switch, reversing T9SS rotation to fine-tune movement - like a smart conveyor or biological snowmobile adapting to changing terrain is out now in @mbio.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
A molecular conveyor belt-associated protein controls the rotational direction of the bacterial type 9 secretion system | mBio
The type 9 secretion system (T9SS) is fundamental to bacterial gliding motility, pathogenesis,
and surface colonization. Our findings reveal that the C-terminal region of the conveyor
belt-associated ...
journals.asm.org
June 13, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Our paper on how a conveyor belt-associated protein of T9SS-driven gliding bacteria acts as a molecular switch, reversing T9SS rotation to fine-tune movement - like a smart conveyor or biological snowmobile adapting to changing terrain is out now in @mbio.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Dr. Alexander Pastora
Researchers uncover a new class of retropepsin-like proteases in P. aeruginosa that are required for biofilm formation & bacterial survival under stress conditions, including antibiotic exposure, making them appealing therapeutic targets. #mBio: asm.social/2sq
June 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Researchers uncover a new class of retropepsin-like proteases in P. aeruginosa that are required for biofilm formation & bacterial survival under stress conditions, including antibiotic exposure, making them appealing therapeutic targets. #mBio: asm.social/2sq