Holly Bik
@hollybik.bsky.social
Associate Professor at the University of Georgia + Associate Director of UGA Institute of Bioinformatics. Marine Biology, Polar Science, Deep-Sea Worms (nematodes!), Environmental Genomics, and Science Writing. Views are my own. http://www.hollybik.com
This study is WILD - some dinosaurs (reptiles) had hooves, and this is now the earliest known fossil of a hooved animal. Even crazier, mammals may have secondarily LOST their hooves through evolutionary adaptations (the origin of hooves is still kinda murky) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 16, 2025 at 3:25 PM
This study is WILD - some dinosaurs (reptiles) had hooves, and this is now the earliest known fossil of a hooved animal. Even crazier, mammals may have secondarily LOST their hooves through evolutionary adaptations (the origin of hooves is still kinda murky) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The hardest part of marine nematode work is that the community composition and species abundance is SO unpredictable. Our last sampling, we had 1000s of the specific predatory species we need. This time we have found <20 worms from the same site! #FieldworkFriday
October 31, 2025 at 6:50 PM
The hardest part of marine nematode work is that the community composition and species abundance is SO unpredictable. Our last sampling, we had 1000s of the specific predatory species we need. This time we have found <20 worms from the same site! #FieldworkFriday
Its fieldwork week in the Bik Lab! We’re 4hrs away from the ocean, so when we need fresh mud we do a day trip to the coast and keep the worms alive in these aerated buckets. This week we’re visualizing the nematode-associated bacterial microbiome using FISH probes. #science
October 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Its fieldwork week in the Bik Lab! We’re 4hrs away from the ocean, so when we need fresh mud we do a day trip to the coast and keep the worms alive in these aerated buckets. This week we’re visualizing the nematode-associated bacterial microbiome using FISH probes. #science
On days when I’m tired and trying to push through many energy-draining tasks, I scroll back to my #Antarctica photo album from our 2023 NPB23-03 expedition. I still can’t believe I sailed to the bottom of the world! (And I do have 4000+ iceberg photos to prove it 🤩)
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
On days when I’m tired and trying to push through many energy-draining tasks, I scroll back to my #Antarctica photo album from our 2023 NPB23-03 expedition. I still can’t believe I sailed to the bottom of the world! (And I do have 4000+ iceberg photos to prove it 🤩)
Congrats to the SECOND Bik Lab student graduating this semester, Hunter Powell, who successfully passed his MS defense today! Hunter is a computer science guru who dove into -Omics analysis of pelagic microbial communities during doliolid zooplankton blooms in the S. Atlantic Bight 🪼🌊
October 24, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Congrats to the SECOND Bik Lab student graduating this semester, Hunter Powell, who successfully passed his MS defense today! Hunter is a computer science guru who dove into -Omics analysis of pelagic microbial communities during doliolid zooplankton blooms in the S. Atlantic Bight 🪼🌊
Big day today, the FIRST EVER Ph.D. student from my lab has successfully defended their dissertation!!! Congrats to Dr. De Santiago🎉🎉!!!! Alejandro joined my lab in 2018 (!!) as a sophomore undergrad back at UC Riverside, and moved with us to UGA to start grad school 🍾🥂
October 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Big day today, the FIRST EVER Ph.D. student from my lab has successfully defended their dissertation!!! Congrats to Dr. De Santiago🎉🎉!!!! Alejandro joined my lab in 2018 (!!) as a sophomore undergrad back at UC Riverside, and moved with us to UGA to start grad school 🍾🥂
Super pumped to be a guest speaker in the COBRA webinar series in two weeks’ time, along with Olivia Pereira from @mbarinews.bsky.social! We’ll be talking about our Science Communication strategies & experiences. Register for Zoom link here: cobra.bigelow.org/webinars/
October 21, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Super pumped to be a guest speaker in the COBRA webinar series in two weeks’ time, along with Olivia Pereira from @mbarinews.bsky.social! We’ll be talking about our Science Communication strategies & experiences. Register for Zoom link here: cobra.bigelow.org/webinars/
Last week I spent an amazing week working in @kmkocot.bsky.social’s lab at the University of Alabama and gave an ALLELE public seminar on campus! Came home with these amazing souvenirs…German #SciComm FTW 😂😂😂 #MolluscMonday
October 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Last week I spent an amazing week working in @kmkocot.bsky.social’s lab at the University of Alabama and gave an ALLELE public seminar on campus! Came home with these amazing souvenirs…German #SciComm FTW 😂😂😂 #MolluscMonday
I still think about this 2018 “American Gut” study every time I go grocery shopping - eating MORE than 30 types of plants per week boosts diversity in your gut microbiome, and also reduces antibiotic resistance genes in your body journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10....
September 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I still think about this 2018 “American Gut” study every time I go grocery shopping - eating MORE than 30 types of plants per week boosts diversity in your gut microbiome, and also reduces antibiotic resistance genes in your body journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10....
Brené Brown absolutely nails it with this quote - can’t wait for her new book on leadership in dark times: brenebrown.com/book/strong-...
August 15, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Brené Brown absolutely nails it with this quote - can’t wait for her new book on leadership in dark times: brenebrown.com/book/strong-...
My summer writing routine: kickstart the day with an intensive hour at my favorite coffee shop. I can tell within an hour how my brain is working that day, & whether my writing progress will be 🔥 or 😩. I keep writing for 4 hours every day regardless, but I love when I’m on 🔥 bc the words just flow!
July 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
My summer writing routine: kickstart the day with an intensive hour at my favorite coffee shop. I can tell within an hour how my brain is working that day, & whether my writing progress will be 🔥 or 😩. I keep writing for 4 hours every day regardless, but I love when I’m on 🔥 bc the words just flow!
Fun fact: Raccoons are trash pandas that also live by the beach (eating crustaceans, worms, fish and even turtle/bird eggs, on US Gulf/Atlantic coasts). The FL Keys has two subspecies, including this cute Torch Key raccoon whose fur is reddish brown from its carotene-rich diet (just like Flamingos!)
July 14, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Fun fact: Raccoons are trash pandas that also live by the beach (eating crustaceans, worms, fish and even turtle/bird eggs, on US Gulf/Atlantic coasts). The FL Keys has two subspecies, including this cute Torch Key raccoon whose fur is reddish brown from its carotene-rich diet (just like Flamingos!)
Marine science outreach happening at the Athens Farmers market this morning!! Bik Lab PhD students Hannah and Alejandro are hosting tidepool touch tanks & handing out marine invertebrate trading cards 🤩🤩🤩 stop by if you’re in town!
July 5, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Marine science outreach happening at the Athens Farmers market this morning!! Bik Lab PhD students Hannah and Alejandro are hosting tidepool touch tanks & handing out marine invertebrate trading cards 🤩🤩🤩 stop by if you’re in town!
For those at the #ASMicrobe @asm.org conference this weekend, my PhD student Alejandro De Santiago (a bioinformatics ninja) is presenting his poster on a new nematode-bacterial symbiosis we’ve recently discovered! TODAY in the poster hall www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20974...
June 20, 2025 at 4:34 PM
For those at the #ASMicrobe @asm.org conference this weekend, my PhD student Alejandro De Santiago (a bioinformatics ninja) is presenting his poster on a new nematode-bacterial symbiosis we’ve recently discovered! TODAY in the poster hall www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20974...
Visiting @cornelluniversity.bsky.social for the first time this week, giving a seminar in the Department of Microbiology! I’m enjoying browsing their giant wall of PhD/MS theses in between my meetings 📖📚
May 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Visiting @cornelluniversity.bsky.social for the first time this week, giving a seminar in the Department of Microbiology! I’m enjoying browsing their giant wall of PhD/MS theses in between my meetings 📖📚
Supporting the arts with some Saturday night Vivaldi! It’s the 300th anniversary of “The Four Seasons”, one of my favorite programs :)
March 15, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Supporting the arts with some Saturday night Vivaldi! It’s the 300th anniversary of “The Four Seasons”, one of my favorite programs :)
We @standupforscience.bsky.social outside the National Academies Beckman Center in Irvine, CA!! Getting lots of supportive car honks
March 7, 2025 at 8:49 PM
We @standupforscience.bsky.social outside the National Academies Beckman Center in Irvine, CA!! Getting lots of supportive car honks
Morning email blitz at a local coffee shop with a shady patio! I’m trying a new time-constrained approach to managing my inbox this semester: one hour of processing email per day (max). That’s it.
August 21, 2024 at 4:20 PM
Morning email blitz at a local coffee shop with a shady patio! I’m trying a new time-constrained approach to managing my inbox this semester: one hour of processing email per day (max). That’s it.
Reminder: you do not have to check emails in your noisy, cold, and claustrophobic office! Been experimenting with fun locations for inbox clearout, and I am SO much more efficient with email drudgery in non-office spaces!!
August 20, 2024 at 5:52 PM
Reminder: you do not have to check emails in your noisy, cold, and claustrophobic office! Been experimenting with fun locations for inbox clearout, and I am SO much more efficient with email drudgery in non-office spaces!!
Everyone is thankfully in good spirits, and we had a productive first day talking about #dataviz (me) and #scicomm (led by @vgwschutte.bsky.social)!!
August 5, 2024 at 10:25 PM
Everyone is thankfully in good spirits, and we had a productive first day talking about #dataviz (me) and #scicomm (led by @vgwschutte.bsky.social)!!
What a crazy weekend/week - our “Telling Stories Thru Data” workshop had to move to downtown Savannah (after closures of both @SINERR1976 and @SkIOinSavannah). We’re hunkered down in a hotel meeting room on high(er) ground waiting for tornado and flood alerts to pass 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
August 5, 2024 at 10:23 PM
What a crazy weekend/week - our “Telling Stories Thru Data” workshop had to move to downtown Savannah (after closures of both @SINERR1976 and @SkIOinSavannah). We’re hunkered down in a hotel meeting room on high(er) ground waiting for tornado and flood alerts to pass 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
SO EXCITED to announce a new #NSFfunded workshop series co-lead by myself and @vgwschutte.bsky.social: half bioinformatics data visualization, half science communication - we're calling it "Telling Stories Through Data". Apply to join us on Sapelo Island in August (form closes 6/14) bit.ly/TSTD2024
May 21, 2024 at 3:42 PM
SO EXCITED to announce a new #NSFfunded workshop series co-lead by myself and @vgwschutte.bsky.social: half bioinformatics data visualization, half science communication - we're calling it "Telling Stories Through Data". Apply to join us on Sapelo Island in August (form closes 6/14) bit.ly/TSTD2024
Second day of our 2024 @universityofga.bsky.social Marine Sciences Graduate Student symposium!! We have the pleasure of hosting @rejectedbanana.bsky.social for an amazing keynote talk + career workshop - this “life path” diagram has been seared into my brain all day today (for good reasons!)
May 17, 2024 at 5:20 PM
Second day of our 2024 @universityofga.bsky.social Marine Sciences Graduate Student symposium!! We have the pleasure of hosting @rejectedbanana.bsky.social for an amazing keynote talk + career workshop - this “life path” diagram has been seared into my brain all day today (for good reasons!)
It’s kickoff day for the 2024 @UGA_MarineSci Graduate Student symposium! 40+ students will present their research over the next two days, with our @SkIOinSavannah students traveling up to Athens for this awesome event!
May 16, 2024 at 7:07 PM
It’s kickoff day for the 2024 @UGA_MarineSci Graduate Student symposium! 40+ students will present their research over the next two days, with our @SkIOinSavannah students traveling up to Athens for this awesome event!
Registration is NOW OPEN for the 17th Deep-Sea Biology symposium in Hong Kong (Jan 12-17, 2025). This is the *first time* our society meeting will be held in Asia, and I'm co-chairing an awesome session on Genomics. Join us!! #17DSBS 17dsbs.hkust.edu.hk/registration
May 6, 2024 at 6:27 PM
Registration is NOW OPEN for the 17th Deep-Sea Biology symposium in Hong Kong (Jan 12-17, 2025). This is the *first time* our society meeting will be held in Asia, and I'm co-chairing an awesome session on Genomics. Join us!! #17DSBS 17dsbs.hkust.edu.hk/registration