Everyone's least favorite lab mate
@kepatitis-c.bsky.social
I much prefer the sharpest of criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses
- Johannes Kepler
“It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.”
-Andrew Jackson
- Johannes Kepler
“It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.”
-Andrew Jackson
What is the best strategy to win any contest?
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 20, 2025 at 10:12 PM
What is the best strategy to win any contest?
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The project has excellent lore. From contamination to a integrated tool to classify mobility, A-Dog (Arya to civilians) has found AMR gene have been increasing on MGEs likely due to the use of antibiotics. Some great graphs in here!
What was antibiotic resistance like before we ever used antibiotics? How did we change what antibiotic resistance genes looked like over 100 years?
Our paper looking at resistance genes from a century of NCTC historical isolates now out in mGen:
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
Our paper looking at resistance genes from a century of NCTC historical isolates now out in mGen:
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
Genomic resistance in historical clinical isolates increased in frequency and mobility after the age of antibiotics
Antibiotic resistance is frequently observed shortly after the clinical introduction of an antibiotic. Whether and how frequently that resistance occurred before the introduction is harder to determin...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
September 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The project has excellent lore. From contamination to a integrated tool to classify mobility, A-Dog (Arya to civilians) has found AMR gene have been increasing on MGEs likely due to the use of antibiotics. Some great graphs in here!
“I asked ChatGPT to generate” has replaced “Merriam Webster defines” as the new go to low effort introduction and PIs who start talks this way need to be made fun of
August 28, 2025 at 12:17 PM
“I asked ChatGPT to generate” has replaced “Merriam Webster defines” as the new go to low effort introduction and PIs who start talks this way need to be made fun of
When I was told I’d have a summer undergrad I couldn’t have imagined how lucky I would be. Hue has no tolerance for the easy way out and takes on new challenges with an infectious positivity. One day (hopefully🤞) someone will be just as lucky to have her as a grad student. We will miss you!
August 8, 2025 at 7:11 PM
When I was told I’d have a summer undergrad I couldn’t have imagined how lucky I would be. Hue has no tolerance for the easy way out and takes on new challenges with an infectious positivity. One day (hopefully🤞) someone will be just as lucky to have her as a grad student. We will miss you!
I apparently deleted a important “TnpA” label from my poster so now my week is ruined but if you want to help search for more mistakes and you are at the Microbial Populations GRC come see me Wednesday
July 6, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I apparently deleted a important “TnpA” label from my poster so now my week is ruined but if you want to help search for more mistakes and you are at the Microbial Populations GRC come see me Wednesday
Last summer I was lucky to attend the Woods Hole Microbial Diversity course and the most important thing I got out of it was meeting Liana. Her genuine curiosity and meticulousness really shine in this super cool story on introns (i.e. the coolest RNAs around). Excited to see what you do next!
(1/7) Very excited to share my first PhD preprint on the interactions of two of my favorite mobile genetic elements: phages and group II introns!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Prevalence of Group II Introns in Phage Genomes
Although bacteriophage genomes are under strong selective pressure for high coding density, they are still frequently invaded by mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Group II introns are MGEs that reduce h...
www.biorxiv.org
May 24, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Last summer I was lucky to attend the Woods Hole Microbial Diversity course and the most important thing I got out of it was meeting Liana. Her genuine curiosity and meticulousness really shine in this super cool story on introns (i.e. the coolest RNAs around). Excited to see what you do next!
It is getting weirder and weirder seeing faceless accounts accuse jewish professors of antisemitism for bemoaning their loss of funding
May 22, 2025 at 1:36 PM
It is getting weirder and weirder seeing faceless accounts accuse jewish professors of antisemitism for bemoaning their loss of funding
My advisor @baym.lol pointedly speaking with WBUR.
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
"I'm still in shock. I know that there have been political issues around Harvard in recent weeks, but antibiotic resistance isn't one of them." My conversation with Harvard microbiologist @baym.lol, one of many researchers there who just lost millions in fed. grants. www.wbur.org/news/2025/05...
Antibiotic research at Harvard lab threatened by federal funding cuts
Microbiologist Michael Baym studies antibiotic resistance at Harvard Medical School. He lost millions in federal funding this week.
www.wbur.org
May 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
My advisor @baym.lol pointedly speaking with WBUR.
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
Reposted by Everyone's least favorite lab mate
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
May 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
During my rotation I got to work on this project and I immediately knew Soumya and Han were destined to be the future leaders of science and I would be a fool to pass up a chance to work with them. Super thankful to have met, and continue to get to hang with, you guys!
Evolution-guided protein design of IscB for persistent epigenome editing in vivo - @zhangf.bsky.social @broadinstitute.org @hhmi.org go.nature.com/44XVBph
Evolution-guided protein design of IscB for persistent epigenome editing in vivo - Nature Biotechnology
A combination of engineering approaches is used to improve the function of IscB for a variety of editing activities in vivo.
go.nature.com
May 9, 2025 at 12:32 PM
During my rotation I got to work on this project and I immediately knew Soumya and Han were destined to be the future leaders of science and I would be a fool to pass up a chance to work with them. Super thankful to have met, and continue to get to hang with, you guys!
Reposting with an eye catching figure because I forgot
April 24, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposting with an eye catching figure because I forgot
Llamas, dolphins and measles? Oh my!
So thankful this story is finally breaking containment from my time in the Manguso Lab at the Broad. Using pieces from viruses and llamas we engineered selective cell specific viral like particles with reduced immunogenicity for in vivo gene delivery
So thankful this story is finally breaking containment from my time in the Manguso Lab at the Broad. Using pieces from viruses and llamas we engineered selective cell specific viral like particles with reduced immunogenicity for in vivo gene delivery
April 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Llamas, dolphins and measles? Oh my!
So thankful this story is finally breaking containment from my time in the Manguso Lab at the Broad. Using pieces from viruses and llamas we engineered selective cell specific viral like particles with reduced immunogenicity for in vivo gene delivery
So thankful this story is finally breaking containment from my time in the Manguso Lab at the Broad. Using pieces from viruses and llamas we engineered selective cell specific viral like particles with reduced immunogenicity for in vivo gene delivery
Like we needed another reason for sex…
But seriously this is a very cool result, surprisingly intuitive only after you read it. I interpret it is as sex delinking beneficial and deleterious mutations to enable greater adaptability. Shreyas worked super hard to figure this out, good work!
But seriously this is a very cool result, surprisingly intuitive only after you read it. I interpret it is as sex delinking beneficial and deleterious mutations to enable greater adaptability. Shreyas worked super hard to figure this out, good work!
Why is sex so common if it's so costly?
Super excited to share our new preprint “Sex decreases the pleiotropic costs of local adaptation”, where we bring a new angle to this age-old evolutionary question. Co-led by Parris Humphrey, in Michael Desai's lab. Short thread here: (1/n)
Super excited to share our new preprint “Sex decreases the pleiotropic costs of local adaptation”, where we bring a new angle to this age-old evolutionary question. Co-led by Parris Humphrey, in Michael Desai's lab. Short thread here: (1/n)
Sex decreases the pleiotropic costs of local adaptation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.28.646016v1
April 10, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Like we needed another reason for sex…
But seriously this is a very cool result, surprisingly intuitive only after you read it. I interpret it is as sex delinking beneficial and deleterious mutations to enable greater adaptability. Shreyas worked super hard to figure this out, good work!
But seriously this is a very cool result, surprisingly intuitive only after you read it. I interpret it is as sex delinking beneficial and deleterious mutations to enable greater adaptability. Shreyas worked super hard to figure this out, good work!
Reposted by Everyone's least favorite lab mate
Woolly mice is bioweapon.
April 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Woolly mice is bioweapon.
My scientific career changed the day I met Fernando and my faith in science restored. In a world dominated by sequencing and LLMs, this project shows how much biology is hidden in plain sight waiting for the right person to make the connection, a must read for any scientist!
I'm so happy that I can finally share the results of my first postdoc paper with @baym.lol!!! Turns out plasmids are an amazing system to study multi-scale evolution and we can track within-cell and between-cell dynamics!
(1/n) www.biorxiv.org/content/earl...
(1/n) www.biorxiv.org/content/earl...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
Conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution, from populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements in microbes. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-r...
www.biorxiv.org
February 21, 2025 at 8:40 PM
My scientific career changed the day I met Fernando and my faith in science restored. In a world dominated by sequencing and LLMs, this project shows how much biology is hidden in plain sight waiting for the right person to make the connection, a must read for any scientist!
Greatful to have been given the opportunity to present my wacky little project at @crisprmeeting.bsky.social and thanks to @baym.lol and the rest of the lab for the support!
February 20, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Greatful to have been given the opportunity to present my wacky little project at @crisprmeeting.bsky.social and thanks to @baym.lol and the rest of the lab for the support!
Reposted by Everyone's least favorite lab mate
Genomic resistance in historical clinical isolates increased in frequency and mobility after the age of antibiotics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.16.633422v1
January 17, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Genomic resistance in historical clinical isolates increased in frequency and mobility after the age of antibiotics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.16.633422v1