Laty Cahoon
laty.bsky.social
Laty Cahoon
@laty.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Pitt
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Also see the accompanying paper from Carol Gross' lab that used a similar approach for Bacillus subtilis: www.cell.com/cell-systems...
Comprehensive genetic interaction analysis of the Bacillus subtilis envelope using double-CRISPRi
Koo et al. apply genome-scale double-CRISPRi to map cell envelope gene interactions in Bacillus subtilis, revealing >1,000 genetic interactions and uncovering gene networks in envelope biogenesis and ...
www.cell.com
October 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Finally out, such an awesome piece of work, very proud of this one: www.cell.com/cell-systems... #MicroSky
October 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
UChicago Microbiology is searching for tenured or tenure-track faculty working in host-pathogens interactions, viral and bacterial pathogenesis, and emerging infectious diseases. Come join our vibrant Department! microbiology.uchicago.edu
Apply here apply.interfolio.com/174404
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
October 5, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Check out PMI talks tomorrow at the SOM Grad Student Symposium:
@catmphelps.bsky.social (in @meisellab.bsky.social ), Daria Jelic (Doug Reed lab), Kelsey Ertwine (Abby Overacre lab), @febrigunawan48.bsky.social (in Renfeng Li lab), and @dariavantyne.bsky.social !
Tomorrow from 8am-6pm, The Assembly transforms into a celebration of graduate research, innovation, and sustainability at the 30th School of Medicine Graduate Student Research Symposium.

See you tomorrow—bring your energy, your ideas, and join a scientific experience that is setting new standards!
October 1, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Please share - an Assist Prof position in microbiology

employmentopportunities.umb.edu/mob/cw/en-us...

@asm.org
September 30, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Super excited to share our paper online 🚨today🚨 in Cell Host & Microbe‬! Xiaomei Ren @xiaomeiren.bsky.social and Mason Clark @rmasonclark.bsky.social‬ co-led discovery of ecological factors for Acinetobacter baumannii carriage in the gut, a reservoir for pathogen spread. 🎉

tinyurl.com/443kfefk
August 4, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Phage people: Rich Losick and I are combing the world looking for T4 rIIB mutant FC0 (also known as P13). FC0 was the starting point for Francis Crick's beautiful 1961 paper on the triplet nature of the genetic code. We want to sequence it. Anyone have it in an ancient stock collection?
June 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
𝐓𝐁 𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐁

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

Study from Kiessling Lab MIT in PNAS exploits a rare sugar—methylthioxylofuranose (MTX)—to tag TB’s virulence glycans with oxaziridine probes

Method distinguishes TB from nonpathogenic relatives and enables live-cell imaging, great promise toward diagnostics
New molecular label could lead to simpler, faster tuberculosis tests
MIT chemists found a way to identify a complex sugar molecule in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest pathogen. This labeling could lead to simpler, faster TB tests.
news.mit.edu
May 6, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
𝘚𝘤𝘪 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭 𝘔𝘦𝘥

Weeks after 𝘉. 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪
is cleared, its peptidoglycan lingers in the liver in polymeric form—resisting degradation, rewiring mononuclear cell metabolism, and triggering low grade inflammation

Structural basis to long-lasting symptoms that affect 5-10% of people with Lyme disease?
The peptidoglycan of Borrelia burgdorferi can persist in discrete tissues and cause systemic responses consistent with chronic illness
Polymeric Borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan cell wall can persist in murine livers for weeks to months after direct injection or infection.
www.science.org
May 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
The axolotl has the ability to regenerate its brain.

Using single-cell transcriptomics, four Science studies in 2022 revealed evolutionary innovations in reptile and amphibian brains.

Learn more during #AmphibianWeek: scim.ag/3EEKMxZ
May 5, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
“I’ve always loved to bake — I would probably be a baker if I wasn’t a scientist. It’s actually very scientific.

I had an undergrad professor that told me never trust a scientist who can’t cook. And I actually think that’s true!”
UW-Madison geneticist’s cookbook offers recipe sampler from scientists across the world
A genetics professor at UW-Madison teamed up with students to publish a new cookbook, “Lab Culture: A Recipe For Innovation in Science.”
www.wpr.org
May 2, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
A bright day, with two new amazing PhDs launching into the world! 🎓🐭🧬🦠

Congrats to @karenyperalta.bsky.social and @zoomingbio.bsky.social 🎉
May 3, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.

www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program
In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...
www.spencer.org
May 2, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Very cool paper and written very accessibly!
May 4, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
New publication from our Lesterlin lab in collab with lab of @knutdrescher.bsky.social
We determined the spatiotemporal dissemination of conjugative plasmids within biofilms and found that they spread only in specific structural regions.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Biofilm architecture determines the dissemination of conjugative plasmids | PNAS
Plasmid conjugation is a contact-dependent horizontal gene transfer mechanism that significantly contributes to the dissemination of antibiotic res...
www.pnas.org
April 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Pennsylvania could lose $973 million due to federal health research cuts. Visit scienceimpacts.org to learn more. scienceimpacts.org
SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research
Developed by an interdisciplinary research team, this website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide
scienceimpacts.org
April 26, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Don't miss the 4rth and last session of @klebclub.bsky.social focusing on #Klebsiella as part of complex microbial communities !
Our keynote speaker will be Kevin Foster, followed by some #phage talks from Mark Mimee and Sara Forsstrom!
#microsky #phagesky
Registration is free but necessary!
April 22, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
New immune cell population just dropped!

Unique group of ILC3s lives 𝙄𝙉𝙎𝙄𝘿𝙀 lung blood vessels, not the tissue. Upon 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 infection, they quickly mobilize CCL4 to summon neutrophils

Without them, bacterial clearance is delayed and inflammation lingers

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
April 19, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Krista Freeman et al 𝘊𝘌𝘓𝘓

stunning atomic-level imaging (Cryo-EM, cryo-ET) reveals how 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐞 Bxb1 reshapes its tail tip to breach the mycobacterial cell wall and deliver DNA to the cytoplasm

can inform precise targeted phage therapies for TB and NTM infections

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
April 18, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Help - have room for one more song on my 1980s bands clinical microbiology lab mixtape 🎧 🎶

1. Milli Bacilli
2. Sammy Agar
3. CentriFugees
4. Run HPLC
5. Dire Substrates
6. Pipette Shop Boys
7. Gram- Rod Stewart
8. Salt-N-StrepA
9. Yeastie Boys
April 19, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
"If we really want the best talent in science, then let’s foster environments across the scientific enterprise that invite neurodiversity and recognize the strengths of neurological differences," writes @holdenthorp.bsky.social in a 2024 #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/3GcwC7z
April 17, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Metabolic dysregulation is a driving force of aging.

Enzymes from lower organisms—such as bacteria and yeast—may be able to reverse age-associated metabolic changes in humans, a new #ScienceAdvances study finds.
Xenotopic synthetic biology: Prospective tools for delaying aging and age-related diseases
Using enzymes from lower organisms, which are not encoded in the mammalian genome, delays aging and age-related diseases.
scim.ag
April 15, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
Please spread the word about our Special Collection focused on Pseudomonads! @asm.org #JBacteriology
April 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Laty Cahoon
The NSF's flagship fellowship program typically gives offers to 2,000+ young scientists. This year, in the face of looming budget cuts, that number was halved: only 1,000 received an offer. Our story on what that means for the science talent pipeline: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
NSF slashes prestigious PhD fellowship awards by half
US National Science Foundation announces lowest number of Graduate Research Fellowship Programme recipients in 15 years.
www.nature.com
April 8, 2025 at 10:15 PM