Leonor García-Bayona
@lgbacteria.bsky.social
🇨🇴 Assistant Professor at Stanford Microbiology & Immunogy. Gut microbiome sociomicrobiology and gene flow.
https://garciabayonalab.stanford.edu
https://garciabayonalab.stanford.edu
I know I'm probably using this function all wrong but Gaia/Seqhub really made me cackle today. For your own viewing pleasure, a story in screengrabs 🤣🫣🤖
November 21, 2025 at 3:57 AM
I know I'm probably using this function all wrong but Gaia/Seqhub really made me cackle today. For your own viewing pleasure, a story in screengrabs 🤣🫣🤖
Fascinating study! A pathogen locked in an evolutionary trade-off with strain antagonism for centuries and HGT has not caused escaping it 🤔
Our new collaborative work led by @taliamycota.bsky.social
Jiajun Cui & Emma Caullireau between my lab @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social & the Karasov Lab (tkarasovlab.org) @uofubiology.bsky.social
and collaborators: @plantricia.bsky.social et al.
tinyurl.com/5yx2wmz5
(1/n)
Jiajun Cui & Emma Caullireau between my lab @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social & the Karasov Lab (tkarasovlab.org) @uofubiology.bsky.social
and collaborators: @plantricia.bsky.social et al.
tinyurl.com/5yx2wmz5
(1/n)
November 21, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Fascinating study! A pathogen locked in an evolutionary trade-off with strain antagonism for centuries and HGT has not caused escaping it 🤔
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
November 20, 2025 at 8:40 PM
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Nutrient competition predicts gut microbiome restructuring under drug perturbations @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @stanforduniversity.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @stanforduniversity.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Nutrient competition predicts gut microbiome restructuring under drug perturbations @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @stanforduniversity.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @stanforduniversity.bsky.social
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
July 18, 2025 at 4:12 AM
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
The Leading Edge community has been a life-line as I navigate *points to everything*.
Zara was such a shining light of wisdom and warmth. She will be sorely missed, but her legacy will continue in everyone who had the utmost privilege to interact with her.
Apply, apply, apply!!!!
Zara was such a shining light of wisdom and warmth. She will be sorely missed, but her legacy will continue in everyone who had the utmost privilege to interact with her.
Apply, apply, apply!!!!
The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
November 6, 2025 at 1:46 AM
The Leading Edge community has been a life-line as I navigate *points to everything*.
Zara was such a shining light of wisdom and warmth. She will be sorely missed, but her legacy will continue in everyone who had the utmost privilege to interact with her.
Apply, apply, apply!!!!
Zara was such a shining light of wisdom and warmth. She will be sorely missed, but her legacy will continue in everyone who had the utmost privilege to interact with her.
Apply, apply, apply!!!!
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Being a leading edge fellow has been the single best thing for my scientific career.
Zara’s voice and vision was no small part in that.
Apply. Apply. Apply.
Zara’s voice and vision was no small part in that.
Apply. Apply. Apply.
The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/
November 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Being a leading edge fellow has been the single best thing for my scientific career.
Zara’s voice and vision was no small part in that.
Apply. Apply. Apply.
Zara’s voice and vision was no small part in that.
Apply. Apply. Apply.
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Zara Weinberg was a brilliant light both in and out of science. She changed the lives of everyone she interacted and loved for the better. Her legacy will live on through all of us and we will fight for a better world on behalf of her memory.
October 30, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Zara Weinberg was a brilliant light both in and out of science. She changed the lives of everyone she interacted and loved for the better. Her legacy will live on through all of us and we will fight for a better world on behalf of her memory.
May we fight each day to build the future Zara imagined. The world lost a genuinely good human but her power to inspire our community will persist 💔
Truly one of the best. We worked on various initiatives/wrote a paper together, and had the best conference meet ups. She was a bold and tireless advocate for change. Last time we met, we had a great time trying new cuisine and imagining a future that’s so different for trainees than we experienced.
Zara Weinberg was a brilliant, loving, and beautiful woman. She inspired everyone who she interacted with, and always strived to make the world a better place for everyone. Tho the world is a little less bright today without her, her memory will always be a blessing.
She was truly one of the best.
She was truly one of the best.
October 31, 2025 at 2:11 AM
May we fight each day to build the future Zara imagined. The world lost a genuinely good human but her power to inspire our community will persist 💔
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
New pre-print www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social!
#phagesky#microsky
Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social!
#phagesky#microsky
Trade-offs between phage resistance and conjugative ability shape the ecological and evolutionary response of a multidrug resistance plasmid to plasmid-dependent phage
Phage therapy is a promising alternative to antibiotics to treat multidrug resistant infections. Plasmid dependent phages (PDPs) are particularly attractive as therapeutics because they can both kill ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 9, 2025 at 10:07 AM
New pre-print www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social!
#phagesky#microsky
Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social!
#phagesky#microsky
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
I have a fabulous undergrad who has a lot of experience with QIIME2 & using R to analyze microbiome data. She is looking for a job starting in January. Would love to learn more bench and field skills (will be getting some in her last 2 months). Open to academic, industry, government jobs in the US.
October 6, 2025 at 9:34 PM
I have a fabulous undergrad who has a lot of experience with QIIME2 & using R to analyze microbiome data. She is looking for a job starting in January. Would love to learn more bench and field skills (will be getting some in her last 2 months). Open to academic, industry, government jobs in the US.
October 1, 2025 at 8:44 PM
First publication from our lab!
The role of mobile genetic elements in adaptation of the microbiota to the dynamic human gut ecosystem
#CurrOpinMicrobiol from @lgbacteria.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#CurrOpinMicrobiol from @lgbacteria.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 29, 2025 at 4:56 PM
First publication from our lab!
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Hello world! Today’s officially the first day of the lab! It’s an empty space currently only filled with ideas (that I don’t have card access to yet 😂) but I’m excited for the science that will happen here! -JCG
September 2, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Hello world! Today’s officially the first day of the lab! It’s an empty space currently only filled with ideas (that I don’t have card access to yet 😂) but I’m excited for the science that will happen here! -JCG
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Excited to share a new preprint w/ the Sonnenberg lab, led by Matt Carter, @zzzhiru.bsky.social & @mattolm.bsky.social. We analyzed the microbiomes of two non-industrialized populations from opposite sides of the globe to try to reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of our gut microbiota.
Prehistoric Global Migration of Vanishing Gut Microbes With Humans
The gut microbiome is crucial for health and greatly affected by lifestyle. Many microbes common in non-industrialized populations are disappearing or extinct in industrialized populations. Understand...
www.biorxiv.org
August 16, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Excited to share a new preprint w/ the Sonnenberg lab, led by Matt Carter, @zzzhiru.bsky.social & @mattolm.bsky.social. We analyzed the microbiomes of two non-industrialized populations from opposite sides of the globe to try to reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of our gut microbiota.
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Snails with human-like eyes?!
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
August 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Snails with human-like eyes?!
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
"feels like" is correct because it gives the IMPRESSION of expertise. Just asked GPT5-Thinking a few questions I had asked my PhD students this week... let me tell you, our jobs are safe in this regard LOL
If you believe what it says, it's on you.
If you believe what it says, it's on you.
“GPT-5 is the first time that it feels like talking to an expert in any topic — a Ph.D.-level expert,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.
OpenAI Unveils GPT-5, Its Latest and Most Powerful Model, After Two-Year Wait
CEO Sam Altman said using the chatbot will be like talking with a doctorate-level expert in any topic.
www.wsj.com
August 8, 2025 at 3:33 AM
"feels like" is correct because it gives the IMPRESSION of expertise. Just asked GPT5-Thinking a few questions I had asked my PhD students this week... let me tell you, our jobs are safe in this regard LOL
If you believe what it says, it's on you.
If you believe what it says, it's on you.
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Congrats to postdoc Zhe Zhou on her paper out today in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social showing that gut bacteria cross-feed a common dietary antioxidant to produce energy under anaerobic conditions. Thanks to collaborators Angela Jiang and Xiaofang Jiang at NIH.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
August 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Congrats to postdoc Zhe Zhou on her paper out today in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social showing that gut bacteria cross-feed a common dietary antioxidant to produce energy under anaerobic conditions. Thanks to collaborators Angela Jiang and Xiaofang Jiang at NIH.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Microbiology professor, want to join a slack for microbiology professors, any career stage, diverse career types (pure teaching, med school, R1, community college, pure research fed PIs, ...)
Message me for an invite link if you are interested.
No imposter syndrome, if you are 1% micro, join!
Message me for an invite link if you are interested.
No imposter syndrome, if you are 1% micro, join!
July 25, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Microbiology professor, want to join a slack for microbiology professors, any career stage, diverse career types (pure teaching, med school, R1, community college, pure research fed PIs, ...)
Message me for an invite link if you are interested.
No imposter syndrome, if you are 1% micro, join!
Message me for an invite link if you are interested.
No imposter syndrome, if you are 1% micro, join!
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
The Xue lab at UC Irvine is looking for a staff scientist to support our work investigating how microbes interact and evolve in the gut microbiome! Open to a wide range of previous experience levels, see ad for more.
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
Junior, Assistant, or Associate Specialist – Xue Lab
University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.uci.edu
July 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
The Xue lab at UC Irvine is looking for a staff scientist to support our work investigating how microbes interact and evolve in the gut microbiome! Open to a wide range of previous experience levels, see ad for more.
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Thrilled to share the first preprint from my group! Prevotella are predominant but understudied members of the respiratory microbiome. They have a reputation for being hard to work with, but understanding them is likely important for understanding how they contribute to respiratory health. 🧫🔬
Development of a basal media for carbon utilization assay and analysis of the starch utilization locus in Prevotella melaninogenica https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.04.663206v1
July 12, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Thrilled to share the first preprint from my group! Prevotella are predominant but understudied members of the respiratory microbiome. They have a reputation for being hard to work with, but understanding them is likely important for understanding how they contribute to respiratory health. 🧫🔬
Yet again burned by the "this Friday" vs "next Friday" ambiguity. whyyyyy English language, whyyyy
homer simpson from the simpsons is holding a cup in front of a picture
ALT: homer simpson from the simpsons is holding a cup in front of a picture
media.tenor.com
July 8, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Yet again burned by the "this Friday" vs "next Friday" ambiguity. whyyyyy English language, whyyyy
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
𝐍𝐨, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐮𝐬𝐞.
See our paper for more results: "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task" : www.brainonllm.com
See our paper for more results: "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task" : www.brainonllm.com
June 16, 2025 at 9:55 PM
𝐍𝐨, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐮𝐬𝐞.
See our paper for more results: "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task" : www.brainonllm.com
See our paper for more results: "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task" : www.brainonllm.com
Reposted by Leonor García-Bayona
Any friends going to ASM Microbe? Let me know so we can catch up!!
June 4, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Any friends going to ASM Microbe? Let me know so we can catch up!!