Michael Metzger
@metzgerm.bsky.social
Assistant Investigator at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute. Clamcer and other things. Opinions my own.
Our first Crow Gift!
(Crumpled foil from Halloween candy that appeared on our doorstep right after I put out some peanuts)
(Crumpled foil from Halloween candy that appeared on our doorstep right after I put out some peanuts)
November 7, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Our first Crow Gift!
(Crumpled foil from Halloween candy that appeared on our doorstep right after I put out some peanuts)
(Crumpled foil from Halloween candy that appeared on our doorstep right after I put out some peanuts)
Each of the 3 first authors were awesome techs who ran the project for over a year, and all 3 are now PhD students! Rachael Giersch (UO), Jordana Sevigny (UCSC), and Sydney Weinandt (UAB). Huge effort from everyone involved and I am excited to see it all come together.
October 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Each of the 3 first authors were awesome techs who ran the project for over a year, and all 3 are now PhD students! Rachael Giersch (UO), Jordana Sevigny (UCSC), and Sydney Weinandt (UAB). Huge effort from everyone involved and I am excited to see it all come together.
And because it is BlueSky I have to include the dual axis plot of representative clams from each outcome type comparing cancer fraction over time (lines) with eDNA detection (dots).
October 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
And because it is BlueSky I have to include the dual axis plot of representative clams from each outcome type comparing cancer fraction over time (lines) with eDNA detection (dots).
We also tested the tank water for eDNA to see when cancer cells are released by sick clams. We found 2 phases: an early phase <24% cancer without much transmission and an infectious phase >24% cancer with BTN eDNA detected in water, released in bursts and correlated with disease severity.
October 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
We also tested the tank water for eDNA to see when cancer cells are released by sick clams. We found 2 phases: an early phase <24% cancer without much transmission and an infectious phase >24% cancer with BTN eDNA detected in water, released in bursts and correlated with disease severity.
We found a lot of variability, but saw three main outcomes: Progression to Death, Long-Term Non-Progression, and Regression.
October 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
We found a lot of variability, but saw three main outcomes: Progression to Death, Long-Term Non-Progression, and Regression.
It was reported to be lethal and had been reported to cause severe population die-offs in the 80s and 2000s. But there were some older reports of regression, and during other experiments we anecdotally noticed one of the clams in our lab showed a very clear case of cancer growth and then regression.
October 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
It was reported to be lethal and had been reported to cause severe population die-offs in the 80s and 2000s. But there were some older reports of regression, and during other experiments we anecdotally noticed one of the clams in our lab showed a very clear case of cancer growth and then regression.
I am happy to share some good news from the lab! Our paper on the outcomes of Bivalve Transmissible Neoplasia is out this week in PLOS Pathogens!
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
October 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I am happy to share some good news from the lab! Our paper on the outcomes of Bivalve Transmissible Neoplasia is out this week in PLOS Pathogens!
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Before there was the Matrix doorknob shot…
October 9, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Before there was the Matrix doorknob shot…
I need to know more!
October 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I need to know more!
I don’t mean to shame anyone’s artistic chooses when making children’s book illustrations, but I just looked closely at this T. Rex on the Dino book my toddler loves…
September 26, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I don’t mean to shame anyone’s artistic chooses when making children’s book illustrations, but I just looked closely at this T. Rex on the Dino book my toddler loves…
Bummer of a week in Seattle—we are losing both an awesome coffeeshop, and one of the few open past 5pm (Distant Worlds) and an amazing toy store (Clover). You have until the 31st for both of these if you have never been.
Support the things you want to see in the world and in your neighborhood!
Support the things you want to see in the world and in your neighborhood!
August 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Bummer of a week in Seattle—we are losing both an awesome coffeeshop, and one of the few open past 5pm (Distant Worlds) and an amazing toy store (Clover). You have until the 31st for both of these if you have never been.
Support the things you want to see in the world and in your neighborhood!
Support the things you want to see in the world and in your neighborhood!
Oddly, when my wife pointed out the errors to it, it admitted in the text that it was wrong, and repeatedly said it could redo the image to label the bones correctly, and then repeatedly made new, weird errors until we gave up.
August 15, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Oddly, when my wife pointed out the errors to it, it admitted in the text that it was wrong, and repeatedly said it could redo the image to label the bones correctly, and then repeatedly made new, weird errors until we gave up.
I see the problem. It was missing its ear bones. (And I guess its scappua and manduble)
August 14, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I see the problem. It was missing its ear bones. (And I guess its scappua and manduble)
Support your local places, or they won’t be there!
If you are in north Seattle, and looking for coffee and/or space filled with sci-fi style, go to Distant Worlds. Awesome place and of the few coffee hangouts open kinda late in Seattle. www.distantworldscoffee.com
If you are in north Seattle, and looking for coffee and/or space filled with sci-fi style, go to Distant Worlds. Awesome place and of the few coffee hangouts open kinda late in Seattle. www.distantworldscoffee.com
April 19, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Support your local places, or they won’t be there!
If you are in north Seattle, and looking for coffee and/or space filled with sci-fi style, go to Distant Worlds. Awesome place and of the few coffee hangouts open kinda late in Seattle. www.distantworldscoffee.com
If you are in north Seattle, and looking for coffee and/or space filled with sci-fi style, go to Distant Worlds. Awesome place and of the few coffee hangouts open kinda late in Seattle. www.distantworldscoffee.com
I am frustrated to see articles coming out saying scientists will all just move to Europe. And then they cite a uni giving $1 million or something to recruit one lab. Sure, a few will be moving to other countries, but if the NIH cuts continue, most of the science will just NOT BE DONE.
April 3, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I am frustrated to see articles coming out saying scientists will all just move to Europe. And then they cite a uni giving $1 million or something to recruit one lab. Sure, a few will be moving to other countries, but if the NIH cuts continue, most of the science will just NOT BE DONE.
The last unexpected finding was when we sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of the cancers. The nuclear genotypes of the first lineage (CnuBTN1) all look clonal, but the mitochondrial sequences are all over the place—suggesting at least two events where mitochondria transferred into the cancer cells.
March 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
The last unexpected finding was when we sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of the cancers. The nuclear genotypes of the first lineage (CnuBTN1) all look clonal, but the mitochondrial sequences are all over the place—suggesting at least two events where mitochondria transferred into the cancer cells.
We then screened samples from a huge population survey of cockles from Washington State and found two independent lineages of the cancer sporadically in multiple sites in Puget Sound.
March 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
We then screened samples from a huge population survey of cockles from Washington State and found two independent lineages of the cancer sporadically in multiple sites in Puget Sound.
We then joined the project and, led by excellent techs Marisa Yonemitsu and Jordana Sevigny, now grad students at UW and UCSC, we sequenced a nuclear locus and used microsatellite markers to show that the cancer cells were a new (to us) bivalve transmissible neoplasia (BTN)!
March 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
We then joined the project and, led by excellent techs Marisa Yonemitsu and Jordana Sevigny, now grad students at UW and UCSC, we sequenced a nuclear locus and used microsatellite markers to show that the cancer cells were a new (to us) bivalve transmissible neoplasia (BTN)!
This project started when shellfish biologists at the Squamish Tribe teamed up with PSRF to start a hatchery to increase the numbers of basket cockles in the area. One first step was a health screen, where they found disseminated neoplasia, a cancer mostly found in hemolymph.
doi.org/10.2983/035....
doi.org/10.2983/035....
March 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This project started when shellfish biologists at the Squamish Tribe teamed up with PSRF to start a hatchery to increase the numbers of basket cockles in the area. One first step was a health screen, where they found disseminated neoplasia, a cancer mostly found in hemolymph.
doi.org/10.2983/035....
doi.org/10.2983/035....
It feels odd to just present science here now, but I am happy to share our new report of two lineages of transmissible cancer in cockles in Puget Sound, and our finding of repeated horizontal transmission of mitochondria.
March 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
It feels odd to just present science here now, but I am happy to share our new report of two lineages of transmissible cancer in cockles in Puget Sound, and our finding of repeated horizontal transmission of mitochondria.
Probably would have gotten more engagement if I had asked for examples of villains with animal powers. They are cooler.
November 16, 2024 at 6:58 PM
Probably would have gotten more engagement if I had asked for examples of villains with animal powers. They are cooler.
I am sadly unable to feed them consistently (my human children are small and come first), so I am trying out a signal when they come to visit—a high hand wave if I will come back out with peanuts in a moment, and a low hand side-to-side if they are out of luck that day. No idea if it will work.
November 21, 2023 at 11:10 PM
I am sadly unable to feed them consistently (my human children are small and come first), so I am trying out a signal when they come to visit—a high hand wave if I will come back out with peanuts in a moment, and a low hand side-to-side if they are out of luck that day. No idea if it will work.
My favorite part of an eclipse is the realization that all the mottled light you see normally is really made of thousands of pinhole images of the sun
October 14, 2023 at 11:52 PM
My favorite part of an eclipse is the realization that all the mottled light you see normally is really made of thousands of pinhole images of the sun
And the poor-quality-cell-phone-through-eclipse-glasses photo from a few minutes earlier
October 14, 2023 at 7:30 PM
And the poor-quality-cell-phone-through-eclipse-glasses photo from a few minutes earlier