Five years later, I have my own lab. In Puerto Rico. And guess who's here!!! During one of our first lab field trips, we sampled a hypersaline shallow lagoon. Yes, Spirorhynchus was in there. Also by our dock. Trying to get in the lab?! We have welcomed him in and are interviewing his tufty friends!

One year later, in Beinart Lab @symbiosisrox.bsky.social, I got an incredible opportunity to join Joan Bernhard & Ginny Egdcomb on another cruise to SBB and pulled Spirorhynchus out of its cosy stinky home myself (well, watched the A-frame operator do it). Best bday (shared with the captain) EVR!!

The only paper I found showing micrograph of Spirorhynchus was Joan Bernhard's Nature paper 'Santa Barbara Basin is a symbiosis oasis' from 2000. A couple years after seeing it, to my amazement, Joan went to SBB again and brought a sample. It was still there!! www.nature.com/articles/47476

Well, yes way! It looks just like the drawing, over 110 years old. When I first saw a live cell in a saltmarsh sample in Cape Cod, over 10 years ago, I couldn't contain my happiness. It exists! Then, we found it again in several sites in Rhode Island with @symbiosisrox.bsky.social!

When I first saw the drawing of Spirorhynchus in da Cunha, 1915, isolated from Brazilian Manguinhos, I thought nothing can really look like that - ectosymbionts organized in tuft balls spiralling around the cells? No way! #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky

New paper out! 💌🔬Spirorhynchus verrucosus is a Muranotrichean and its sister has been livin' in the deep sea Santa Barbara Basin since the 90's! See them TUFTS!! Wonderful work of B Bourland & Cepicka Lab, R Beinart, & J Bernhard enabling deep sea sampling. Read h1.nu/spiror #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky

With all the craziness in the world, good lab news bring real joy.💚🪇 With Breitbart's Lab help, long lab hours & determination not to give up, Gina has established a culture of the coral-eating Philaster!🪸🧫🔬I'm so proud of her!🥇 @gfullller.bsky.social
@miapi314.bsky.social #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky

Job Alert - please RT! Tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Physical Oceanography at UPRM just opened! Candidates with expertise in coastal & shelf-scale processes, coastal ocean modelling, marine engineering, open-ocean research are encouraged to apply. See more at tinyurl.com/4eaf8rfr

So.. I really hope NCBI GenBank is not working just.. very temporarily and for unrelated reasons.

Farewell, John! Thank you for the awesome visit and let's get that rad bucket of gold! @burnsajohn.bsky.social

CIMA & UPRM students, our second guest seminar is TODAY at 3:30 pm in CCRI/online! See you all there! Jeremy Wideman, ASU, Proteómica espacial de protistas: localización de miles de proteínas en compartimentos celulares🔬🧬🧫🧪🏝️ (dm me if you haven't received link) #ProtistsOnSky @evocellbio.bsky.social

CIMA & UPRM, see you all today at 2 pm in CCRI or online! (dm me if you haven't received the link): John Burns, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences – Viernes 6 a las 2:00 - La visión generalista de la forma y la función en la vida eucariota 🔬🧬🧫🧪🏝️ #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @burnsajohn.bsky.social

PLEASE SHARE: Seeking a highly motivated PhD student interested to study microbial interactions in hypoxic marine environments. Come join us at the beautiful Isla Magueyes, surrounded by mangrove keys, reefs, and lagoons. Read more & apply via www.microttlab.org #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky #SymbioSky

Fun sampling mangrove sediments with my students today! Logistics difficulty: 0/10 - we literally just walked down the lab, as Isla Magueyes is surrounded by mangroves all around. Love the island!

New case of alternative genetic code discovered! UAR reassignment in Palmarella but a standard code in its closest relatives. Our new paper with single cell #transcriptomics in APM #ciliates just out! doi.org/10.1016/j.ym... #ProtistsOnSky #protists #phylogenomics #geneticcode #anaerobes