If you want to understand Jim Watson’s legacy, I think this passage from Lewontin’s “The Triple Helix” helps:

Office sign means it’s official, and it’s got my go-to Salmonella-infected macrophage cartoon on it.

Georges Canguilhem, “A Vital Rationalist”

That’s a wrap on the 2025 Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription GRS!

Kicking off the 2025 Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription GRS w/ keynote speaker Maria Hadjifrangiskou!

Finally, we determine that CRP-cAMP activity is low when Salmonella is inside macrophages, because an inactive variant of CRP has only a moderate influence on transcription of prototypical CRP-dependent genes.

Consequently, cytoplasmic magnesium starvation renders wild-type Salmonella phenotypically CRP- with respect to metabolic behaviors like glucose uptake.

Second, we reveal that this metabolic behavior arises because the master regulator of carbohydrate utilization in enteric bacteria, CRP-cAMP, is controlled by magnesium. Specifically, low ATP during magnesium starvation hinders cAMP synthesis, decreasing CRP activity.

First, we show that magnesium overrides carbon source in the control of Salmonella’s metabolome composition. Unexpectedly, carbon source only exerts a dominant influence on metabolome composition when magnesium is abundant.

Very grateful to have been invited by my PhD advisor to share some of my postdoctoral work @unmc-pathmicro.bsky.social this week. Had a great time meeting with faculty and grad students!

In retrospect, it was probably a mistake to take the lab photo on my phone. Too much power…

March to End Fossil Fuels in NYC