Petra Levin
@redrockcity.bsky.social
Microbiologist, mom, runner w/delusions of completing a marathon. Dog enthusiast. This Week in Microbiology (https://www.microbe.tv/twim/).
Reposted by Petra Levin
📢 Postdoc position: Biochemistry & Bacterial cell biology
in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"
🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL
📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"
🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL
📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
📢 Postdoc position: Biochemistry & Bacterial cell biology
in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"
🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL
📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"
🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL
📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
Reposted by Petra Levin
🚨 Publication alert! We are stoked to report the structural basis for activity of a novel class of antimicrobials targeting Gram positive priority pathogens in @natcomms.nature.com. There is something for everyone on this paper, and I will highlight a few things below 👇 1/9 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
A unique inhibitor conformation selectively targets the DNA polymerase PolC of Gram-positive priority pathogens - Nature Communications
In this work, Urem et al. characterize the mode of action as well as mechanism of reduced susceptibility related to a class of antimicrobials that is in development for the treatment of infections wit...
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 10:29 AM
🚨 Publication alert! We are stoked to report the structural basis for activity of a novel class of antimicrobials targeting Gram positive priority pathogens in @natcomms.nature.com. There is something for everyone on this paper, and I will highlight a few things below 👇 1/9 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Any conversation with @markowenmartin.bsky.social is a fun conversation. Really enjoyed sharing our science and my messy whiteboard! Come for a discussion of the environment and antibiotic resistance, stay for a (somewhat tortured) comparison of biology education to learning a foreign language. 💜
Episode 112 of #MattersMicrobial! Dr. Petra Levin joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss bacterial cell size, pH, and antibiotic sensitivity. PLEASE spread the #GoodMicrobialWord. Petra is inspirational. @univpugetsound @asmicrobiology @microbe.tv
youtu.be/YPNAvJYAq-s?...
youtu.be/YPNAvJYAq-s?...
October 18, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Any conversation with @markowenmartin.bsky.social is a fun conversation. Really enjoyed sharing our science and my messy whiteboard! Come for a discussion of the environment and antibiotic resistance, stay for a (somewhat tortured) comparison of biology education to learning a foreign language. 💜
Reposted by Petra Levin
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
Finally out, such an awesome piece of work, very proud of this one: www.cell.com/cell-systems... #MicroSky
Reposted by Petra Levin
The Peters lab is looking for a new team member! The role transposons play in evolution, basic mechanisms regulating transposition, and applying transposons as tools for genome modification with a special focus on guide RNA-directed transposition. cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCaree...
Technician III - Department of Microbiology
Position Summary This position will be in the lab of Dr. Joseph E. Peters in the Department of Microbiology. Research in the Peters’ lab broadly involves deciphering mechanisms in genome stability and...
cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM
The Peters lab is looking for a new team member! The role transposons play in evolution, basic mechanisms regulating transposition, and applying transposons as tools for genome modification with a special focus on guide RNA-directed transposition. cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCaree...
Reposted by Petra Levin
Amazing work by @hueihsuantsai.bsky.social and colleagues from @nikogeldner.bsky.social, Feng Zhou @tonnigrubeandersen.bsky.social labs in Science
Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#chemotaxis #MicroSky
Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#chemotaxis #MicroSky
Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization
Plant roots release exudates to encourage microbiome assembly, which influences the function and stress resilience of plants. How specific exudates drive spatial colonization patterns remains largely ...
www.science.org
October 3, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Amazing work by @hueihsuantsai.bsky.social and colleagues from @nikogeldner.bsky.social, Feng Zhou @tonnigrubeandersen.bsky.social labs in Science
Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#chemotaxis #MicroSky
Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#chemotaxis #MicroSky
Reposted by Petra Levin
Despite These Times...my department is hiring! I really like my department, we have a good mix of disciplines and organisms and we're really low-drama. We also get pizza at faculty meeting. So if you're a computational and structural biologist, join us! 🧪 jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/260...
Assistant Professor - Tenure Track Faculty
The Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is inviting applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position. The position requires a doc...
jobs.rutgers.edu
October 1, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Despite These Times...my department is hiring! I really like my department, we have a good mix of disciplines and organisms and we're really low-drama. We also get pizza at faculty meeting. So if you're a computational and structural biologist, join us! 🧪 jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/260...
Reposted by Petra Levin
The Department of Biology at the University of Kentucky is hiring a Microbiologist (broadly defined). Microbial eco-evo folks, this is your sign to come work with us. Not in the search committee, but happy to answer questions.
ukjobs.uky.edu/postings/600...
#microbiology #ecology
ukjobs.uky.edu/postings/600...
#microbiology #ecology
Assistant or Associate Professor in Microbiology
The Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY seeks to fill a tenure-eligible faculty position at the Assistant or Associate Professor le...
ukjobs.uky.edu
October 1, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Petra Levin
This is a truly remarkable finding: 17 years after introduction of the HPV vaccine, there was a decreased prevalence of HPV infection (and therefore decreased cancer risk) in both vaccinated AND unvaccinated individuals. Cancer prevention through herd immunity!!!
Population-Level Effectiveness and Herd Protection 17 Years After HPV Vaccine
This cross-sectional study investigates population-level effectiveness and herd protection in the first 17 years after human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among adolescent girls and young women at ...
jamanetwork.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
This is a truly remarkable finding: 17 years after introduction of the HPV vaccine, there was a decreased prevalence of HPV infection (and therefore decreased cancer risk) in both vaccinated AND unvaccinated individuals. Cancer prevention through herd immunity!!!
Reposted by Petra Levin
Let me add one of my favorites: the simple test for toxoplasmosis that's saved so many babies
I knew about the test b/c of my pregnancy & then I happened to rent the house across the street from the man who discovered it & created the modern treatment protocol
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
I knew about the test b/c of my pregnancy & then I happened to rent the house across the street from the man who discovered it & created the modern treatment protocol
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
September 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Let me add one of my favorites: the simple test for toxoplasmosis that's saved so many babies
I knew about the test b/c of my pregnancy & then I happened to rent the house across the street from the man who discovered it & created the modern treatment protocol
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
I knew about the test b/c of my pregnancy & then I happened to rent the house across the street from the man who discovered it & created the modern treatment protocol
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
Reposted by Petra Levin
I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪
Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360
PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!
Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:
1/10
Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360
PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!
Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:
1/10
September 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪
Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360
PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!
Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:
1/10
Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360
PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!
Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:
1/10
Reposted by Petra Levin
Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n
Thread 1/n
September 25, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n
Thread 1/n
Reposted by Petra Levin
New in JB: Ma, Wang & Li review the role of DNA methylation in regulating pathogenesis, drug resistance, biofilm formation, adhesion, and motility and more!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
September 25, 2025 at 11:00 PM
New in JB: Ma, Wang & Li review the role of DNA methylation in regulating pathogenesis, drug resistance, biofilm formation, adhesion, and motility and more!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology
Reposted by Petra Levin
It is Fat Bear Week in Alaska. The popular competition lets anyone vote on which of the animals is most prepared for winter. nyti.ms/3IBbucx
September 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
It is Fat Bear Week in Alaska. The popular competition lets anyone vote on which of the animals is most prepared for winter. nyti.ms/3IBbucx
Reposted by Petra Levin
Longstanding collaboration with Scott Manalis where we have developed technology to measure single cell growth rates of bacteria in native seawater with some very surprising results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 11, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Longstanding collaboration with Scott Manalis where we have developed technology to measure single cell growth rates of bacteria in native seawater with some very surprising results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Petra Levin
Very nice writeup on someone I've admired and learned from for many years. I didn't know he had passed until catching up on This Week in Microbiology driving to campus this morning. His 1958 paper on Salmonella growth rates basically founded the formal study of microbial physiology, which...
September 12, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Very nice writeup on someone I've admired and learned from for many years. I didn't know he had passed until catching up on This Week in Microbiology driving to campus this morning. His 1958 paper on Salmonella growth rates basically founded the formal study of microbial physiology, which...
Reposted by Petra Levin
For those interested in further reading, the studies establishing the triplet nature of the genetic code were also reviewed by both Benzer and Crick in two 1962 Scientific American articles -- both worth a read!
www.jstor.org/stable/24937...
www.jstor.org/stable/24936...
www.jstor.org/stable/24937...
www.jstor.org/stable/24936...
The Fine Structure of the Gene on JSTOR
Seymour Benzer, The Fine Structure of the Gene, Scientific American, Vol. 206, No. 1 (January 1962), pp. 70-87
www.jstor.org
September 12, 2025 at 5:50 PM
For those interested in further reading, the studies establishing the triplet nature of the genetic code were also reviewed by both Benzer and Crick in two 1962 Scientific American articles -- both worth a read!
www.jstor.org/stable/24937...
www.jstor.org/stable/24936...
www.jstor.org/stable/24937...
www.jstor.org/stable/24936...
Reposted by Petra Levin
The 2025 agar art contest is open and accepting submissions until Oct. 26! The theme is “Microbes Make the World Go Round.” Submit your artwork and showcase the vital role microbes play in our daily lives. All are welcome to apply! See contest details: asm.org/events/asm-a...
September 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
The 2025 agar art contest is open and accepting submissions until Oct. 26! The theme is “Microbes Make the World Go Round.” Submit your artwork and showcase the vital role microbes play in our daily lives. All are welcome to apply! See contest details: asm.org/events/asm-a...
The last publication (he says!) from Rich Losick, my PhD advisor.
Historical in nature it focuses on a seminal paper in molecular biology, the study revealing the genetic code to be triplet in nature. Come for the science, appreciate the clear prose!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Historical in nature it focuses on a seminal paper in molecular biology, the study revealing the genetic code to be triplet in nature. Come for the science, appreciate the clear prose!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Revisiting a Breathtaking Publication in the History of Molecular Biology
www.sciencedirect.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The last publication (he says!) from Rich Losick, my PhD advisor.
Historical in nature it focuses on a seminal paper in molecular biology, the study revealing the genetic code to be triplet in nature. Come for the science, appreciate the clear prose!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Historical in nature it focuses on a seminal paper in molecular biology, the study revealing the genetic code to be triplet in nature. Come for the science, appreciate the clear prose!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Petra Levin
Immunization with peptides can elicit antigen-specific T cell responses, but they're not widely used because they are poorly immunogenic and are rapidly cleared. Domenico D'Atri solves this by using our "SSHEL" platform (synthetic bacterial spores) .
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Immunization with peptide encapsulated within synthetic spores activates T cell responses and reduces tumor growth | mBio
Effective delivery of antigens to the immune system is essential for activating the
adaptive immune system. Synthetic Spore Husk-Encased Lipids (SSHELs) are synthetic bacterial spore-like particles, w...
journals.asm.org
September 12, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Immunization with peptides can elicit antigen-specific T cell responses, but they're not widely used because they are poorly immunogenic and are rapidly cleared. Domenico D'Atri solves this by using our "SSHEL" platform (synthetic bacterial spores) .
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Petra Levin
We are hiring! Please share the news.
Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Bacterial Pathogenesis
See link below for details.
We are a vibrantly growing department with friendly colleagues and supportive environment. Bonus: year-round sunshine in Tampa, FL 🌤🌴
Job Ad: tinyurl.com/USF-Microbio...
Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Bacterial Pathogenesis
See link below for details.
We are a vibrantly growing department with friendly colleagues and supportive environment. Bonus: year-round sunshine in Tampa, FL 🌤🌴
Job Ad: tinyurl.com/USF-Microbio...
Assistant Professor - Molecular Biosciences
Department Name / Number: Molecular Biosciences / 0-1210-000 College: College of Arts and Sciences Hiring Salary: Negotiable Appointment Start Date: August 7, 2026 The Department of Molecular Bioscien...
tinyurl.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:53 PM
We are hiring! Please share the news.
Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Bacterial Pathogenesis
See link below for details.
We are a vibrantly growing department with friendly colleagues and supportive environment. Bonus: year-round sunshine in Tampa, FL 🌤🌴
Job Ad: tinyurl.com/USF-Microbio...
Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Bacterial Pathogenesis
See link below for details.
We are a vibrantly growing department with friendly colleagues and supportive environment. Bonus: year-round sunshine in Tampa, FL 🌤🌴
Job Ad: tinyurl.com/USF-Microbio...
So great to see Lucy Shapiro — a scientific hero of mine both for her pioneering work and for her incredible communication skills —honored today www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
Major Medical Prizes Given to Cell Biology and Cystic Fibrosis Pioneers
www.nytimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:34 PM
So great to see Lucy Shapiro — a scientific hero of mine both for her pioneering work and for her incredible communication skills —honored today www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
Reposted by Petra Levin
Really enjoying reading this primer on single particle tracking #microscopy by @svanteeffelen.bsky.social and colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s43... (pdf on Sven's website)
A guide to single-particle tracking - Nature Reviews Methods Primers
Single-particle tracking is a method for analysing different motion behaviours of individual proteins and protein complexes in live cells. This Primer outlines the experimental setup and labelling tec...
www.nature.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Really enjoying reading this primer on single particle tracking #microscopy by @svanteeffelen.bsky.social and colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s43... (pdf on Sven's website)
Reposted by Petra Levin
This DIVA is SERVING
I guess this has probably already gone viral somewhere but I am simply dying at this picture of a bear that looks like it hired a photographer to do a glamour shoot
September 10, 2025 at 7:51 PM
This DIVA is SERVING
Reposted by Petra Levin
Delighted to share our recently published work!
Ever wondered how Klebsiella (and others) deals with capsule production’s costs ?
The paper: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Thread👇
Ever wondered how Klebsiella (and others) deals with capsule production’s costs ?
The paper: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Thread👇
Phenotypic heterogeneity of capsule production across opportunistic pathogens | mBio
The polysaccharidic capsule is present in ~50% of species across the bacterial phylogeny, including all ESKAPE microorganisms, the six most significant multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial pathogens. It is also an important virulence factor and a major ...
journals.asm.org
September 5, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Delighted to share our recently published work!
Ever wondered how Klebsiella (and others) deals with capsule production’s costs ?
The paper: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Thread👇
Ever wondered how Klebsiella (and others) deals with capsule production’s costs ?
The paper: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Thread👇