Rhys Allen
@rhysallensysbio.bsky.social
#BlackLivesMatter
Microbiologist postdoc-ish. 🦠😍 Systems metabolic engineering, synthetic ecology. 🧬✂️ @RhysAllenSysBio@genomic.social 🔬
Microbiologist postdoc-ish. 🦠😍 Systems metabolic engineering, synthetic ecology. 🧬✂️ @RhysAllenSysBio@genomic.social 🔬
Pinned
Rhys Allen
@rhysallensysbio.bsky.social
· Jan 21
Hire me ✨to make surface response models optimizing performance of synthetic bacterial consortia? 🦠🧬
Reposted by Rhys Allen
EnergyStar has been a massive benefit to the country and to everyone who wants useful information for buying an appliance
EPA says 'no final decision' has been made on whether to end Energy Star
thehill.com
EPA says ‘no final decision’ has been made on whether to end Energy Star
twp.ai
November 4, 2025 at 5:40 PM
EnergyStar has been a massive benefit to the country and to everyone who wants useful information for buying an appliance
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Heartbreaking truth: At just 1.5°C of #warming (where we already are), 70–90% of #CoralReefs could vanish. At 2.0°C, almost all (>99%) are gone. We’re watching a living wonder cross a #TippingPoint.
#MarineEcology 🧪🌍🌐🌊🔥
#MarineEcology 🧪🌍🌐🌊🔥
October 26, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Heartbreaking truth: At just 1.5°C of #warming (where we already are), 70–90% of #CoralReefs could vanish. At 2.0°C, almost all (>99%) are gone. We’re watching a living wonder cross a #TippingPoint.
#MarineEcology 🧪🌍🌐🌊🔥
#MarineEcology 🧪🌍🌐🌊🔥
Reposted by Rhys Allen
First time posting on Bluesky! 🥳 We discovered a new pilus family in cyanobacteria. The pilin has a novel protein fold that forms a super-tight double-layer tube. Similar gene clusters exist in a few cyanobacterial orders. A great collaboration with John and others! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A family of tubular pili from harmful algal bloom forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa - Nature Communications
Ricca et al discover a new family of tubular pili in Microcystis aeruginosa, a harmful algal bloom-forming cyanobacterium. These pili are crucial for buoyancy by forming cell micro-colonies, which inc...
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:08 AM
First time posting on Bluesky! 🥳 We discovered a new pilus family in cyanobacteria. The pilin has a novel protein fold that forms a super-tight double-layer tube. Similar gene clusters exist in a few cyanobacterial orders. A great collaboration with John and others! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Any #ArchaeaSky #mevoSky folks know of a publication describing 16S amplicon Illumina sequence of a mock library including archaea?
I have this v helpful paper by Schirmer et al, but it's V4 only; hoping for V3-V4 or similar, to test species level taxonomic resolution. doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku1341
I have this v helpful paper by Schirmer et al, but it's V4 only; hoping for V3-V4 or similar, to test species level taxonomic resolution. doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku1341
October 19, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Any #ArchaeaSky #mevoSky folks know of a publication describing 16S amplicon Illumina sequence of a mock library including archaea?
I have this v helpful paper by Schirmer et al, but it's V4 only; hoping for V3-V4 or similar, to test species level taxonomic resolution. doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku1341
I have this v helpful paper by Schirmer et al, but it's V4 only; hoping for V3-V4 or similar, to test species level taxonomic resolution. doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku1341
Reposted by Rhys Allen
October 17, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Today's a good day to sign up for the #generalstrike #nokings
generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
@generalstrikeus.bsky.social
generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
@generalstrikeus.bsky.social
The Strike Card — The General Strike
By Signing a Strike Card is one of most important steps you can take in ensuring the success of The General Strike. By doing so you will receive important emails and SMS updates.
The Strike card is ...
generalstrikeus.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Today's a good day to sign up for the #generalstrike #nokings
generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
@generalstrikeus.bsky.social
generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
@generalstrikeus.bsky.social
Reposted by Rhys Allen
44 experts from 15 countries issued a stark warning about the dangers of crossing an ocean circulation tipping point. I had the honor to present it to the Icelandic 🇮🇸 climate minister Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson yesterday. #AMOC
Full letter with signatories: en.vedur.is/media/ads_in...
Full letter with signatories: en.vedur.is/media/ads_in...
October 20, 2024 at 8:53 AM
44 experts from 15 countries issued a stark warning about the dangers of crossing an ocean circulation tipping point. I had the honor to present it to the Icelandic 🇮🇸 climate minister Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson yesterday. #AMOC
Full letter with signatories: en.vedur.is/media/ads_in...
Full letter with signatories: en.vedur.is/media/ads_in...
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Wondering why #altgovs are changing their banners to show support for EPA?
EPA civil servants drafted a public Declaration of Dissent to their Administrator, Lee Zeldin, imploring he recommits to protecting Americans people and environment. Read here: www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...
EPA civil servants drafted a public Declaration of Dissent to their Administrator, Lee Zeldin, imploring he recommits to protecting Americans people and environment. Read here: www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...
July 12, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Wondering why #altgovs are changing their banners to show support for EPA?
EPA civil servants drafted a public Declaration of Dissent to their Administrator, Lee Zeldin, imploring he recommits to protecting Americans people and environment. Read here: www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...
EPA civil servants drafted a public Declaration of Dissent to their Administrator, Lee Zeldin, imploring he recommits to protecting Americans people and environment. Read here: www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Yesterday, I DM'd people an embarrassing secret about myself if they called Congress about RFK. (It quickly got overwhelming.) Today, I ask you to do the same, but I'm going to make this way wilder: for every 25 call screenshots, I'll post one embarrassing fact on main 5calls.org/issue/center...
Stop the Anti-Vaccine Takeover of the CDC ⭑ 5 Calls
The Trump administration is continuing to undermine public health and scientific integrity by firing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) …
5calls.org
August 29, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Yesterday, I DM'd people an embarrassing secret about myself if they called Congress about RFK. (It quickly got overwhelming.) Today, I ask you to do the same, but I'm going to make this way wilder: for every 25 call screenshots, I'll post one embarrassing fact on main 5calls.org/issue/center...
Monday is Labor Day -- ask your friends what events are happening in support of #Democracy 💪🇺🇸 #unions #labormovement #workingclass
August 29, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Monday is Labor Day -- ask your friends what events are happening in support of #Democracy 💪🇺🇸 #unions #labormovement #workingclass
This looks like a super useful framework. 👀
I wrote about gene-gene interactions (epistasis) and the implications for heritability, trait definitions, natural selection, and therapeutic interventions. Biology is clearly full of causal interactions, so why don't we see them in the data? A 🧵:
Beneath the surface of the sum
When genetic interactions matter and when they don't
open.substack.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM
This looks like a super useful framework. 👀
Reposted by Rhys Allen
“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...
www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...
Former CDC Director William Foege: How public health can fight back in a time of dangerous nonsense
“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.
www.statnews.com
August 18, 2025 at 6:42 PM
“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...
www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...
Reposted by Rhys Allen
If you need another reason to check:
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:27 PM
If you need another reason to check:
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Important to keep in mind that these are *voluntary* resignations made by people who have been fighting tooth and nail to protect public health from HHS leadership & have ultimately found that impossible. Not a purge – the last choice left to dedicated, incredibly capable public servants.
the folks resigning are dedicated public servants who would not do this unless they felt that a) they could no longer do their jobs and b) they had no other choice. many of them worked at CDC for decades + helped build the modern agency that trump, musk, & rfk. jr have wrecked in a matter of months.
August 27, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Important to keep in mind that these are *voluntary* resignations made by people who have been fighting tooth and nail to protect public health from HHS leadership & have ultimately found that impossible. Not a purge – the last choice left to dedicated, incredibly capable public servants.
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Are you a theoretical biologist that is intererested in the ecology and evolution of metabolic interactions among microorganisms?
Do you like to cooperate with experimentalists?
Do you have a PhD and experience in modelling and statistics?
Then this position might be for you👇:
shorturl.at/iiiOv
Do you like to cooperate with experimentalists?
Do you have a PhD and experience in modelling and statistics?
Then this position might be for you👇:
shorturl.at/iiiOv
August 22, 2025 at 9:49 AM
It's like you can see the interaction between ecology and evolution happening right in front of you. 💚🦠🧬
#mevosky #bluesci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#mevosky #bluesci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Structure-informed microbial population genetics elucidate selective pressures that shape protein evolution
An integrated analysis framework shows a strong association between within-population genetic variation and protein structure.
www.science.org
August 26, 2025 at 4:09 PM
It's like you can see the interaction between ecology and evolution happening right in front of you. 💚🦠🧬
#mevosky #bluesci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#mevosky #bluesci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Yesterday, SCOTUS sided with Trump to re-terminate hundreds of NIH grants.
SCOTUS
chose partisan politics over rule of law.
It's clear they will roll over for Trump every time.
It is up to Congress
to protect
democracy. Tell them to
write protections
against terminations
into the 2026 budget.
SCOTUS
chose partisan politics over rule of law.
It's clear they will roll over for Trump every time.
It is up to Congress
to protect
democracy. Tell them to
write protections
against terminations
into the 2026 budget.
August 22, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Yesterday, SCOTUS sided with Trump to re-terminate hundreds of NIH grants.
SCOTUS
chose partisan politics over rule of law.
It's clear they will roll over for Trump every time.
It is up to Congress
to protect
democracy. Tell them to
write protections
against terminations
into the 2026 budget.
SCOTUS
chose partisan politics over rule of law.
It's clear they will roll over for Trump every time.
It is up to Congress
to protect
democracy. Tell them to
write protections
against terminations
into the 2026 budget.
Reposted by Rhys Allen
16% loss at NIH
22% loss at NIDA;
22% loss at NIMH, 18% NIA, 17% NIAID.
17% loss at NIAAA, finally answering the question about unusually huge losses of POs causing their funding slowness in the negative.
22% loss at NIDA;
22% loss at NIMH, 18% NIA, 17% NIAID.
17% loss at NIAAA, finally answering the question about unusually huge losses of POs causing their funding slowness in the negative.
Extensive story from ProPublica about HHS staffing cuts.
Outstanding reporting and a lot to digest.
projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...
Outstanding reporting and a lot to digest.
projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...
Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies
More than 20,500 workers have left or been pushed out of federal health agencies, a ProPublica analysis found. Staffers say the cuts will leave their agencies less equipped to conduct studies, perform...
projects.propublica.org
August 22, 2025 at 5:22 PM
16% loss at NIH
22% loss at NIDA;
22% loss at NIMH, 18% NIA, 17% NIAID.
17% loss at NIAAA, finally answering the question about unusually huge losses of POs causing their funding slowness in the negative.
22% loss at NIDA;
22% loss at NIMH, 18% NIA, 17% NIAID.
17% loss at NIAAA, finally answering the question about unusually huge losses of POs causing their funding slowness in the negative.
Reposted by Rhys Allen
🧪
As one can imagine, I have some thoughts. Here’s a thread no one asked for:
1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.
2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…
1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.
2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…
For some scientists fighting partisan attacks, the goal is to defend their work from political interference. But in retaliating, @katherinejwu.com reports, they also run the risk of advancing the narrative that they want to fight.
August 24, 2025 at 5:04 PM
🧪
Reposted by Rhys Allen
“Someday, I hope, we’re going to have a reckoning over the horrors of this moment, but I don’t think we can do it without a clearer understanding of how this fits into U.S. history. There’s a tendency to say, “This isn’t who we are,” and I get the impulse, but history is never that simple.”
Opinion | Concentration camps are not just part of our past, but our present and future
From David M. Perry: From Minnesota’s Fort Snelling to Japanese internment camps to Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, these camps have become an American tradition.
www.startribune.com
August 22, 2025 at 11:40 AM
“Someday, I hope, we’re going to have a reckoning over the horrors of this moment, but I don’t think we can do it without a clearer understanding of how this fits into U.S. history. There’s a tendency to say, “This isn’t who we are,” and I get the impulse, but history is never that simple.”
Reposted by Rhys Allen
Today, Philadelphia’s transit system SEPTA is cutting service by 20% & eliminating 32 bus routes, since GOP state legislators failed to agree to fund the agency www.washingtonpost.com/transportati...
What’s going to happen? A death spiral: Worse service ➡️ fewer riders ➡️ less revenue ➡️ worse service
What’s going to happen? A death spiral: Worse service ➡️ fewer riders ➡️ less revenue ➡️ worse service
August 24, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Today, Philadelphia’s transit system SEPTA is cutting service by 20% & eliminating 32 bus routes, since GOP state legislators failed to agree to fund the agency www.washingtonpost.com/transportati...
What’s going to happen? A death spiral: Worse service ➡️ fewer riders ➡️ less revenue ➡️ worse service
What’s going to happen? A death spiral: Worse service ➡️ fewer riders ➡️ less revenue ➡️ worse service
"In the past, I was content to leave the broader political debate and activism to others... The luxury of disengagement is no longer an option." -- Terrence Tao
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.
The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
August 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
"In the past, I was content to leave the broader political debate and activism to others... The luxury of disengagement is no longer an option." -- Terrence Tao
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...