Vaughn Cooper
@vscooper.micropopbio.org
Evangelist for the study of evolution in action by everyone.
Pitt Prof | EvolvingSTEM | biofilms | EvMed | genomics entrepreneur (@SeqCoast.bsky.social, @midauthorbio.bsky.social) | ASM President-Elect | exercise addict ~ swim bike run
Pitt Prof | EvolvingSTEM | biofilms | EvMed | genomics entrepreneur (@SeqCoast.bsky.social, @midauthorbio.bsky.social) | ASM President-Elect | exercise addict ~ swim bike run
Pinned
Vaughn Cooper
@vscooper.micropopbio.org
· Jan 21
I'm incredibly honored by this opportunity to serve as President-Elect of @asm.org starting this summer. Looking forward to working with the Board, ASM leadership ,and staff to help advance the microbial sciences. I'm also glad to share my Vision statement, please join us!
asm.org/Press-Releas...
asm.org/Press-Releas...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
The Long-Term Evolution Experiment has returned home. Led by Professors Richard Lenski (@relenski.bsky.social) and Jeffrey Barrick, this groundbreaking work continues to reveal how bacteria evolve in real time. 12 flasks. 1 legacy.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/f6vjyjvr
🔗https://tinyurl.com/f6vjyjvr
November 10, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The Long-Term Evolution Experiment has returned home. Led by Professors Richard Lenski (@relenski.bsky.social) and Jeffrey Barrick, this groundbreaking work continues to reveal how bacteria evolve in real time. 12 flasks. 1 legacy.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/f6vjyjvr
🔗https://tinyurl.com/f6vjyjvr
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
We don’t talk enough about how Operation Warp Speed saved many lives in spite of Trump, nor how many people died because of his failure of leadership. Great piece from my great colleague @maciekboni.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/maciekbo...
open.substack.com/pub/maciekbo...
COVID’s leadership failures
Two moments that were too big for us, and the unfixable chain of mistakes that was set off after November 2020
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:34 PM
We don’t talk enough about how Operation Warp Speed saved many lives in spite of Trump, nor how many people died because of his failure of leadership. Great piece from my great colleague @maciekboni.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/maciekbo...
open.substack.com/pub/maciekbo...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
See below for less subtlety.
More folks will have to ask groups like @scholars.org that uncritically amplify the arguments of In Covid's Wake precisely what they are doing. Is it that they didn't read what the authors wrote, actually agree, or are just 'getting along'?
bsky.app/profile/josh...
More folks will have to ask groups like @scholars.org that uncritically amplify the arguments of In Covid's Wake precisely what they are doing. Is it that they didn't read what the authors wrote, actually agree, or are just 'getting along'?
bsky.app/profile/josh...
"COVID Revisionism Has Gone Too Far"
Ya think?
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Fascinating given that "In Covid's Wake" is unable to grapple with (i) the extent of COVID mortality and morbidity; (ii) lives saved due to interventions; (iii) missed opportunities to align health + the economy.
Ya think?
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Fascinating given that "In Covid's Wake" is unable to grapple with (i) the extent of COVID mortality and morbidity; (ii) lives saved due to interventions; (iii) missed opportunities to align health + the economy.
COVID Revisionism Has Gone Too Far
If the center and left succumb to the view that “nothing worked,” no one will remain to defend sensible public-health measures the next time a pandemic comes around.
www.theatlantic.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:08 PM
See below for less subtlety.
More folks will have to ask groups like @scholars.org that uncritically amplify the arguments of In Covid's Wake precisely what they are doing. Is it that they didn't read what the authors wrote, actually agree, or are just 'getting along'?
bsky.app/profile/josh...
More folks will have to ask groups like @scholars.org that uncritically amplify the arguments of In Covid's Wake precisely what they are doing. Is it that they didn't read what the authors wrote, actually agree, or are just 'getting along'?
bsky.app/profile/josh...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
Every cubic meter of air contains anywhere from 10 to 10 million microbes, depending on the altitude, location, season and time of day. At an observatory Watop Puy de Dôme, a 4,800-foot inactive volcano in France, microbiologists sample the aeromicrobiome.
Microbes Also Change the Climate. Could That Help Us? | Quanta Magazine
A collection of short dispatches from the field of climate microbiology conveys the contributions that single-celled life forms make to our climate system, and how we can work with them to address…
www.quantamagazine.org
November 7, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Every cubic meter of air contains anywhere from 10 to 10 million microbes, depending on the altitude, location, season and time of day. At an observatory Watop Puy de Dôme, a 4,800-foot inactive volcano in France, microbiologists sample the aeromicrobiome.
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
How do GWAS and rare variant burden tests rank gene signals?
In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!
🧬🧪🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!
🧬🧪🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Specificity, length and luck drive gene rankings in association studies - Nature
Genetic association tests prioritize candidate genes based on different criteria.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:05 AM
How do GWAS and rare variant burden tests rank gene signals?
In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!
🧬🧪🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!
🧬🧪🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
LFG! 🤓🧬🔭🧪
November 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
LFG! 🤓🧬🔭🧪
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
November 6, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
If you're looking for a faculty position at the intersection of ecology and computing (both broadly defined), please apply to this joint search between the CEE Department and the College of Computing at MIT: cee.mit.edu/people/share...
Faculty Position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Schwarzman College of Computing - cee.mit.edu
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), together with the Schwarzman College of Computing (SCC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge MA, seeks candidate...
cee.mit.edu
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 PM
If you're looking for a faculty position at the intersection of ecology and computing (both broadly defined), please apply to this joint search between the CEE Department and the College of Computing at MIT: cee.mit.edu/people/share...
Love the idea of the "deletion test" posed by @needhibhalla.bsky.social & coauthors in their commentary about costs of cutting DEI efforts in science.
What if that student were "deleted?" What will the costs be?
Screenshots attached to enhance access. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
What if that student were "deleted?" What will the costs be?
Screenshots attached to enhance access. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 5, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Love the idea of the "deletion test" posed by @needhibhalla.bsky.social & coauthors in their commentary about costs of cutting DEI efforts in science.
What if that student were "deleted?" What will the costs be?
Screenshots attached to enhance access. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
What if that student were "deleted?" What will the costs be?
Screenshots attached to enhance access. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
Microbial eukaryote folks, you've got two more weeks to apply for this TT job: apply.interfolio.com/174456. We're a supportive department with a great breadth of interests, with really sharp students, in a very livable city with the nation's best park system. Come join us!
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Microbial eukaryote folks, you've got two more weeks to apply for this TT job: apply.interfolio.com/174456. We're a supportive department with a great breadth of interests, with really sharp students, in a very livable city with the nation's best park system. Come join us!
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
Getting vaccinated is much safer than getting Covid
For children and teens, heart and blood vessel complications of Covid overshadow the very rare and short-term risk of vaccinations, a new report from nearly 14 million kids
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
November 5, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Getting vaccinated is much safer than getting Covid
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
I got to know Pittsburgh by canvassing every weekend for Kamala Harris, and I will knock on every damn door in Pittsburgh for @conorlambpa.bsky.social if he primaries John Fetterman.
A lot of Democrats were out there fighting for democracy today. Thanks to them.
November 5, 2025 at 12:19 AM
I got to know Pittsburgh by canvassing every weekend for Kamala Harris, and I will knock on every damn door in Pittsburgh for @conorlambpa.bsky.social if he primaries John Fetterman.
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
David Roberts said Yamamoto has successfully powered down and will be in hibernation mode and living in his closet like the robot from Small Wonder until pitchers and catchers next year when they will update his firmware
November 4, 2025 at 8:23 PM
David Roberts said Yamamoto has successfully powered down and will be in hibernation mode and living in his closet like the robot from Small Wonder until pitchers and catchers next year when they will update his firmware
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
We're just 6 months away from @keystoneSymposia.bsky.social Beyond #Antibiotics : Emerging Strategies Combating #BacterialInfection, May 2026 in Breckenridge! 👉Scholarship and short talk abstract deadlines are Jan 7! 🧐 keysym.us/KSBeyondAntibiotics26 #KSBeyondAntibiotics26
Beyond Antibiotics: Emerging Strategies for Combating Bacterial Infection | Keystone Symposia
Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Beyond Antibiotics: Emerging Strategies for Combating Bacterial Infection, May 2026, in Breckenridge, with field leaders!
keysym.us
November 4, 2025 at 2:47 PM
We're just 6 months away from @keystoneSymposia.bsky.social Beyond #Antibiotics : Emerging Strategies Combating #BacterialInfection, May 2026 in Breckenridge! 👉Scholarship and short talk abstract deadlines are Jan 7! 🧐 keysym.us/KSBeyondAntibiotics26 #KSBeyondAntibiotics26
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
1/ It is my pleasure to share the latest preprint of the team: "Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants"
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses!
A thread ...
#PlantScience
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses!
A thread ...
#PlantScience
Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants
Symbioses have been fundamental to colonization of terrestrial ecosystems by plants and their evolution. Emergence of the ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was followed by the diversification o...
doi.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:06 AM
1/ It is my pleasure to share the latest preprint of the team: "Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants"
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses!
A thread ...
#PlantScience
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses!
A thread ...
#PlantScience
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
Australia has so much clean energy they're literally giving it away. Meanwhile, GOP is in all-out war to stamp out solar
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Australian households to get free electricity three hours a day
Saying there is enough solar power for everyone in the daytime, the federal government will direct retailers to provide three hours of free power every day to consumers.
www.abc.net.au
November 4, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Australia has so much clean energy they're literally giving it away. Meanwhile, GOP is in all-out war to stamp out solar
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
A 💎 quote from Rustom in yesterday's seminar:
"The problem is that grants last at most 5 years, but humoral immunity lasts longer than that, so how do you study how it wanes?"
(turns out that continuously monitored zoo animals help)
"The problem is that grants last at most 5 years, but humoral immunity lasts longer than that, so how do you study how it wanes?"
(turns out that continuously monitored zoo animals help)
Today on Club EvMed we enjoyed a super discussion with the authors of this important paper. Join us next time or enjoy the recording!
"Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection" by Antia, Koelle & Bull
Club EvMed: sites.duke.edu/clubevmed/
academic.oup.com/emph/article...
"Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection" by Antia, Koelle & Bull
Club EvMed: sites.duke.edu/clubevmed/
academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection
Abstract. Viruses differ in the number and types of host tissues in which they replicate. For example, systemically replicating viruses such as measles inf
academic.oup.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
A 💎 quote from Rustom in yesterday's seminar:
"The problem is that grants last at most 5 years, but humoral immunity lasts longer than that, so how do you study how it wanes?"
(turns out that continuously monitored zoo animals help)
"The problem is that grants last at most 5 years, but humoral immunity lasts longer than that, so how do you study how it wanes?"
(turns out that continuously monitored zoo animals help)
The center of my Venn diagram of interests👇🏻 except for my team fandom ☘️
1/5: Interested in basketball? Disease ecology? Epidemics?
5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pandemic-era sports league operations as a new paradigm for local epidemic resilience
Strategic, coordinated, and rapid responses are essential when pathogens emerge, yet these responses are often mishandled during epidemics due to myriad factors, including entrenched socioeconomic and...
www.medrxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:12 PM
The center of my Venn diagram of interests👇🏻 except for my team fandom ☘️
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
1/5: Interested in basketball? Disease ecology? Epidemics?
5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pandemic-era sports league operations as a new paradigm for local epidemic resilience
Strategic, coordinated, and rapid responses are essential when pathogens emerge, yet these responses are often mishandled during epidemics due to myriad factors, including entrenched socioeconomic and...
www.medrxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 11:56 AM
1/5: Interested in basketball? Disease ecology? Epidemics?
5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
5 years ago, the NBA embarked on a great experiment in infection control: "The NBA Bubble." In a new preprint led by Dr. Yun Tao + Dr. Nita Bharti, we examine it's underlying disease ecology principles.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
Read more in @maxroser.bsky.social’s article “Our history is a battle against the microbes: we lost terribly before science, public health, and vaccines allowed us to protect ourselves”: ourworldindata.org/microbes-bat...
Our history is a battle against the microbes: we lost terribly before science, public health, and vaccines allowed us to protect ourselves
For most of history, we were losing the battle against microbes. Vaccines were one of the breakthroughs that turned it around.
ourworldindata.org
October 30, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Read more in @maxroser.bsky.social’s article “Our history is a battle against the microbes: we lost terribly before science, public health, and vaccines allowed us to protect ourselves”: ourworldindata.org/microbes-bat...
Reposted by Vaughn Cooper
Humanity’s history is a continuous battle between us and the microbes. For most of our history, we were on the losing side. It wasn’t even close. We were losing very decisively.
October 30, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Humanity’s history is a continuous battle between us and the microbes. For most of our history, we were on the losing side. It wasn’t even close. We were losing very decisively.
Today on Club EvMed we enjoyed a super discussion with the authors of this important paper. Join us next time or enjoy the recording!
"Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection" by Antia, Koelle & Bull
Club EvMed: sites.duke.edu/clubevmed/
academic.oup.com/emph/article...
"Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection" by Antia, Koelle & Bull
Club EvMed: sites.duke.edu/clubevmed/
academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection
Abstract. Viruses differ in the number and types of host tissues in which they replicate. For example, systemically replicating viruses such as measles inf
academic.oup.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Today on Club EvMed we enjoyed a super discussion with the authors of this important paper. Join us next time or enjoy the recording!
"Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection" by Antia, Koelle & Bull
Club EvMed: sites.duke.edu/clubevmed/
academic.oup.com/emph/article...
"Waning immunity drives respiratory virus evolution and reinfection" by Antia, Koelle & Bull
Club EvMed: sites.duke.edu/clubevmed/
academic.oup.com/emph/article...
We are really proud of this report from our 3 colloquia convened by the AAM and supported by the Moore Foundation. A few experts even said they would use it as their introductory textbook for this area. Please check it out!
How did life begin, and why does it matter? Scientists are tracing early microbial life–from LUCA to multicellularity–to unlock insights for biotech, climate science and even space exploration. Read the article: asm.org/articles/202...
Early Microbial Evolution | ASM.org
How did life begin, and why does it matter? Scientists are tracing early microbial life—from LUCA to multicellularity—to unlock insights for biotech, climate science and even space exploration.
asm.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
We are really proud of this report from our 3 colloquia convened by the AAM and supported by the Moore Foundation. A few experts even said they would use it as their introductory textbook for this area. Please check it out!
We are really proud of this report from our 3 colloquia convened by the AAM and supported by the Moore Foundation. A few experts even said they would use it as their introductory textbook for this area. Please check it out!
How did life begin, and why does it matter? Scientists are tracing early microbial life–from LUCA to multicellularity–to unlock insights for biotech, climate science and even space exploration. Read the article: asm.org/articles/202...
Early Microbial Evolution | ASM.org
How did life begin, and why does it matter? Scientists are tracing early microbial life—from LUCA to multicellularity—to unlock insights for biotech, climate science and even space exploration.
asm.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
We are really proud of this report from our 3 colloquia convened by the AAM and supported by the Moore Foundation. A few experts even said they would use it as their introductory textbook for this area. Please check it out!