Mya Breitbart

@viromegirl.bsky.social

5.1K followers 2K following 580 posts

Professor at the University of South Florida. Marine microbiology and virology, with a smattering of eukaryotes here and there because focus is for losers. Characterizing the global virome, one virus at a time. Owned by a very cute dog and cat. She/her .. more

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Mya Breitbart is an American biologist and professor of biological oceanography at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science. She is best known for her contributions to the field of viral metagenomics. Popular Science recognized her because of her approach of not trying to sequence individual viruses or organisms but to sequence everything in a given ecosystem. .. more

Environmental science 38%

Biology 28%

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Mya Breitbart @viromegirl.bsky.social · Oct 2

We're hiring for several positions (a post-bac researcher in #transcriptomics, a #phage #postdoc, a senior researcher (broad topics) and a graduate student to work on #ciliates) - find info here: www.marine.usf.edu/genomics/app...

Apply - Genomics

www.marine.usf.edu

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 21h

#Virus discovery has accelerated but linking viruses to hosts is hard. @sullivan-lab.bsky.social use synthetic #microbiomes to optimize & benchmark #Hi-C for virus-host linkage inference, applying this to existing #soil data to reveal 100s of novel linkages @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3MlAENO

Comparison of virus-host prediction from Hi-C and in silico tools. Top: Eular plot showing the overlap of viruses with host predictions obtained from the experimental Hi-C linkage approach, or one of two in silico tools (iPHoP and VirMatcher) that use different probabilistic models to aggregate output of various sequence-based features to create host prediction scores. Bottom: Comparison of virus-host predictions across all samples between Hi-C and iPHoP, shown with and without applying a Z-score filter for the Hi-C linkages. Black bars indicate congruent predictions identified from both tools and gray bars indicate non-congruent predictions. Note: Although many viruses had multiple predicted hosts from each tool, only the top-scoring prediction for each virus was considered in this comparison.

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 23h

Deep-sea corals near cold seeps associate with sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs in the family Ca. Thioglobaceae
#microbiology #corals #microbiome
@microbiomej.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Reposted by Simon Roux, Mart Krupovìč, Mya Breitbart , and 2 more Simon Roux, Mart Krupovìč, Mya Breitbart, José R. Penadés, Alan McNally

Alexander Harms @aharms485.bsky.social · 5d

🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.

Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.

A thread 1/8

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Michael Henson, Ph.D. @aquaticmicrolab.bsky.social · 5d

So excited for our #nsffunded research to kick off with an amazing team of researchers @viromegirl.bsky.social @ianhewson.bsky.social @drchriskellogg.bsky.social Dr. Marilyn Brandt (UVI).
newsroom.niu.edu/niu-biologis...

NIU biologist dives into coral reef mystery with NSF-funded research | NIU Newsroom

DEKALB, IL — When long-spined sea urchins across the Caribbean began dying by the thousands in 2022, marine scientists feared a repeat of an ecological...

newsroom.niu.edu

Reposted by Scott C. Doney, Mya Breitbart

Jennifer Biddle @jenbiddle.bsky.social · 5d

We’re hiring! Ad for coastal physical oceanographer: careers.udel.edu/en-us/job/50...

Chat me if you have any questions! #oceanography #marine

University of Delaware - Details - Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Coastal Physical Oceanography

careers.udel.edu

Reposted by Mart Krupovìč, Mya Breitbart

BejaLab @bejalab.bsky.social · 13d

Viral NblA proteins negatively affect oceanic cyanobacterial photosynthesis www.nature.com/articles/s41...
this project was led by @omernadel.bsky.social and is a joint work between the labs of @bejalab.bsky.social, Debbie Lindell and Oded Kleifeld from @biologytechnion.bsky.social

the sun is shining through the clouds in the sky above the ocean

ALT: the sun is shining through the clouds in the sky above the ocean

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Scott C. Doney, Isabelle M. Côté, Simon Roux , and 5 more Scott C. Doney, Isabelle M. Côté, Simon Roux, Elena Litchman, Joshua S. Weitz, Dustin J. Marshall, Mya Breitbart, Jessica A. Gephart

Jon Puritz @jonpuritz.marineevoeco.com · 15d

Job Opening **ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MARINE ECOLOGY**, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island.

jobs.uri.edu/postings/15960

Job Opening **ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MARINE ECOLOGY**, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island.

The Department of Biological Sciences in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) at the University of Rhode Island (URI) invites applications for an academic year (9 month), tenure-track Assistant Professor position specializing in Marine Ecology. URI, the top public university in New England, is a land and sea grant research university located in Kingston, Rhode Island, a beautiful seaside community that is well connected by car, bus, and rail about 40 min from Providence, an hour from Boston and 3 hours from New York City.

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Julie Meyer, PhD @lebetimonas.bsky.social · Oct 16

Looking for a postdoctoral fellowship in 2026? The Ewel fellowship at UF provides salary and research support for 2 years. I would be happy to sponsor a postdoc interested in microbial ecology of Florida coastal ecosystems.

postdoc.aa.ufl.edu/current-post...

Ewel Postdoctoral Fellowship | Office of Postdoctoral Affairs - University of Florida

postdoc.aa.ufl.edu

Mya Breitbart @viromegirl.bsky.social · Oct 13

Thanks Rob!

Reposted by Jonathan A. Eisen, Simon Roux, Mya Breitbart

Rob Edwards @linsalrob.bsky.social · Oct 12

🦠Join the legendary @viromegirl.bsky.social lab

Jobs in marine micro, virology & genomics
💻 Viral 'omics in seagrass
🧬 Marine microbial & bioinformatics
🧫 Vibrio phage + iron biogeochemistry
🎓 sea urchin–ciliate diseases

👉 www.marine.usf.edu/genomics/app...

#MarineVirology #Phagesky #Microbiome

Welcome to the Breitbart Lab - Genomics

We are modern virus hunters, using metagenomic sequencing to discover viruses in a wide range of environments and hosts. Have fun exploring the marvels of microbiology on this website!

marine.usf.edu

Mya Breitbart @viromegirl.bsky.social · Oct 9

So exciting!!! Congrats Gina and Johana!

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Johana Rotterova @micrott.bsky.social · Oct 8

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

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Didier Mazel @amazeld.bsky.social · Oct 2

A fresh view on phage specificity, which challenges the traditional view of a narrow host spectrum of phages by unveiling that multihost associations are common across ecosystems kudos at @mmarbout.bsky.social &
@rkoszul.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Phages with a broad host range are common across ecosystems - Nature Microbiology

Proximity-ligation-based sequencing from 111 samples and 5 environments reveals that a substantial proportion of phages infect multiple species.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Mya Breitbart, Allan Konopka

Kristen DeAngelis 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🍉 @kristenobacter.bsky.social · Oct 2

UMass Amherst Microbiology is hiring a tenure-track virologist. Come work with me! 🦠🧪
careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-u...

Details - Assistant Professor - Virology | Human Resources | UMass Amherst

careers.umass.edu

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Ian Hewson @ianhewson.bsky.social · Sep 28

Day 2 of Diadema kickoff. Today was all about Diadema itself (cf environmental parameters). We were excited to see so many apparently healthy animals in shallow water! We also set up an experiment to examine microbial participation in echinoderm tissue decay. Such a great start to this time series!

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Ian Hewson @ianhewson.bsky.social · Sep 27

Day 1 of NSF sponsored Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis time series in Brewers Bay, St Thomas, USVI with @drchriskellogg.bsky.social @viromegirl.bsky.social @aquaticmicrolab.bsky.social and Prof Marilyn Brandt at UVI. After months of planning it was time to figure out what makes sense from

Reposted by Mart Krupovìč, Mya Breitbart

Andrian Gajigan @adi-gajigan.bsky.social · Sep 17

Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail
nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63463-6

Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail - Nature Communications

Rodrigues and Queiroz et al. report the discovery of Naiavirus, the largest enveloped virus, isolated from a Brazil biome. With an oval capsid and flexible tail, its giant genome holds many novel gene...

nature.com

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

BejaLab @bejalab.bsky.social · Sep 10

Iron-respiring microbes could have a role in sulfur cycling www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Iron-respiring microbes could have a role in sulfur cycling

A species of bacteria grows when both ferrihydrite and sulfide are present, but not when either is absent.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Michael Wagner, Mya Breitbart

cemess_vienna @cemess.bsky.social · Sep 10

Deadline approaching on Sept 17! We are hiring a Full Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry of Metals at #CeMESS at the University of Vienna.

Learn more: 🔗 edge.univie.ac.at/news-talks/n...

@edge-vienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at #EnvironmentalBiochemistry

We are hiring: Full Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry of Metals

Human activities are driving rapid environmental change on a global scale, with pollutants playing a critical role in pushing planetary systems beyond safe limits. These changes have profound conseque...

edge.univie.ac.at

Reposted by Scott C. Doney, Julie L. Lockwood, Elena Litchman , and 1 more Scott C. Doney, Julie L. Lockwood, Elena Litchman, Mya Breitbart

lukethompsonphd.bsky.social @lukethompsonphd.bsky.social · Sep 8

My group at NOAA/Miami is hiring a postdoc to lead a marine eDNA biodiversity effort (Bio-GO-SHIP). You'll develop and deploy high-throughput metabarcoding assays for ocean DNA. Help make foundational contributions to global marine biodiversity monitoring! t.co/p53s7E0YiL

https://explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job/509519

t.co

Mya Breitbart @viromegirl.bsky.social · Aug 30

I was so lucky to always have Elio’s curious ear and mind as a grad student. Truly the best.

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · Aug 30

Lovely tribute to Elio Schaechter, touching on his contribution to microbiology, #scicomm, undergrad teaching, and more. For those who read blogs, strongly recommend reading entries of Small Things Considered

🦠🔬

schaechter.asmblog.org

asm.org/podcasts/twi...

Missing the Company of Elio

Paying tribute to Elio Schaechter, former TWiM host, blogger, and microbiologist extraordinaire, and review of the finding that Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria - a form of ...

asm.org

Reposted by Elena Litchman, Nicole Dubilier, Mya Breitbart , and 1 more Elena Litchman, Nicole Dubilier, Mya Breitbart, Jason Stajich

Vesna Grujcic @vesnagrujcic.bsky.social · Aug 30

How do microbes become permanent partners? 🌊🔬🦠 Check out our new study published in Current Biology showing how cyanobacterial genomes evolve step-by-step into endosymbionts of diatoms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@currentbiology.bsky.social @mehrshmali.bsky.social

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Mark O. Martin @markowenmartin.bsky.social · Aug 29

New week-new episode of the #MattersMicrobial podcast!! Dr. Roxanne Beinart of the University of Rhode Island joins the #QualityQuorum to chat about the work her group does on deep sea chemoautrophic communities & symbioses! Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord?

youtu.be/mERRJOuEsB4?...

Mya Breitbart @viromegirl.bsky.social · Aug 28

The AMG term has been problematic since we introduced it to be honest (they’re not all metabolism related, there’s an unclear relationship with lysogenic conversion factors, etc…) so I’m excited to read this!

Reposted by Simon Roux, Mart Krupovìč, Mya Breitbart

Karthik Anantharaman @karthik-a.bsky.social · Aug 27

New paper alert! We suggest caution in the analyses of viral auxiliary metabolic genes and propose a new overarching term - 'auxiliary viral genes' (AVGs) to describe different types of such genes. @simrouxvirus.bsky.social #phagesky #Microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A call for caution in the biological interpretation of viral auxiliary metabolic genes - Nature Microbiology

This Perspective discusses virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes and provides a framework for the biological interpretation of these genes.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Scott C. Doney, Elena Litchman, Mya Breitbart

Rachel Gregor @rachelgregor.bsky.social · Aug 25

🌊🦠🧪 Delighted to share this work now out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/isme... The currency of microbial life is chemistry, but there’s so much still unknown about how metabolic interactions shape communities. 1/

Vitamin auxotrophies shape microbial community assembly on model marine particles

Abstract. Microbial community assembly is governed by the flow of carbon sources and other primary metabolites between species. However, central metabolism

doi.org

Reposted by Elena Litchman, Mya Breitbart, Juan Rocha , and 1 more Elena Litchman, Mya Breitbart, Juan Rocha, Benjamin Larue

N.S. Vitek @nsvitek.bsky.social · Aug 20

🚨 Job Alert! 🚨

Assistant Professor in Global Change and Disease Ecology at Stony Brook University, Department of Ecology & Evolution. Deadline: October 1.

#AcademicJobs #tenuretrack #facultyjobs

apply.interfolio.com/171403

(I love being here. Come join!)

@stonybrooku.bsky.social

Reposted by Mya Breitbart

Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Aug 20

Nitrogen availability shapes evolution of phage resistance in cyanobacteria

-in #ISMEJ

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

#phagesky

Nitrogen availability shapes evolution of phage resistance in cyanobacteria

Abstract. Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria play a key role in nitrogen and carbon biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystems. Under nitrogen-limited conditio

academic.oup.com

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