Mark Mandel
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markjmandel.bsky.social
Mark Mandel
@markjmandel.bsky.social
Bacterial geneticist focused on microbe-animal communication. Professor UW-Madison. Messages are my personal views.
Congratulations to the @uwmadison.bsky.social Badgers Women's Hockey athletes headed to the Olympics! Representing multiple countries, this is the best of the USA and of Wisconsin.
January 25, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Excited to announce the upcoming 2026 Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity GRC and GRS meeting taking place July 12 - 17, 2026 at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. This meeting will be chaired by yours truly and co-chaired by
@sunnyshinlab.bsky.social www.grc.org/microbial-to...
2026 Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity will be held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
January 24, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
We just released #anvio v9, "eunice" 🎉

This version represents over 2,000 changes in the codebase since v8, increasing the total number of programs in the anvi'o ecosystem to 176.

Read the release notes:

github.com/merenlab/anv...

Visit our up-to-date web page:

anvio.org
January 20, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Reminder for those applying for #NIH grants using the #ScienCV templates. You can format the text sections using html codes:

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January 16, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Save the date... The Symbiosis Gordon Conference is headed back to Tuscany June 20-25, 2027 with @ngerardo.bsky.social as Chair! www.grc.org/animal-micro...
January 21, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
very sad news. Peer Bork was one of the leaders of our field, a wonderful scientist, and he's much too young to be gone. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...
In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL
EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.
www.embl.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Thrilled to share that my first-author paper is now published in Nature Communications! 🎉 Huge thanks to my PI, Dr. Drew Bridges (@bridgesbio.bsky.social), my collaborators, and all the incredible lab members for their support throughout this project

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A small periplasmic protein governs broad physiological adaptations in Vibrio cholerae via regulation of the DbfRS two-component system - Nature Communications
A two-component system, DbfRS, regulates biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae. Here, Nguyen et al. identify a small periplasmic protein that controls the activity of the system’s receptor, and show th...
www.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Grinnell College has openings for two 1-year term positionsto teach microbiology and immunology. More information here:
apply.interfolio.com/179939
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
We are hiring new faculty!! Come join our amazing community in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine! The deadline for applications is 2/21, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. facultyopportunities.wustl.edu/Posting/Deta...
Opportunity Details - Faculty Opportunities
facultyopportunities.wustl.edu
January 8, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
The final form of my 2nd postdoc paper with the Bassler Lab! Turns out our favorite quorum-sensing phage isn’t a one-off, but rather a member of a globally dispersed family of phages that sense a universal autoinducer.

#phagesky #microsky

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species | mBio
The discovery of quorum-sensing responsive linear plasmid phages has transformed understanding of phage-bacterial interactions by demonstrating inter-domain chemical communication. To date, however, e...
journals.asm.org
December 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Registration is open for September’s Vibrio2026 conference in Berlin! event.fourwaves.com/vibrio2026/p...
Vibrio2026: The International Meeting on the Biology of Vibrios
Join Vibrio2026: The International Meeting on the Biology of Vibrios, September 13-16, 2026. Learn more on Fourwaves.
event.fourwaves.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Maintaining microbiota across diverse symbiotic organs in Euprymna scolopes: Insights into shared immune responses from @nidhivijayan.bsky.social John Briseño, Oleg Simakov, @spencernyholm.bsky.social in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
January 5, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
It is an oversimplification to say that science is always changing. Although well-established theories may be overturned on rare occasion, scientific knowledge builds on prior knowledge. Scientific methods, fields and discoveries are predominantly cumulative, whereas pseudoscience fails to progress.
“The history of science is indeed a graveyard of theories, but the fact that science keeps changing is a mark of its strength. It keeps changing because the world is complex and full of wonder. That isn’t a problem; it’s the engine that drives scientific progress.”
Opinion | Science Keeps Changing. So Why Should We Trust It?
www.nytimes.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
James Cook is the 2025 rushing champ
January 5, 2026 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Submit your abstracts for ASM Microbe 2026!
As a member of the Scientific Program Committee, I can vouch for great science with something for everyone!
@asm.org

asm.org/events/asm-m...
ASM Microbe | Abstracts
ASM Microbe showcases the best microbial sciences in the world and provides a one-of-a-kind forum to explore everything from basic microbiology to translation and application.
asm.org
December 22, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Hey all, I reached out to the PO of my NIGMS MIRA to ask if the gov't shut down, and rescheduling of study sections, might allow for some accommodation to the standard rule that PIs cannot resubmit a MIRA while their MIRA (or other RPG) is under review (waiting in scores or summary statements) 🧪
December 19, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Professor Ruth: Coming Fall 2026!

I'm thrilled to announce that I have officially accepted a tenure-track faculty position in the Biology Department at @macalestercollege.bsky.social!

#HeyMac #NewProfessor #WomanInSTEM
December 19, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
Live thread of the NSF biology virtual office hour:

🧵
December 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
I think some folks might be happy to see this. NIGMS MIRA R35 for EI/NI has been published. PAR-26-121 files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...
PAR-26-121: Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) (R35 - Clinical Trial Optional)
files.simpler.grants.gov
December 11, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
The newest issue of Microcosm from @asm.org is now out! It's all about animal microbiology and I was excited to contribute the story about the fascinating vibrio-squid symbiosis (my story is available via member log-in, but others are free). asm.org/magazine/202...

#MicroSky #Microbiology
Animal Microbiology | ASM.org
Why do animals eat poop? What’s decimating amphibian populations? Why do squid glow?
asm.org
December 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Read @jtsangwrites.bsky.social's article about the squid-vibrio symbiosis in the latest @asm.org Microcosm magazine!
December 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
RhlR quorum-sensing receptor ligand sensitivity regulates the differential expression of phenazine genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.08.692981v1
December 9, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
It is rare as an editor to get to take on an article so uniquely in your wheelhouse. Sharing some wonderful work by Guarnaccia et al. from the Perez, Ng, and Neiditch labs. #structuralbiology of #pathogens @plos.org
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Structure-function studies of Vibrio cholerae quorum-sensing receptor CqsR signal recognition
Author summary Quorum sensing, a form of bacterial cell-cell communication, regulates diverse developmental behaviors. This study investigates CqsR, a transmembrane receptor in Vibrio cholerae, the ga...
dx.plos.org
September 8, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Mark Mandel
The new Enabling Discovery through GEnomics (EDGE) Program page is posted. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have questions. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Enabling Discovery Through Genomics (EDGE)
www.nsf.gov
December 8, 2025 at 9:00 PM