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Ajai Dandekar

@ajaidandekar.bsky.social

880 followers 270 following 190 posts

Sociomicrobiologist. Critical care and cystic fibrosis doctor. University of Washington. Views are my own. he/him

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Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

Dr. Izzy Taylor @labratiz.bsky.social · 5h

Another new preprint from our lab! This one details our efforts to produce new PqsE inhibitors and methods for assessing their potential to induce a conformational shift and weaken the interaction with RhlR. Haven't gotten there yet, but our methods are getting more sophisticated 😉

bioRxiv Biochemistry @biorxiv-biochem.bsky.social · 17h

New inhibitors of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa enzyme, PqsE, and methods assessing their potential to induce a conformational change via active site binding https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.680923v1

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 9d

Worked out OK in the end!

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 10d

@sound-transit.bsky.social there are hundreds of people waiting for trains and the current wait is 19 minutes. Absurd and incomprehensible.

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 14d

Taylor Swift, also

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 14d

The degree to which the President can be swayed by the last person he talked to is really astonishing

(This is a good outcome, but it’s only until he talks to someone else)

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 17d

More than five years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this passage from Camus’ “The Plague”, written decades ago, still resonates

“Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and thought that everything was still possible for them, which supposed that pestilences were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views. How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views. They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences”

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 18d

New lab preprint! We set out to explore interstrain differences in P. aeruginosa cooperation and discovered an interesting variant of the quorum sensing receptor LasR. — by Kiki Bellamoroso, Maxim Kostylev, and Nicole Smalley

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Inactivation of MexT in Pseudomonas aeruginosa destabilizes cooperation and favors the emergence of a unique quorum sensing variant

Pseudomonas aeruginosa , an opportunistic gram-negative pathogen, uses a cell-cell signaling system called quorum sensing to coordinate group behaviors. Quorum sensing in P. aeruginosa is a model to s...

www.biorxiv.org

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 21d

No idea, sorry -- NCI and NIGMS use the R35 mechanism really differently, despite the same identifier.

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 22d

Somehow I missed this tentative but important news -- extension of the NIGMS MIRA (R35) mechanism

simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/...

Opportunity Listing - Maximizing Investigators' Research Award

Read detailed information about this funding opportunity.

simpler.grants.gov

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 25d

I wish that I had a way to thank all of the program officials, grants specialists, scientific review officers, et al. at NIH — this is amazing and important work in the face of politically manufactured, ongoing adversity

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 25d

Ive been thinking about this scene from Twin Peaks all day

youtu.be/3bT-pzuo0tc

Twin Peaks We'll meet again in Valhalla

YouTube video by smica_lica

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · 28d

When there are guns everywhere, nobody is safe anywhere

Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 28d

settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Sep 6

Paper by Thomas et al here
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Quantitative modeling of multi-signal quorum-sensing maps environment to bacterial regulatory responses

Bacterial quorum sensing is often assumed to follow a strict hierarchy, limiting understanding of how multiple signals interact. This study finds that Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses a reciprocal, coopera...

journals.plos.org

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Sep 6

Andrew Frando, @jrchandler.bsky.social, and I wrote a primer about excellent work done in Sam Brown's group @brownlab.bsky.social

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Better together: Reciprocal activation of quorum sensing circuits enhances bacterial communication

Many bacteria use quorum sensing to control gene transcription based on population density. This primer explores a recent study in PLOS Biology which found that in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two quorum-s...

journals.plos.org

Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

Aaron Puri @awpuri.bsky.social · Sep 4

Excited to announce this is now published!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Inverse stable isotope probing–metabolomics (InverSIP) identifies an iron acquisition system in a methane-oxidizing bacterial community | PNAS

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a target for near-term climate change mitigation. In many natural ecosystems, methane is sequestered by micr...

Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

Jeff Carlisle @jeffreycarlisle.bsky.social · Sep 3

U.S. Soccer announces that Cristian Roldan has been added to the #usmnt roster. He’s been outstanding for Seattle this season.

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Aug 20

It’s amazing to me how addled people get about the necessity of accommodating cars everywhere, even in places where they are obviously detrimental

Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · Aug 19

NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025 drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/n...

NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025

I know Doctor Editor Director Professor Berg has more sophisticated analyses going but this simple data set made sense to me once I realized how few new R01 NIAAA has issued so far (5). Since we ar…

drugmonkey.wordpress.com

Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

Alexander Bartelt @barteltlab.bsky.social · Aug 15

Postdoc

ℳatt @matttomic.bsky.social · Aug 15

This video from Fairmount Bagels in Montreal from their Instagram is the most impressive thing I've ever seen

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Aug 15

PI (me) drops all the bagels on the floor, somehow setting fire to the kitchen while doing so.

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Aug 11

The invisible hand of the free market

Reposted by Ajai Dandekar

Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · Aug 6

Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo Can Both See Zohran Mamdani Is Dangerous. Why Can’t New Yorkers? We Asked JD Vance. Tomorrow in the @nytimes.com

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Jul 25

I visited Paris for a week

My average steps before the visit: 8 950 / day; during: 20 433 / day

Ajai Dandekar @ajaidandekar.bsky.social · Jul 22

Leslie Nielsen in front of an conflagration, saying “nothing to see here, please disperse”