Michael Baym
@baym.lol
11K followers 1.3K following 1K posts
Associate Prof @HarvardMed. Microbial evolution, antibiotic resistance, mobile genetic elements, algorithms, phages, molecular biotech, etc. Basic research is the engine of progress. baymlab.hms.harvard.edu
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Reposted by Michael Baym
surtlab.bsky.social
Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...
Genomic correlates of tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae
Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro
academic.oup.com
Reposted by Michael Baym
baym.lol
So cool to see this work out!! I love it
Reposted by Michael Baym
vscooper.micropopbio.org
DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce?

We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.

"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"

🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
baym.lol
$5 says every single one of these is an LLM-powered bot at some farm trying to influence public opinion by arguing with and griefing certain points of view
rfksbrainworm.bsky.social
really enjoying all the people trying to explain the bible to the pope today
Pope Leo XIV
Today, more than ever, we must return to the heart, the center of feeling and emotion, the locus of freedom. Though it includes reason, the heart transcends and transforms it. Only by returning to the heart can we undergo a true ecological conversion that transforms our personal

Austin
I reject this whole heartedly. What you fail to see Mr Pope, the Bible says
baym.lol
I cannot tell you how much I want to see someone draw this
baym.lol
Faculty meeting as memento mori
Reposted by Michael Baym
scientificdiscovery.dev
Most graphs of the fertility rate depict the 'period fertility rate', which is based on a single year's data and doesn't necessarily reflect how many children women actually have across their lifetimes.

I've used data from the Human Fertility Database to show the cumulative number instead:
Cohort fertility rates for the United States, by age 40, 45 and 50.
baym.lol
Second, that should affect total plasmid complement and not act differently on resistance carriage. @zaminiqbal.bsky.social’s recent paper on the same subject also finds plenty of old plasmids, so I would assume there isn’t a storage effect?
baym.lol
Thank you! I hadn’t considered that point before, but thinking about it, it seems unlikely to be a major source of bias for two reasons: first, to my understanding the NCTC were all freeze-dried exactly once before revival and sequencing, so there’s a time difference lyophilized but not cycles
Reposted by Michael Baym
maxkozlov.bsky.social
Staff members at the NIH seem to have done the impossible: spend the agency's $48 billion budget.

“Everyone has been rallying together to clean up the mess, but it’s a mess that did not need to be made,” an NIH program officer told me.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
NIH races to spend its 2025 grant money — but fewer projects win funding
Despite political obstacles, officials are on track to disburse all of the research funds allocated to US biomedical behemoth.
www.nature.com
baym.lol
It’s going great here 🫠🫠
Reposted by Michael Baym
vscooper.micropopbio.org
View from the lab now. Did I mention that we are recruiting faculty microbiologists?

www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...
Reposted by Michael Baym
mollyschumer.bsky.social
What are people using for calling m6A from pacbio revio data? This is for analysis of fiberseq library. Any suggestions appreciated, we are newbies with m6A analysis!
Reposted by Michael Baym
wkhuber.bsky.social
Do you like theoretical biology, mathematical&conceptual modelling and want to apply yourself to cutting-edge research at all levels of biology, from molecules to ecosystems?

Come to EMBL! Scope includes physics-based models, emergence, statistics, ML/AI
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
baym.lol
Did The Feed recently transition from a boring place to buy discount prepackaged sugar to a sketchy unregulated peptide dealer, or was it always and I only just noticed?
Reposted by Michael Baym
mcopelov.bsky.social
We have allowed the lazy, grifting Silicon Valley charlatans into the front door, & in doing so, we have learned just how many of our own colleagues & administrators simply are not interested in the actual business of education. It's incredibly demoralizing.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...
erinkaylockwood.bsky.social
Thanks so much for your reporting on this, Ben. I just got an email from my campus's IT office triumphantly advertising free student access to four different AI models -- at the same time as we have a hiring freeze, caps on grad enrollment, and a 7% budget cut -- and wanted to scream.
Reposted by Michael Baym
tressiemcphd.bsky.social
It is, far and away, the most challenging thing I’ve encountered since entering the academy. And that is saying a lot. I might be working on this but I keep putting it aside because I’m not medicated enough to describe how demoralizing it all is.
mcopelov.bsky.social
We have allowed the lazy, grifting Silicon Valley charlatans into the front door, & in doing so, we have learned just how many of our own colleagues & administrators simply are not interested in the actual business of education. It's incredibly demoralizing.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...
erinkaylockwood.bsky.social
Thanks so much for your reporting on this, Ben. I just got an email from my campus's IT office triumphantly advertising free student access to four different AI models -- at the same time as we have a hiring freeze, caps on grad enrollment, and a 7% budget cut -- and wanted to scream.
Reposted by Michael Baym
Reposted by Michael Baym
wheezenfeld.bsky.social
Really cool work on anthropomorphic driven change of plasmids :)!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
baym.lol
I truly don’t think owners of off-leash dogs near newborns and their parents understand how much danger their pets are in
Reposted by Michael Baym
oldenoughtosay.com
thank you all for telling me it was actually half a teaspoon of chilli flakes; that is still not enough but also I can’t read idk.

And now!! The ultimate test!
It is time to summon my French husband
The sauce now with pasta mixed in