Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shirli Cohen @microshirli.bsky.social · 14d

Preprint alert! I’m excited to share my work identifying and characterizing the impact of fungal-bacterial nutrient sharing in the vaginal tract 🦠

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · Sep 9

A fungal pathobiont promotes Streptococcus agalactiae vaginal persistence and pathogenesis through physical and metabolic interactions https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.07.674778v1

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Rebecca Keogh @rebecca-keogh.bsky.social · Sep 3

✨ Exciting News ✨I am thrilled to share that I have accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (IDM), at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health!

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Uri Manor @manorlaboratory.bsky.social · Jul 11

undark.org/2025/07/11/i...

Interview: How a Hearing-Loss Grant Got Cut in the Fight Over DEI

“It felt like the floor dropped out,” researcher Uri Manor said after the sudden suspension of his lab’s award.

undark.org

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

ᐯIᑕTOᖇ ᑎIᘔET, ᗰᗪ @nizet.bsky.social · Feb 13

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗔𝗠𝗥

Staphylococcus aureus evolves antibiotic resistance rapidly in diabetic mice, as hyperglycemia aids the expansion and takeover of resistant mutants

VISA strains have a large fitness defect in control mice but not in diabetic mice

➡️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Diabetes potentiates the emergence and expansion of antibiotic resistance

Diabetic infections are a reservoir for the emergence and proliferation of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Dr. Stephanie Marroquin @marroquinphd.bsky.social · Feb 8

Spots are filling up for the 2025 Microbial Adhesion and Signal Transduction GRC and GRS! Apply to join us July 19-25 at Salve Regina University! It’s going to be a great meeting with amazing science and people! Please re-post!! #MAST

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Rebecca Keogh @rebecca-keogh.bsky.social · Jan 14

Applications are open for the 2025 GRS/GRC on Staphylococcal Diseases! Make sure to get your abstracts submitted for the potential to present your work in beautiful Barcelona! www.grc.org/staphylococc...

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Sorek Lab @soreklab.bsky.social · Jan 30

Our paper out @Nature: CARD domains mediate anti-phage defense in bacterial gasdermin systems

CARDs are essential for caspase recruitment during human inflammasome activation. We now find them in bacterial immune systems

Congrats Tana Wein! Thank you Kranzusch lab!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · Jan 24

Research supplements to support URM mentees are set to expire today. I met the person who developed this mechanism, Clifton Poodry, at an NSF meeting last fall; he is so inspiring. This supplement has funded thousands of mentees including myself. Devasted to see it canceled, and with no notice.

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Shirli Cohen @microshirli.bsky.social · Jan 18

I’m really looking forward to your talk!

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Judith Berman @judithberman11.bsky.social · Jan 18

Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis is on the move—endemic to the SW USA, but with increasing hot, dry conditions its being found farther north! Nice story on it in Science www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...

Science Magazine - Dust devil

In the spring of 2021, shortly after moving from Seattle to Arizona, Marc Evans, a retired broadcast industry lawyer, began tending the vegetable garden in his niece’s backyard.

www.sciencemagazinedigital.org

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Guillaume Méric @gmeric.bsky.social · Jan 16

You've heard of FMT, have you heard of NMT (nasal microbiota transplantation)? 👃 This brief piece in Trends discusses 2 recent studies exploring NMT to treat chronic respiratory conditions, like rhinosinusitis (CRS).
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

David Finlay @davidfinlaytcd.bsky.social · Jan 15

More nice research from Annie Curtis’ lab on the circadian rhythm and the
#immunometabolism of macrophages.

#immunosky #mitochondria #inflammasome

Time‐of‐day control of mitochondria regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/...

Time‐of‐day control of mitochondria regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages

The circadian clock, orchestrated by BMAL1, regulates the expression of Nlrp3 and Il1b in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), causing time-of-day production of pro-IL-1β. Mitochondria exhibit time-....

faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Katy Patras @katypatras.bsky.social · Jan 10

After almost a decade (started while I was a postdoc with @nizet.bsky.social and finished by my own stellar students), happy to see this finally out. We found that Tamm-Horsfall protein, the most abundant protein in urine, enhanced NETosis to protect against UTI. insight.jci.org/articles/vie...

JCI Insight - Tamm-Horsfall protein augments neutrophil NETosis during urinary tract infection

insight.jci.org

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

MRC-LMB Cell Biology Division @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social · Dec 29

40 years ago all of Genbank was published in print form by NAR. The same format today would require over 4 light seconds of shelf space. To a year of progress in 2025.

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

ᐯIᑕTOᖇ ᑎIᘔET, ᗰᗪ @nizet.bsky.social · Dec 25

Bizarre and cool

Flies have stolen the gene encoding a toxin from bacteria and deployed it to survive predation by parasitic wasps, which in some flies can turn half of all fly larvae into surrogate wombs for baby wasps

@nkwhiteman.bsky.social lab at UC Berkeley recapitulates this in Drosophila.

Experimental horizontal transfer of phage-derived genes to Drosophila confers innate immunity to parasitoids

Tarnopol et al. recapitulate the horizontal transfer of anti-parasitoid toxins from microbes to insects in D. melanogaster. Immune tissue expression of one toxin gene, fusionB, was sufficient to drive parasitoid resistance in flies via the humoral innate immune pathway.

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Ed Chuong @edchuong.bsky.social · Dec 12

I’m excited to share our latest study led by @giuliapasquesi.bsky.social out today in @cellpress.bsky.social , uncovering a new way transposons have been repurposed for human interferon signaling! Read on for a thread on cryptic splice variants, decoy receptors, and viruses (1/N) 👇🧵 #TESky 🧪

Regulation of human interferon signaling by transposon exonization

Transposable element exonization can yield functional protein isoforms as seen for primate-specific IFNAR2.

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · Dec 3

Early prediction of preeclampsia using the first trimester vaginal microbiome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.01.626267v1

Preeclampsia is a severe obstetrical syndrome which contributes to 10-15% of all maternal deaths. Al

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

JAMA @jama.com · Nov 28

Cervical cancer mortality in US women younger than 25 years significantly declined between 2016 and 2021, likely due to the widespread adoption of HPV vaccination.

ja.ma/4i9ghPC

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Drew Bridges @bridgesbio.bsky.social · Nov 26

Excited to share our latest, "Biofilm dispersal patterns revealed using far-red fluorogenic probes." @plos.bsky.social We developed a cell-labeling strategy using far-red dyes to image dense microbial communities (where fluorescent proteins often do not work well) journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Nov 24

Bacterial single-cell RNA sequencing captures biofilm transcriptional heterogeneity and differential responses to immune pressure

-in #NatureCommunications by Lee Korshoj and Tammy Kielian

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Greg Pak @gregpak.net · Nov 18

Relatedly, I buy my KN-95 masks from @bonafidemasks.bsky.social, and right now you can use coupon code TRUST25 for a 25% discount. No, this is not paid advertisement. I've just used 'em for years and have had great experiences. bonafidemasks.com/powecom-kn95/

Powecom® KN95 - Page 1 - Bona Fide Masks

Like the N95, the FDA Authorized KN95 face masks sold by Bona Fide Masks™ are rated to provide 95% ore greater filtration of particles larger than 0.3 µm in diameter such as bacteria, viruses, dust & ...

bonafidemasks.com

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Tobias Hohl, MD PhD @fungalspore.bsky.social · Nov 17

go.bsky.app/2bqX3T7 - please send me your @bsky.app handles to include in this growing community.

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Lauren Palmer @laurenpalmer.bsky.social · Nov 15

SO EXCITED to share our recent work on dietary zinc deficiency worsening Acinetobacter baumannii pneumonia, out today with @natureportfolio.bsky.social!! Surprisingly, this is due at least in part to the allergic-type cytokine IL-13. SharedIt link: rdcu.be/d0h4h Eat your zinc rich foods! 🦪🫘🧀🥩🥜

Dietary zinc deficiency promotes Acinetobacter baumannii lung infection via IL-13 in mice

Nature Microbiology - Increased IL-13 drives increased bacterial dissemination and mortality following Acinetobacter baumannii lung infection of zinc-deficient mice and can be countered by...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Souvik Bhattacharyya @souvik-uthealth.bsky.social · Nov 12

Hello Blueskis. Here is a starter pack of General Microbiology. It's a small list currently. Please feel free to self-nominate and I will add you.

go.bsky.app/QgSQHJ9

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Reposted by Shirli Cohen

Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social · Nov 13

To celebrate all these new arrivals on BlueSky, did you see this recent preprint on the role of amyloïd in anti-phage defense?

Molecular characterization of amyloid as signal transduction in E. coli phage defense, with super cool links wt fungi controlled cell death!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Amyloid signaling in antiphage defense

Immune regulated cell death (RCD) is a defense strategy common to different domains of life involving purposeful sacrifice of infected cells. In animals and fungi, functional amyloids play a role in t...

www.biorxiv.org

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