Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · 12h

Cathy is one of the most brilliant, supportive, and thoughtful scientists and mentors I’ve had the privilege of working with.

I would recommend working with Cathy to any student interested in bacteria-phage interactions.

Congrats, Cathy!! We will miss you dearly.

Cathy Hernandez @cathyhernandez.bsky.social · 13h

Very happy to share that I will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina in January! My group will be working on environmental phage ecology and evolution, and I am recruiting for the upcoming year (more info below).

A graphic advertising phage ecology and evolution research at the University of South Carolina, showing a central image of a tide pool flanked by a photo of an agar plate containing diverse microbes and a TEM image of a virus particle.

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Reposted by Noah Houpt

Asher Leeks @asherleeks.bsky.social · 1d

I gave a talk last year at TEDxNewEngland aimed at introducing the idea of viral sociality to a general audience, including implications for evolution & virology. Video now available online below.

#socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪

The social lives of viruses | Asher Leeks | TEDxNewEngland

YouTube video by TEDx Talks

www.youtube.com

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Martina Dal Bello @martinadalbello.bsky.social · Jul 23

📢 We're seeking a postdoc to work on a project funded by HFSP @hfspo.bsky.social at the intersection of bacterial physiology, ecology and evolution. You can find more details about the project, the position, and how to apply here www.dalbellolab.com/hfsp-project! #bacteria #ecosky #MevoSky #microSky

HFSP project — dal bello lab

www.dalbellolab.com

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Reposted by Noah Houpt

Kiseok (Keith) Lee @kiseokmicro.bsky.social · Jul 16

Published in Nature today! Here, we sought to systematically ask how natural community's metabolism changes with the environment. A simple consumer-resource model can predict N-cycle metabolism (nitrate use) and, more importantly, the mechanism behind its change.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Functional regimes define soil microbiome response to environmental change - Nature

Experimental perturbation of soil pH leads to a generalizable model of the soil microcosm comprising three functional regimes with distinct mechanisms linking environmental change to metabolite dynami...

www.nature.com

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jul 13

You got this!! Good luck!

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jul 12

Thank you for the encouragement!!

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jul 12

Excited to get to work!

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jul 12

Excited to get to work on GRS 2027 with @duhitasant.bsky.social!!

Hit me up here or via email if you have any feedback or ideas for the next Micro Pop Biol GRS!

Laura Suttenfield @lcatherines.bsky.social · Jul 12

Still winding down from the Microbial Population Biology GRS/GRC!🦠 It was a great experience to be GRS co-chair with @mikeblazanin.bsky.social, and congrats to the newly-elected GRS chairs @noahhoupt.bsky.social and @duhitasant.bsky.social!💃 #GRCMicroPop #MicroSky

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Laura Suttenfield @lcatherines.bsky.social · Jul 12

Thanks especially to fearless leaders @reeskassen.bsky.social and Christina Burch, and to @drhhnz.bsky.social and @wcratcliff.bsky.social. It was a great to see the process that led up to an amazing 40th anniversary conference 🎉🍰

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Dave Baltrus 🦦 @surtlab.bsky.social · Jul 11

Super stoked and honored to be elected as co-chair along with @ksbakes.bsky.social for the Microbial Population Biology 2029 GRC!

And looking forward to a great 2027 meeting in Andover chaired by @drhhnz.bsky.social and @wcratcliff.bsky.social !

Mike Blazanin @mikeblazanin.bsky.social · Jul 3

Looking forward to seeing everyone, new and old, at the Microbial Population Biology GRS + GRC in just a couple days!

go.bsky.app/GGxRjzC

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jun 23

#ASMicrobe day 3 vibes

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Cathy Hernandez @cathyhernandez.bsky.social · Jun 20

For #ASMicrobe folks - looking forward to a busy phage day on Sunday!

Paul Turner Lab @paulturnerlab.bsky.social · Jun 20

Turner Lab representation at #ASMicrobe #ASMicrobe2025
(4/5)
Current postdoc, soon-to-be-PI @cathyhernandez.bsky.social is presenting a poster on the involvement of prophages in thermal ecology of marine microbes 🌊🦠
She is also convening a session on #prophages and giving a rapid fire talk! 🔥

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jun 20

Come check out my poster tomorrow at #ASMicrobe in the E&EB section!

We found that repressor mutations in Pf prophages sparked a coevolutionary dynamic that resulted in loss of twitch motility and susceptibility to virulent pilus-targeting phage.

Would love to chat about all things phage :).

Paul Turner Lab @paulturnerlab.bsky.social · Jun 20

Turner Lab representation at #ASMicrobe #ASMicrobe2025
(3/5)
Grad student @noahhoupt.bsky.social will present the story of experimentally evolving a Pseudomonas lab strain for 150 generations over 1000 days. Spoiler alerts: #prophages are important! 🦠📊
#evolution

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jan 28

apnews.com/article/dona...

Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans that could total trillions of dollars. U.S. District Judge Loren L.

apnews.com

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jan 28

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Jan 28

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

National Science Foundation freezes grant review in response to Trump executive orders

The National Science Foundation has canceled all grant review panels this week. It's unclear how long the pause could last.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Noah Houpt

Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · Jan 10

Yo folks, it is time to apply to *hands down the best conference in microbial evolution and ecology*:

www.grc.org/microbial-po...

We begin reviewing apps in 10 days! We strongly encourage everyone to give a poster. DM w/ questions.

2025 Microbial Population Biology Conference GRC

The 2025 Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Population Biology will be held in Andover, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.

www.grc.org

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Dec 17

Former @paulturnerlab.bsky.social postdoc @norapyenson.bsky.social featured Yale News today! Check out this overview on Nora's work or the full paper out in @science.org

news.yale.edu/2024/12/16/n...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New insights into the vast diversity of nature’s most abundant viruses

A new Yale-led study offers insights into the “social lives” of viruses — findings that might advance the fight against antibiotic resistance.

news.yale.edu

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Reposted by Noah Houpt

Nora Pyenson @norapyenson.bsky.social · Dec 12

Is it “winner-takes all” when the simplest living things compete? Check out my fresh publication on phage coexistence in Science and a thread below🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Diverse phage communities are maintained stably on a clonal bacterial host

Bacteriophages are the most abundant and phylogenetically diverse biological entities on Earth, yet the ecological mechanisms that sustain this extraordinary diversity remain unclear. In this study, w...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Noah Houpt

Honour McCann @honour.bsky.social · Nov 20

The UCSB KITP QBio course on mobile elements was amazing 🩵 With excellent projects led by @paulturnerlab.bsky.social, Roberto Kolter, Joanne Emerson, Richard Neher, @erikvannimwegen.bsky.social, Ben Good (+ me). Course began with a wetlab bootcamp, Dallas Mould demonstrating the first experiments..

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · May 8

Check out the latest edition of Rees’ book, which provides an exhaustive synthesis of how microbial experimental evolution studies have been applied to answer some of the big questions in ecology and evolution!

A must read for researchers starting out in MEE!

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Apr 3

I still need them.

I still feed them.

Now they’re 64 (days old).

Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Dec 6

Basically: dolphins and belugas might be able to get COVID-19.

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Dec 6

Check out this amazing new paper led by PhD student Helen Stone where she shows that pseudoviruses studded with spike proteins from three different SARS-CoV-2 strains can enter cells expressing dolphin and beluga whale ace2!

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

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Noah Houpt @noahhoupt.bsky.social · Nov 10

Thanks so much for sharing! This is very tempting because I could possibly turn it into a trip home as well…