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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Patricia Bernal @pbernalt6ss.bsky.social · 1d

Our paper, describing how the T6SSs of P. putida shape the tomato rhizosphere, is now in its final format in @isme-microbes.bsky.social ISME Communications. If you'd like to learn more, here is a thread (1/11) or read the Article doi.org/10.1093/isme....

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 1d

When will we officially create a department of propaganda?

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 1d

... digest things, and then load up antigens like 20 aa peptide fragments into their MHC surface receptors. This allows them to present their antigen to T cells to find a T cell that matches the antigen.

(Source: cellcartoons.net)

Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 1d

I wish they had labeled the antigen presenting cells in these cartoons or had legends.

I was somewhere confused and wouldn't have puzzled it out if I hadn't had an animal immunology course almost 2 decades ago.

(The beige ones are macrophages or dendritic cells which phagocytose things, ...

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 1d

Understanding how each vertebrate organism creates a population of T-cells with potential to recognize unpredictable threats, and how the body screens this population of T-cells to minimize the auto-immune receptors is so, so cool.

The layman's description is 👌

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

www.nobelprize.org

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Ellie Jameson @elliejameson.bsky.social · 4d

Day 3, Soft. Soft agar is used to visualise phages - plaque assay: bacteria infected with phages are mixed with soft agar, poured over an agar plate. A bacterial lawn grows & plaques appear - as phages infect bacteria, multiply, kill & repeat to form an expanding hole. #drawtober #SciArt #Phagesky

Black and white ink drawing of an agar filled petri dish with black spots or plaques covering the surface. One of these plaques is surrounded by a circle, connected by dotted lines to a larger magnified circle showing a lawn of bacteria punctured by a circlar hole with 7 smaller bacteriophages inside

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Dave Baltrus 🦦 @surtlab.bsky.social · 4d

Just pointing out that Universities signing the Faustian deal are still allowed to discriminate on admissions or hiring in a couple of very specific ways

Heidi Kitrosser @heidikitrosser.bsky.social · 5d

9 – EXCEPTIONS
Notwithstanding the forgoing, a religious institution may maintain preferences for religious affiliation or belief in hiring and admissions, a single-sex institution may maintain sex-based preferences, and any institution may maintain preferences in admissions for American citizens. Nothing in this agreement limits or displaces the limited exemptions for bona fide occupational qualifications based on religion, national origin, or sex provided by Title VII; the protections or exemptions provided by Title VII for religious employers and religious organizations; or the ministerial exemption recognized by the Supreme Court.
10. ENFORCEMENT
The leadership of an academic institution is directly responsible for its strategy, success, and adherence to legal and governmental requirements. On an annual basis the university’s President, Provost, and Head of Admissions shall be required to certify the University’s adherence to the principles contained herein.
The university annually shall conduct, or hire an external party to conduct, an independent, good faith, empirically rigorous, and anonymous poll of its faculty, students, and staff, providing them the opportunity to evaluate the university’s performance against this compact. The results of such surveys shall be made public and available on the university’s website.
Adherence to this agreement shall be subject to review by the Department of Justice. Universities found to have willfully or negligently violated this agreement shall lose access to the benefits of this agreement for a period of no less than 1 year. Subsequent violations of this agreement shall result in a loss of access to the benefits of this agreement for no less than 2 years. Further, upon determination of any violations, all monies advanced by the U.S. government during the year of any violation shall be returned to the U.S. government. Finally, any private contributions to the university during the year(s) in which such violation occu…

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 4d

Congratulations! It's a well done unit and will be great for teaching

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 4d

I said this was the new policy as a sarcastic joke when we were told there would no longer be custodial services for trash cans at work.

I can't believe this is a real marketing flyer

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Eric 🏳️‍🌈 @erichastie.bsky.social · 4d

Hi all! What does your department pay biology teaching faculty. Very curious! If you’d rather message me, please do!

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 4d

Nice. We have some T6 toxins in Ralstonia with this sort of domain annotated on them. It will be useful for us to do sequence comparisons to your bona fide mechanism results

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 4d

"We all learned long ago on the playground that trying to appease a bully only makes things worse. It’s equally hard to imagine how higher education will recover if colleges and universities begin conceding to Mr. Trump’s illegal compact."

via UC-Berkeley Law Dean
🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Dan Kliebenstein @spicybotrytis.bsky.social · 5d

Anyone have any literature on how yeast or other fungi detect plant phytohormones? I know they respond to them but am struggling with the search terms to find the genes that allow fungi to respond to plant compounds.

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Rep. Mike Thompson @mikethompson.house.gov · 5d

TONIGHT AT 6 PM: I’m going live on Zoom with Rep. Lauren Underwood @underwood.house.gov to answer your questions about how the government shutdown is affecting you and your healthcare.

To join, RSVP here or scan the QR code below: bit.ly/RSVPTownHall...

I hope to see you tonight!

Graphic advertising the virtual town hall with photos of Reps. Thompson and Underwood and the link to RSVP. You can RSVP at https://bit.ly/RSVPTownHallOctober2

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 6d

If Harvard bows down to this lawless president, it will cover itself in shame and betray its motto “Veritas.”

Don’t pretend to stand for truth if you’re going to surrender to this bully. Appeasement only feeds the beast and puts us all at greater risk.

Trump Says a Deal With Harvard Is Close

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Sebastian S. Cocioba @atinygreencell.bsky.social · 6d

The fine folks at @nukit.bsky.social sent me this new excimer lamp (222nm deep UVC) to test in my mutagenesis experiments! Stay tuned for more spicy light advenutres. 🌶🔦🦠🌱🧬

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Liz Haswell @ehaswell.bsky.social · 6d

"What is happening in this country is happening because science is bad for tyrants, and always has been"

Science Vs @sciencevs.bsky.social · 6d

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥

We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪

Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

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Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 7d

Everyone should read this devastating report: Trump’s sabotage of USAID stranded lifesaving medicines — fueling chaos and leaving children to die.

His policies are destroying our reputation and influence overseas and literally killing kids. No words.

Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting.

USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...

www.washingtonpost.com

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 7d

Advice: download PDFs of any documents you might need from government websites. The NIFA website went offline during the government shutdown during my PhD

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 7d

In that vein, NSF's shutdown plans just went public: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/nsf-sh...

Already-funded projects can continue. And proposals can be submitted. But don't expect a response from a program officer during the shutdown.

Brief Summary of significant agency activities that will continue during a lapse:
National Science Foundation (NSF) will use available carryover balances to continue daily operations.
Once those balances are exhausted, electronic systems for proposal preparation and submission
will remain available for use during a lapse in appropriations, (i.e., Research.gov, and Grants.gov).
The Awards Cash Management Service (ACM$) and the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) will remain
available for the submission and processing of valid payments for recipients and contractors.
Recipients may continue performance under their NSF awards during a lapse in appropriations, to
the extent funds are available, and the period of performance of the grant or cooperative
agreement has not expired. In the event of a lapse, more detailed information on NSF operations for
recipients, panelists, and employees will be posted at www.NSF.gov, and will be updated as
necessary during a lapse.
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Brief Summary of significant agency activities that will cease during a lapse:
In general, no new grants, continuing grant increments, cooperative agreements, or contracts will be
awarded. No new funding opportunities (program descriptions, announcements, solicitations or
Dear Colleague Letters) will be issued. Responses to any inquiries received regarding upcoming
deadlines will be deferred until normal operations resume. All panels (including virtual panels)
scheduled to occur during a lapse in appropriations will be cancelled and will likely be rescheduled
to a later date.

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Reposted by Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 7d

I am deeply grateful for the work of NSF staff this year to keep research & grants moving in a difficult environment. I view this petition as a means to demonstrate impact & interest in ensuring access to a vital grad research program.

450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 7d

That atomic force microscopy is awesome! Learning a lot reading this paper

Emmanuele Severi @emmseveri.bsky.social · 7d

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

#microsky

Polymyxin B lethality requires energy-dependent outer membrane disruption - Nature Microbiology

The antibiotic polymyxin B requires bacterial metabolic activity to cause sufficient damage to the outer membrane to access the inner membrane, which it permeabilizes via an energy-independent mechanism to kill the cell.

www.nature.com

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 8d

Who, specifically, advised this? Is this in writing?

I ask as a white American of eastern European ancestry and a proud SACNAS member. It is a great organization.

Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 8d

Ohio State just advised all staff and students not to attend the SACNAS (Society for the advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting of 6000+ scientists -- which is in Columbus, OH this year! -- saying it may be exclusionary, even though it is open to all.

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Elinne Becket, PhD @bielleogy.bsky.social · 8d

Anyone have recs for an Illumina library prep kit directly from single-strand cDNA? I see ssDNA kits but they require pre-fragmentation of the cDNA and it would be cool to skip that step because reasons.

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 8d

Today is a good day to download PDFs that you want to reference in the next week or month.

During the 2013 or 2014 shutdown, I had to email folks to luckily receive an old copy of the USDA graduate fellowship solicitation.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 8d

When I was at NIH and shutdowns loomed, it was discovered that the administration was planning to shut down PubMed. The head of NCBI called the powers that be and pointed out that this would threaten patient safety

Who knows what will happen now

Just in case, remember Euruope-PMC
(europepmc.org )

a cartoon of donald trump with the words be prepared above him

ALT: a cartoon of donald trump with the words be prepared above him

media.tenor.com

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Tiffany Lowe-Power 🌱🦠 @tlowepower.bsky.social · 9d

First, first-author publication from undergrad Tabitha Cowell is live!

She did some very cool comparisons of putative conjugative T4SS gene clusters and found neat eco evolutionary differences between the wilt pathogen and more environmental species!

I'll make an explainer sometime this week.

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 10d

Lifestyle-associated variation in type IV secretion systems between phytopathogenic and environmental Ralstonia https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.675681v1

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