Here is the "effective payline" for each institute, estimated (by Claude) as the percentile where one can expect 80% probability of funding from a logistic regression fit. The effective payline has gone from a historic ~12% to 6% in 2025.
Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n
AI is threatening science jobs. Which ones are most at risk?
Data-analysis and modelling positions are already becoming obsolete, but hands-on experimentalists can breathe easy for now.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Figure from this publication: Human foreskin-based cultivation system supports the growth of various T. pallidum strains (n=8), from the Nichols-like as well as the SS14-like cluster. Note that human foreskin fibroblast cells were prepared as an equal mixture of three tested cell lines. Each T. pallidum strain was cultivated in a single in vitro well, representing a sole experimental replicate used for data acquisition.
Major advance in T. pallidum reserach:
"First human cell-based cultivation system for the syphilis spirochete Treponema pallidum"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#MicroSky
AI Added 'Basically Zero' to US Economic Growth Last Year, Goldman Sachs Says https://gizmodo.com/ai-added-basically-zero-to-us-economic-growth-last-year-goldman-sachs-says-2000725380
Congratulations to Mariana Byndloss @maribyndloss.bsky.social for her promotion to Associate Professor with tenure at Vanderbilt University @vanderbilt.edu
Photo credit: Bäumler lab archives
By my count, this is the third CDC outbreak notice in the past three months involving Moringa leaf and various Salmonella strains. What's with that?
Congratulations to Çagla Tükel @caglatukel.bsky.social for her election to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology! asm.social/2OC
Postdoc position available in my lab! Project will focus on how the microbiome-derived metabolite butyrate shapes C. difficile fitness and pathogenesis & will build on our previous/ongoing work in this space. Apply here:
hr.wisc.edu/postdoc-and-...
I just leaned that my former postdoc mentor, Fred Heffron, passed away last week. I have fond memories from my time in Portland. Fred was smart, funny, and gave us the freedom to develop our own ideas. I am indebted to him for getting my academic career started in the US. Thank you and R.I.P.
Science: U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
By Jeffrey Mervis, Monica Hersher @science.org @policyhound.bsky.social @mghersher.bsky.social
bit.ly/3M8yf9B
E. coli is the leading bacterium causing death from AMR infections worldwide. If you'd like to explore approaches to exploit the DNA damage response as alternative antimicrobial, please apply to the following PhD studentship available in my lab starting October 2026: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Cell Symposia
CS: Host-microbiome dynamics abstract deadline extended to Feb 6.
Share your research with leading scientists exploring the ecology of the human microbiome, its influence on host physiology & its complex interactions with the immune system.
http://dlvr.it/TQVndt
Averaged over five years, this will fund the exact same number of grants ...
#XDR Shigella is a serious, emerging global health threat. This topic is one of many we'll be discussing at #TheShigellaMeeting
Registration is open!
www.shigella2026.conferences-pasteur.org/registration...
#AMR #MicroSky #IDSky 🔬🧫🦠
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Averaged over 5 years, this will fund the exact same number of grants …
METTL9 tests Candida’s mettle by limiting metal acquisition
Highlight of new findings showing intestinal epithelial cells secrete anti-zincophore protein, METTL9, that limits fungal access to essential zinc, thereby diminishing colonization & growth
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
⏰ Deadline Jan 7 (11:59 pm MST) to submit a short talk abstract or apply for a scholarship for the Keystone Symposium Beyond Antibiotics. Hear from @joeyzacks.bsky.social, @maribyndloss.bsky.social: youtu.be/8Ppjx-MnvxA
keysym.us/KSBeyondAnti... @kimingeneva.bsky.social & @dariavantyne.bsky.social
I don't think you non-science people realize what it takes to get a grant funded by NIH. Started experiments in Sept 2021 to generate 3 new mouse mutants to model human disease. Prelim dara shows they have relevant disease phenotypes worthy of study. Need a small grant first to characterize /1
And so on the last day of 2025, UC Davis overran its institutional Google Drive storage. And there was much lamentation, for no one could edit any documents.
Submit your abstracts for ASM Microbe 2026!
As a member of the Scientific Program Committee, I can vouch for great science with something for everyone!
@asm.org
asm.org/events/asm-m...
Friday we lost a brilliant mind, colleague, and friend to her battle with pancreatic cancer. Those who knew her will remember Helene Andrews-Polymenis for her warmth, generosity and leadership. She will be missed by many. RIP
A reminder of why #ASMMicrobe is so important (at least to me)! Please repost!
While everyone is hustling for the holidays, hopefully folks will have time to submit abstracts or register for #ASMMicrobe2026 in DC! Please repost!
The art of cleaning up (Ursus Wehrli)
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
