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Pia Sen

@pia-sen

PhD student at GW studying the microbial ecology of viruses/ phage defence in Antarctic deserts & volcanoesπŸ¦ πŸ§«πŸŒ‹πŸ§ŠπŸŒ΅ πŸŽ“UT Austin 2020

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05.01.2024
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Latest posts by Pia Sen @pia-sen

Yay Shauna and Zach!!

11.03.2026 03:30 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Little moments of joy in grad school: eating lunch on the greenhouse roof because I can

10.03.2026 17:11 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œshe was crazy” or β€œher personality was bad” or β€œshe was wrong about flagella” (this one is true), but I cannot think of a better role model for female scientists my age. Reading about her journey and struggles to find legitimacy in the 1960s in her other books has made my own dream attainable (2/2)

08.03.2026 14:52 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

This whole post by @couchmicroscopy.bsky.socialπŸ’―!!! When I found out she used to come to the island i work at, i wondered why (affected by others, assumed she joined her husband working in Arecibo, but no, she kept coming long after he was not), but then again, i am here, too, in a symbiosis oasis.

08.03.2026 15:09 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I would not be a scientist without Lynn Margulis. I never would have gotten a PhD or developed a curiosity for the research topics I currently work on if I didn’t read her book, β€œSymbiotic Planet” when I was 21. So many male scientists I’ve worked with knew her and many say things like…(1/2)

08.03.2026 14:49 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Amplicon and metagenomic data from fumarole-associated geothermal features of Hawaii https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.26.708227v1

27.02.2026 05:18 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Breath of theΒ Earth by Chelsi β€” The earth respires like a slumbering giant.

Breath of theΒ Earth

by Chelsi β€” The earth respires like a slumbering giant.

02.03.2026 09:00 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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28.02.2026 00:47 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The defense islands in bacteria and archaea paper (Makarova et al. 2011)!

27.02.2026 14:07 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Hi everyone, I am preparing a lecture and was thinking of the milestone papers in the field of bacterial immunity.

I was curious which ones would you include ?

Thanks!

26.02.2026 07:50 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Yet another awesome single-phage paper from Ido Golding's lab #phagesky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

24.02.2026 23:19 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Worth a read and something I was thinking about this morning!

24.02.2026 04:01 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgar...

At long last! Check out the link to our publication in @nature.com to learn more. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
12/12

18.02.2026 16:12 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Excited to share a preprint of work from my postdoc with @paulturnerlab.bsky.social exploring how prophages can impact host thermal ecology and evolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

20.02.2026 19:13 πŸ‘ 34 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
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Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor Nature - Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from...

Open access to article rdcu.be/e4A70

18.02.2026 23:45 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Love hearing about the ongoing work! @archaeal.bsky.social @katyappler.bsky.social

19.02.2026 07:07 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I am super happy and honored to see some of my movies making it into the NYT. I hope everybody enjoys watching them go as much as I do!

19.02.2026 08:44 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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New paper from my team detailing a greatly expanded genomic database of Asgard archaea revealing of high energy metabolism those related to eukaryotes! Led by @katyappler.bsky.social lots of help from @jameslingford.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...

18.02.2026 16:00 πŸ‘ 148 πŸ” 61 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 3

Congrats Katy!! This is amazing!!

19.02.2026 00:26 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Beyond thrilled to share that our study has been published!
This project encompasses years of work, including my thesis research on Asgard archaea in the @archaeal.bsky.social lab at @utmsi.bsky.social and
@texasscience.bsky.social!!!
#MicroSky #ArchaeaSky 1/12

18.02.2026 16:22 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 30 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 2
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Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

12.02.2026 16:31 πŸ‘ 10352 πŸ” 3081 πŸ’¬ 162 πŸ“Œ 419
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On this International Women and Girls in STEM day I’m grateful for the incredible mentors who have shown me that it’s okay to take up space and be confident in science 🧫

12.02.2026 03:34 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive.

Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

14.01.2026 10:14 πŸ‘ 83 πŸ” 53 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 2

Co-occurrence of diverse defense systems shapes complex microbe-virus relationships in deep-sea cold seeps | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-68174-6

09.01.2026 03:53 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Subsurface Life on Earth as a Key to Unlock Extraterrestrial Mysteries This paper discusses current research on subsurface microbiology. Exploring Earth's deep and extreme subsurface environments provides critical insights into life's limits and adaptability. Subsurface...

🌏 Happy πŸ”­ New πŸ§ͺ Year 🦠 2026 ✨

If you feel like an easy read about subsurface microbiomes and astrobiology:

Here is an opinion I wrote with @emvidal.bsky.social @geobiomaggie.bsky.social @drbradbrad.bsky.social and Melody Lindsay

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

07.01.2026 18:21 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Environment and physiology shape antiphage system expression Bacteria and archaea encode on average ten antiphage systems. Quorum sensing, cellular, or transcription factors can regulate specific systems (CRISPR-Cas, CBASS). Yet, a systematic assessment of anti...

Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed.

In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

15.12.2025 21:48 πŸ‘ 98 πŸ” 49 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Diverse bacterial pattern recognition receptors sense the conserved phage proteome Recognition of foreign molecules inside cells is critical for immunity in all domains of life. Proteins of the STAND NTPase superfamily, including eukaryotic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain ...

A systematic analysis of STAND NTPases and their associated sensor domains in bacterial immunity 🀯 Mind-blowing work !

05.01.2026 12:17 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Last year I spent Christmas in the field so it’s super special to be spending Christmas this year in the 512 ❀️ Austin is always gonna be home.

25.12.2025 18:41 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Congrats Dr.Kubota!! Your talk was fantastic πŸ₯Ή

09.12.2025 00:18 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A poster with branding for the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre fo Virus Research, labelled 'Virus Snowflakes.' The poster shows snowflake-like virus designs and song lyrics reading:
On the twelfth day of Christmas, a virus gave to me,
Twelve fights worth winning,
Eleven Christmas dinners,
Ten lunar landers,
Nine childhood vaccines,
Eight tools for teaching,
Seven dogs a-barking,
Six wasps a-laying,
FIIIIVE TIIINY RIIIIIIINGS,
Four vaccine platforms,
Three genome segments,
Two twinned capsids, and
A world that is too small to see

A poster with branding for the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre fo Virus Research, labelled 'Virus Snowflakes.' The poster shows snowflake-like virus designs and song lyrics reading: On the twelfth day of Christmas, a virus gave to me, Twelve fights worth winning, Eleven Christmas dinners, Ten lunar landers, Nine childhood vaccines, Eight tools for teaching, Seven dogs a-barking, Six wasps a-laying, FIIIIVE TIIINY RIIIIIIINGS, Four vaccine platforms, Three genome segments, Two twinned capsids, and A world that is too small to see

Feeling festive?
Why not deck the halls with @cvrinfo.bsky.social's papercraft #VirusSnowflakes and celebrate the science of viruses and the fight against viral diseases.
Download for free: cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
#scicomm #sciart #decorations

01.12.2025 09:51 πŸ‘ 87 πŸ” 43 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 12