vscooper.micropopbio.org
Evangelist for the study of evolution in action by everyone.
Pitt Prof | EvolvingSTEM | biofilms | EvMed | genomics entrepreneur (@SeqCoast.bsky.social, @midauthorbio.bsky.social) | ASM volunteer | lifelong exercise addict ~ swim bike run
1,164 posts
7,377 followers
1,382 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Love that place. #2 in the region, with La Festa in Dover #1
comment in response to
post
I ran the numbers for the IDeA program
Through June: FY2024 $179.4 M, FY2025 $39.5 M.
This is 4.5-fold less under his administration.
comment in response to
post
The IDeA program is a good program that has had a substantial impact in several states.
But they are not funding it, I believe because the NOFOs have language that say they should support research helping "underserved communities"
comment in response to
post
Bhattacharya kept mentioning his support for the IDeA program (although he called it the IDEAs program) support.
This program supports research in states that historically have not received NIH funding.
comment in response to
post
JB opens by noting the court order freezing the limit. Says scientific funding is being concentrated in a few coastal institutions bc of IDCS. I'll note this is false - we've shown how the proposed cap would lear to economic losses across the country.
scienceimpacts.org
comment in response to
post
Thanks for highlighting this!
comment in response to
post
(5/5)
🚨 It’s time to flood the zone.
NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn.
📜 Read the Bethesda Declaration
✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support
👯♀️Follow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social
Read and sign here 👉 www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...
comment in response to
post
To be clear we are waiting on our NCR and hoping. A few others remain. But most were recently terminated. You can imagine the criteria
comment in response to
post
Thanks Mark!
comment in response to
post
Thank you Kat!
comment in response to
post
PS check out the mutant naming in the supplement. We are still writing the full acknowledgement list but there’s one you will recognize 😉👀
comment in response to
post
Thanks for all of your work with us on this!
comment in response to
post
Thanks very much for the great suggestion and encouragement 👊
comment in response to
post
always looking to franchise in my old CT stomping grounds 😉
comment in response to
post
thanks very much! it's even cooler to experience in person.
comment in response to
post
This work🧵 would not be possible without a NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), an amazing program dedicated to K-12 students launched in 1989!
Tragically, most SEPAs have been terminated in the last few weeks. These are among the most impactful programs for MAKING NEW SCIENTISTS.
comment in response to
post
So:
👉🏻Student research can make impactful scientific contributions
👉🏻These findings and shared experiments build a community of teachers and young researchers
👉🏻Research experiences can have positive, long-lasting impacts on attitudes towards science
🚨EvolvingSTEM has reached >7500 students to date
comment in response to
post
Thank you!
It's part of nearly all of my seminars and in a few dated videos. But how we've built our network is a long story and involved lots of sweat and serendipity. It's still growing!
what do you have in mind?
comment in response to
post
This work🧵 would not be possible without a NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), an amazing program dedicated to K-12 students launched in 1989!
Tragically, most SEPAs have been terminated in the last few weeks. These are among the most impactful programs for MAKING NEW SCIENTISTS.
comment in response to
post
So:
👉🏻Student research can make impactful scientific contributions
👉🏻These findings and shared experiments build a community of teachers and young researchers
👉🏻Research experiences can have positive, long-lasting impacts on attitudes towards science
🚨EvolvingSTEM has reached >7500 students to date
comment in response to
post
We also did our own two-week evolution experiment, twice as long as the students do, using deep sequencing to see what's "under the hood" of these experiments.
TLDR: the bmo mutant and WT cycle at intermediate frequencies and the biofilm specialists remain at low frequency.
comment in response to
post
We also discovered that mutations in regulating disulfide bond formation (the dsb pathway) triggered small colonies producing high biofilm, perhaps by through the yfiBNR pathway.
These and other mutants coexist by niche differentiation, rapidly invading when rare and producing distinct biofilm
comment in response to
post
We focused on 70 mutant genomes and worked w/ teachers and students to figure out why diversity evolves so quickly and is maintained in our system.
Many mutants affected genes well-known in P. fluorescens biofilm research, but others hit new targets including a major regulator of c-di-GMP
comment in response to
post
By that point the evolve-and-resequence approach was a reality for us, so we recognized that students could identify mutants and we could sequence them, making a genuine research-education partnership. The first mutants in this MS were picked in 2015 and the last in 2021
comment in response to
post
In my first 10 faculty years, I worked to establish a protocol and program for high school students to learn evolution by observing bacterial populations changing in real time. In 2014 we struck gold with teachers in NH, who showed it worked! evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... 2/n
comment in response to
post
Thank you Akos, we are very proud. 🧵 to come. It’s especially significant given funding cuts in this area