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MicroBites

@microbites.bsky.social

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Breaking down the microbiology world one bite at a time #SciComm Read the latest microbiology research made easier in 🇬🇧 🇳🇱 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 🇷🇺 🇩🇪 More info https://micro-bites.org/ Ko-fi support https://ko-fi.com/microbites

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MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Mar 2

🚀 MicroBites needs your support!

After 4 years of sharing science, we want to keep our website alive & community thriving. Every little bit helps—give what you can! If we surpass our goal, we’ll invest in useful tools for even better content. 💙

Donate here:

Support MicroBites on Ko-fi! ❤️. ko-fi.com/microbites

Support MicroBites On Ko-fi. Ko-fi lets you support the people and causes you love with small donations

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · 14h

Today is #WorldFoodDay

Imagine food made from food waste — nutritious, flavorful, and zero-waste. Thanks to solid-state fermentation, fungi like Neurospora intermedia are showing us how to turn today’s leftovers into tomorrow’s meals. 🔄🌾

Waste Food into novel cuisine: courtesy Neurospora intermedia

N. intermedia fungus is converting waste food into appetizing, healthier, and sustainable food alternatives.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · 3d

📣 New MicroBites!

Gut Inflammation Disrupts Hormone Signals and the Brain 🧠

Reproductive hormones in male mice are susceptible to gut inflammation during early life. 🦠

Gut Inflammation Disrupts Hormone Signals and the Brain

Reproductive hormones in male mice are susceptible to gut inflammation during early life.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · 7d

📣 New MicroBites!

‘Pharaoh’s curse fungus’ turned into a cure for cancer 🍄

The deadly fungus, Aspergillus flavus, once denoted as the ‘Pharaoh’s curse fungus’, has now been found to cure leukaemia. 👇

‘Pharaoh’s curse fungus’ turned into a cure for cancer

The deadly fungus, Aspergillus flavus, once denoted as the ‘Pharaoh’s curse fungus’, has now been found to cure leukaemia.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · 8d

This week is #WorldSpaceWeek!

Microbes don’t need a ticket to space — they hitch a ride with us!

🦠 In microgravity, bacteria like Streptococcus mutans may behave differently, even increasing risks like tooth decay. Keeping astronauts healthy means understanding the unseen. 🧬

Health in space and why bacteria play a role in it

Astronauts and their microbiomes are inseparable even in space. But what happens when Streptococcus mutans rebel against peaceful life in the human body?

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · 10d

📣 New MicroBites!

Amoeba and Bacteria, Newfound Friends? 🦠

How an amoeba can help bacteria resist antimicrobials. 💊

Amoeba and Bacteria, Newfound Friends?

How an amoeba can help bacteria resist antimicrobials.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · 26d

🌍🦠 Happy #InternationalMicroorganismDay!

MicroBites joined the fun at the Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels 🎉

Fermented foods, microalgae, mushroom leather & more 🍄✨

Huge thanks to the Young Belgian Society for Microbiology & all the young scientists sharing their passion! 💡
#IMD2025

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Sep 7

Today is International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies!

What if the smog outside your window isn’t just hurting your lungs—but also rewriting the microbes inside your gut? 🦠💨 The link between air pollution and our microbiome could reshape how we think about clean air.

Breathless: The Impact of Air Pollution on Microbial Balance

The relationship between air pollution, microbiome, & health outcomes, highlighting the lung-gut interactions.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Sep 1

📣 New MicroBites!

Breaking the Grass Ceiling: CBD Improves Female Depression 👩

A new study shows CBD treatment helped decrease symptoms of depression in mice consuming a high fat diet. 🐭 🦠

Breaking the Grass Ceiling: CBD Improves Female Depression

A new study shows CBD treatment helped decrease symptoms of depression in mice consuming a high fat diet.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 28

📣 New MicroBites!

Trust Your Gut, It’s Working Out 💪

Newly-discovered links between exercise, the microbiome, and immunotherapy paint a compelling picture in the fight against cancer. 🦠

Trust Your Gut, It’s Working Out

Newly-discovered links between exercise, the microbiome, and immunotherapy paint a compelling picture in the fight against cancer.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 25

📣 New MicroBites!

From Therapy to Threat: Antibiotics and the Resistome 🦠

Antibiotic-induced dysbiosis disrupts gut microbial harmony, fuel resistance gene spread, and triggers inflammation—reshaping immunity, brain health, and future disease risks. 💊

From Therapy to Threat: Antibiotics and the Resistome

Antibiotic-induced dysbiosis disrupts gut microbial harmony, fuel resistance gene spread, and triggers inflammation—reshaping immunity, brain health, and future disease risks.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 21

📣 New MicroBites!

Plastic to Paracetamol: Manufactured by E. coli 💊

E. coli bacteria help convert plastic waste into paracetamol, thus addressing the concerns of environmental pollution and extensive fossil fuel… 🦠

Plastic to Paracetamol: Manufactured by E. coli

E. coli bacteria help convert plastic waste into paracetamol, thus addressing the concerns of environmental pollution and extensive fossil fuel usage.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 18

📣 New MicroBites!

Phage discovery gets its groove back with Phage DisCo 🔮

Phage discovery can be long and drawn out, but scientists are ready to get down with this groovy new method… 👇

Post by @_MicroBites.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 14

📣 New MicroBites!

High-Dose Probiotics Improve Mood in Stress Model 🐭

Combined treatment with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium improved stress-related depression and anxiety in mice. 🦠

High-Dose Probiotics Improve Mood in Stress Model

Combined treatment with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium improved stress-related depression and anxiety in mice.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 11

📣 New MicroBites!

How scientists spy on bacteriophages inside your belly 🕵️

Scientists made glowing phages to track their spread inside the guts, revealing their effects on bacterial communities. 🦠

How scientists spy on bacteriophages inside your belly

Scientists made glowing phages to track their spread inside the guts, revealing their effects on bacterial communities.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 7

👶 Newborns enter the world with immature immune systems—but they’re not defenseless.

Mothers pass down protective antibodies during pregnancy and through breast milk, shielding babies from harmful infections. 🦠 #WorldBreastfeedingWeek

Maternal instincts

During pregnancy, mothers produce a powerful antibody to protect their newborns from infection

Reposted by MicroBites

Erin R. Cafferty @erin-goes-viral.bsky.social · Aug 5

Phage discovery can be long and drawn out, but scientists are ready to get down with this groovy new method that skips the hassle.

Had a lot of fun with this one! 🪩 🕺 ✨

@microbites.bsky.social
micro-bites.org/2025/08/02/p...

Phage discovery gets is groove back with Phage DisCo

Phage discovery can be long and drawn out, but scientists are ready to get down with this groovy new method that skips the hassle.

micro-bites.org

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 4

Did you know? More than 50% of a baby’s gut microbes are seeded by the mother at birth and during breastfeeding.

These early microbial allies shape immunity and metabolism for years to come.

🦠 A healthy start begins with mothers.

#WorldBreastfeedingWeek

Transmissible microbiomes

Can person-to-person interactions define your innermost microbes?

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Aug 1

👶🏽 Today starts #WorldBreastfeedingWeek.

Breastfeeding isn’t just about nourishment— it boosts immunity, brain development, and even seeds the infant's microbiome—setting the stage for lifelong health.

Transmissible microbiomes

Can person-to-person interactions define your innermost microbes?

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Jul 28

📣 New MicroBites!

Soil Bacteria: Protozoan Prey or Potential Pathogen?🤔

The virulence of environmental microbial populations might hinge on who doesn’t become the protozoans’ lunch. 🦠

buff.ly/JTdWkm6

Soil Bacteria: Protozoan Prey or Potential Pathogen?

The virulence of environmental microbial populations might hinge on who doesn’t become the protozoans’ lunch.

micro-bites.org

Reposted by MicroBites

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Jul 20

🧱 Bacteria that build with CO₂?

This study shows Bacillus megaterium prefers turning CO₂ into solid calcite instead of breaking down urea, paving the way for greener, cement-free materials that store carbon.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #CarbonCapture #Microbiology 🧪

Bacillus megaterium favours CO₂ mineralization into CaCO₃ over the ureolytic pathway - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Bacillus megaterium favours CO₂ mineralization into CaCO₃ over the ureolytic pathway

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Jul 14

📣 New MicroBites!

The New Biome in Town 🦠

You’ve heard of the gut microbiome and the skin microbiome. Now introducing the kidney microbiome! 👇

buff.ly/8MzZcT2

The New Biome in Town

You’ve heard of the gut microbiome and the skin microbiome. Now introducing the kidney microbiome!

micro-bites.org

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Jul 9

📣 New MicroBites!

Codon Trash? Dengue Calls It Treasure! 🦟

The Secret Code of Dengue: Using Non-Optimal Codons to Win the Game? 👇

Codon Trash? Dengue Calls It Treasure!

The Secret Code of Dengue: Using Non-Optimal Codons to Win the Game?

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Jul 7

📣 New MicroBites!

The infectious viral loops ➰

HIV-1 virus infects human immune cells by producing 15 different circular RNAs. 🦠

The infectious viral loops

HIV-1 virus infects human immune cells by producing 15 different circular RNAs.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Jul 4

📣 New MicroBites!

Roping in Resistant Microbial Outlaws 🤠

Howdy! Allow me to introduce you to the new sheriff in town: lariocidin, a potent antimicrobial lasso peptide. 🦠

Roping in Resistant Microbial Outlaws

Howdy! Allow me to introduce you to the new sheriff in town: lariocidin, a potent antimicrobial lasso peptide.

MicroBites @microbites.bsky.social · Jul 2

📣 New MicroBites!

The dark side of plastic-degrading bacteria in healthcare ⚕️

While the ability to degrade plastics might seem beneficial, it poses a threat to the integrity of medical devices and… 🦠

The dark side of plastic-degrading bacteria in healthcare

While the ability to degrade plastics might seem beneficial, it poses a threat to the integrity of medical devices and increases the risk of infections.