Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
@gibbological.bsky.social
microbiome researcher | associate professor @isbscience.org | affiliate prof @uwbioe.bsky.social | ecology, evolution, and systems biology of 💩 🦠 | precision/personalized nutrition/medicine ⚕️ | 🏳️🌈 he/him | lab website: gibbons.isbscience.org
Pinned
Personalized Clostridioides difficile colonization risk prediction and probiotic therapy assessment in the human gut
Carr et al. show how microbial community-scale metabolic models (MCMMs) predict personalized
Clostridioides difficile colonization risk and probiotic efficacy. MCMMs reveal key
metabolic strategies ex...
www.cell.com
💥Personalized C. difficile colonization risk prediction and probiotic therapy assessment in the human gut💥
I'm very excited about this work, driven by Alex Carr & co-supervised by @cdiener.com
@cp-cellsystems.bsky.social @isbscience.org @nitinbaliga.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-systems...
🧵...
I'm very excited about this work, driven by Alex Carr & co-supervised by @cdiener.com
@cp-cellsystems.bsky.social @isbscience.org @nitinbaliga.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-systems...
🧵...
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
$100 million prize goes to dynamic duo aiming to stop next pandemic before it starts
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
n.pr
November 22, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
A movie that takes place where you're from.
November 23, 2025 at 7:40 PM
A movie that takes place where you're from.
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Geneticist and microbiologist Rita Rossi Colwell was born #OTD in 1934. She was the first researcher in the US to use computers to analyze bacteriological data, and the first woman to serve as director of the NSF. 🧪 👩🔬
November 23, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Geneticist and microbiologist Rita Rossi Colwell was born #OTD in 1934. She was the first researcher in the US to use computers to analyze bacteriological data, and the first woman to serve as director of the NSF. 🧪 👩🔬
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
The actions of Witkoff, Rubio and Trump in this matter are an absolute disgrace. This means that the U.S. cannot be seen as an honest broker in any international conflict.
Trump’s controversial plan given to Ukraine as a take-it-or-leave it proposition was the result of weeks of negotiations behind the scenes between Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev that excluded Ukraine, its allies and key US officials.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Secret US-Russia Talks Led to Peace Plan That Blindsided Ukraine
The controversial 28-point plan dropped suddenly by the Trump administration to Ukraine as a take-it-or-leave it proposition mere days ago was mostly the result of several weeks of negotiations behind...
www.bloomberg.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
The actions of Witkoff, Rubio and Trump in this matter are an absolute disgrace. This means that the U.S. cannot be seen as an honest broker in any international conflict.
Interesting microbiome-aging study in flies: "...findings are consistent with growing evidence in D. melanogaster indicating that fecal microbiota transplants from young individuals do not consistently improve or predict age-related outcomes..."
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Host genetics and diet jointly shape the microbiome of Drosophila melanogaster but do not predict lifespan or age-related traits
The microbiome is a key determinant of organismal health, yet inter-individual variability and heterogeneous responses to environmental conditions complicates the understanding of its effects on hosts...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Interesting microbiome-aging study in flies: "...findings are consistent with growing evidence in D. melanogaster indicating that fecal microbiota transplants from young individuals do not consistently improve or predict age-related outcomes..."
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Gift link: wapo.st/43FXQfO
detailed WashPost account of how Trump and Stephen Miller sidelined serious lawyers so they could fabricate a justification for committing murder
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
White House blew past legal concerns in deadly strikes on drug boats
The Trump administration sidestepped skeptical lawyers across national security agencies as it pursued a military campaign against alleged narcotraffickers, officials say.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Gift link: wapo.st/43FXQfO
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
"twin studies produce a ~2x inflated estimate of narrow-sense heritability when compared to molecular estimates that are free of environmental confounding."
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:13 PM
"twin studies produce a ~2x inflated estimate of narrow-sense heritability when compared to molecular estimates that are free of environmental confounding."
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Not this again
'however, standard culture methods did not yield readily cultivable microbiota.'
'however, standard culture methods did not yield readily cultivable microbiota.'
The findings of a study in Nature Medicine introduce microbial elements as a component of the brain tumor microenvironment and lay the foundation for future mechanistic and translational studies. go.nature.com/44bO314 #medsky #microbiome 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Not this again
'however, standard culture methods did not yield readily cultivable microbiota.'
'however, standard culture methods did not yield readily cultivable microbiota.'
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
In fairness, the NIH Director was describing his own research...
The NIH director told attendees the NIH doesn't do enough innovative research.
“What puts lives at risk is doing research that’s incremental,” Bhattacharya said. “All it does is advance the careers of the researchers that do it. It results in publications that don’t get used and aren’t replicable.”
“What puts lives at risk is doing research that’s incremental,” Bhattacharya said. “All it does is advance the careers of the researchers that do it. It results in publications that don’t get used and aren’t replicable.”
November 22, 2025 at 11:48 AM
In fairness, the NIH Director was describing his own research...
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
The extent of the damage done to public health, biomedical science, and healthcare in the US in less than a year will take a generation or more to repair. This is the scale of the destruction. Let that sink in. A new president, Congress won't be enough to reverse things fully. It's that bad.
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 11:43 PM
The extent of the damage done to public health, biomedical science, and healthcare in the US in less than a year will take a generation or more to repair. This is the scale of the destruction. Let that sink in. A new president, Congress won't be enough to reverse things fully. It's that bad.
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
He said "Amen" straight into the drop
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
November 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
He said "Amen" straight into the drop
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
GlobDB: a comprehensive species-dereplicated microbial genome resource
AbstractMotivation. Over the past years, substantial numbers of microbial species’ genomes have been deposited outside of conventional INSDC databases.Resu
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Wow
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Wow
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Wow...this is really embarrassing. Reads like an @theonion.com article.
Read my full story here!
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
The Make America Healthy Again summit, attended by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and vice-president JD Vance, gave a sense of what’s driving US health policy.
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Wow...this is really embarrassing. Reads like an @theonion.com article.
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
NEW: ICE has finally released post-shutdown detention data. The latest data reveals that a full 40%(!) of people arrested in the interior and held in ICE detention have no criminal record; no criminal charges or prior convictions. That is up from just 4% when Trump took office.
November 21, 2025 at 4:01 PM
NEW: ICE has finally released post-shutdown detention data. The latest data reveals that a full 40%(!) of people arrested in the interior and held in ICE detention have no criminal record; no criminal charges or prior convictions. That is up from just 4% when Trump took office.
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
"At this time, I suggest the general public avoid the CDC website." --epidemiologist @kkjetelina.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
One of CDC’s final blows. And what it means for you.
Where to find trusted health information now?
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
"At this time, I suggest the general public avoid the CDC website." --epidemiologist @kkjetelina.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
November 21, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
APHA and other leading medical, health and patient advocacy groups issued a joint statement on the alarming changes made to the CDC autism website. #SpeakForHealth
vist.ly/4fexk
vist.ly/4fexk
November 21, 2025 at 2:42 AM
APHA and other leading medical, health and patient advocacy groups issued a joint statement on the alarming changes made to the CDC autism website. #SpeakForHealth
vist.ly/4fexk
vist.ly/4fexk
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
New @JAMAOnc study links ultraprocessed foods to colorectal polyps in under-50s. But classifying foods was tricky, notes Fred Hutch's Dr. Marian Neuhouser, making results less certain. Still, findings echo recent research. Read more: https://nyti.ms/3M1ZfXL
Ultraprocessed Foods Linked to Colorectal Cancer Risk in Women Under 50
The study's findings track with recent research on the alarming rise of the cancer in younger adults.
nyti.ms
November 20, 2025 at 2:37 PM
New @JAMAOnc study links ultraprocessed foods to colorectal polyps in under-50s. But classifying foods was tricky, notes Fred Hutch's Dr. Marian Neuhouser, making results less certain. Still, findings echo recent research. Read more: https://nyti.ms/3M1ZfXL
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
This is how you destroy science and research in the country
The administration is building a legal pathway for ad hoc grant terminations:
"if the agency determines that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities"
Converting multiyear grants to 'at whim' coin flips will undermine the stability & leadership of American science.
"if the agency determines that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities"
Converting multiyear grants to 'at whim' coin flips will undermine the stability & leadership of American science.
Update on a significant development NIH grant terms.
On 10/1, a change to grant making regs went into effect that gives NIH more power to terminate grants for policy reasons.
But to use this power, new grant terms must include specific language. See @aniloza.bsky.social w/ the story from July.
1/
On 10/1, a change to grant making regs went into effect that gives NIH more power to terminate grants for policy reasons.
But to use this power, new grant terms must include specific language. See @aniloza.bsky.social w/ the story from July.
1/
November 20, 2025 at 4:17 PM
This is how you destroy science and research in the country
Reposted by Sean Gibbons 🦠💩
Hey folks, we (the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University) are looking for an Assistant Teaching Professor in microbiology and immunology. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested, or check it out if you are interested yourself!
apply.interfolio.com/176994
apply.interfolio.com/176994
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Hey folks, we (the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University) are looking for an Assistant Teaching Professor in microbiology and immunology. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested, or check it out if you are interested yourself!
apply.interfolio.com/176994
apply.interfolio.com/176994