Jillian Lewis
@jillianlewis.bsky.social
UConn PhD student studying microbes + squid eggs 🦑
Scientist by training, swamp thing by nature
she/her 🍄🧶🥘🐸🧪🗺🌌🪻🧬🔬
Scientist by training, swamp thing by nature
she/her 🍄🧶🥘🐸🧪🗺🌌🪻🧬🔬
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Grad student in the lab (Dom Pham), in her first semester, already out here writing those op-eds: www.ctpost.com/opinion/arti... 💪✨
Opinion: A grad student’s call for transparency from UConn
A new grad student writes that a confidentiality rule from UConn during union contract negotiations has sparked confusion and unrest.
www.ctpost.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Grad student in the lab (Dom Pham), in her first semester, already out here writing those op-eds: www.ctpost.com/opinion/arti... 💪✨
For this #FluorescenceFriday I wanted to share this spooky eye from a squid embryo! 👁️🦑
October 31, 2025 at 4:18 PM
For this #FluorescenceFriday I wanted to share this spooky eye from a squid embryo! 👁️🦑
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Host-mediated niche construction of bacterial communities in an aquatic microecosystem
Abstract. Microbes coordinate homeostasis in host-associated and environmental ecosystems alike, but the connectivity of these biomes is seldom considered.
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
I wrote an opinion piece about parental/family leave at UConn. I’m only ~75% happy with it but … something needed to be said. Many things actually. Loudly. Repeatedly. And with as many voices as possible.
“This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors”
ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...
“This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors”
ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...
Opinion: This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors
UConn currently lets every pregnant/expecting individual reinvent the wheel, cobbling together a leave plan with whatever resources and departmental grace they can muster.
ctmirror.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:06 PM
I wrote an opinion piece about parental/family leave at UConn. I’m only ~75% happy with it but … something needed to be said. Many things actually. Loudly. Repeatedly. And with as many voices as possible.
“This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors”
ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...
“This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors”
ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
When marine biologist Cherisse Du Preez sent an underwater drone to explore a methane seep on the ocean floor, she expected to find tubeworms. Instead, she stumbled upon an army of octo-moms. 🐙
An Ice-Cold Octopus Nursery Could Help Expand Marine Protections
Indigenous and Western scientists are working together to uncover biodiversity in the icy deep. They're getting some eight-armed help.
buff.ly
September 9, 2025 at 10:21 PM
When marine biologist Cherisse Du Preez sent an underwater drone to explore a methane seep on the ocean floor, she expected to find tubeworms. Instead, she stumbled upon an army of octo-moms. 🐙
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
🪱🍄 The secret to predatory escape lies in collagen. A new study how a single nematode gene nhr-66 resist fungal traps thanks to Velcro-like abilities, but the trade-off is their weakened cuticles making them vulnerable to rainfall. For more: s.gwdg.de/VJySw4
#Nematodes #FungalBiology #MaxPlanck
#Nematodes #FungalBiology #MaxPlanck
September 2, 2025 at 9:42 AM
🪱🍄 The secret to predatory escape lies in collagen. A new study how a single nematode gene nhr-66 resist fungal traps thanks to Velcro-like abilities, but the trade-off is their weakened cuticles making them vulnerable to rainfall. For more: s.gwdg.de/VJySw4
#Nematodes #FungalBiology #MaxPlanck
#Nematodes #FungalBiology #MaxPlanck
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Congratulations to Avery Imes and all of our collaborators on this cover & editor's spotlight article in #AEM! More details on the study in the preprint thread linked below. @asm.org bsky.app/profile/mark...
August 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Congratulations to Avery Imes and all of our collaborators on this cover & editor's spotlight article in #AEM! More details on the study in the preprint thread linked below. @asm.org bsky.app/profile/mark...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
New #symbiosky paper from Cory Bishop and collaborators (including me 😊) on the remarkable specificity of the symbiosis between spotted salamanders and the alga in their eggs. Cory organized colleagues to get egg fluid from NC USA to NS Canada. He found extremely low...
tinyurl.com/2jmwce2s
tinyurl.com/2jmwce2s
Frontiers | High partner specificity in an algal-salamander mutualism at continental scale
The mutualism between the green alga Oophila amblystomatis (“Oophila”) and egg masses of the spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum involves acquisition of a...
www.frontiersin.org
August 17, 2025 at 10:05 PM
New #symbiosky paper from Cory Bishop and collaborators (including me 😊) on the remarkable specificity of the symbiosis between spotted salamanders and the alga in their eggs. Cory organized colleagues to get egg fluid from NC USA to NS Canada. He found extremely low...
tinyurl.com/2jmwce2s
tinyurl.com/2jmwce2s
everyone please look at the hummingbird enjoying my purple coneflower 🌼
July 31, 2025 at 8:52 PM
everyone please look at the hummingbird enjoying my purple coneflower 🌼
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Seeing between the lines: matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging advances for microbial interactions
-in Curr Opin Microbiol from @drlaurasanchez.bsky.social
#Microbiota_thematic_issue
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
-in Curr Opin Microbiol from @drlaurasanchez.bsky.social
#Microbiota_thematic_issue
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Seeing between the lines: matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging advances for microbial interactions
This review delves into the technical advancements of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) applications f…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 17, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Seeing between the lines: matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging advances for microbial interactions
-in Curr Opin Microbiol from @drlaurasanchez.bsky.social
#Microbiota_thematic_issue
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
-in Curr Opin Microbiol from @drlaurasanchez.bsky.social
#Microbiota_thematic_issue
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
please enjoy a bunch of clams doing the wiggle
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBS...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBS...
Dancing deep-sea clams thrive on the seafloor off Southern California
YouTube video by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)
www.youtube.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:35 PM
please enjoy a bunch of clams doing the wiggle
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBS...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBS...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Artists of bluesky!
@skypeascientist.bsky.social & Willimantic Public Art are collabing on a community mural in Willimantic, CT in spring.
We're looking for Eastern CT artists who'd like to work on the project! The artist will be selected *by the community*.
Apply here: forms.gle/2tjJmdXcF6wy...
@skypeascientist.bsky.social & Willimantic Public Art are collabing on a community mural in Willimantic, CT in spring.
We're looking for Eastern CT artists who'd like to work on the project! The artist will be selected *by the community*.
Apply here: forms.gle/2tjJmdXcF6wy...
July 15, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Artists of bluesky!
@skypeascientist.bsky.social & Willimantic Public Art are collabing on a community mural in Willimantic, CT in spring.
We're looking for Eastern CT artists who'd like to work on the project! The artist will be selected *by the community*.
Apply here: forms.gle/2tjJmdXcF6wy...
@skypeascientist.bsky.social & Willimantic Public Art are collabing on a community mural in Willimantic, CT in spring.
We're looking for Eastern CT artists who'd like to work on the project! The artist will be selected *by the community*.
Apply here: forms.gle/2tjJmdXcF6wy...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...
Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees
Public Indiana colleges and universities have eliminated 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state’s budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.
www.ipm.org
June 30, 2025 at 9:12 PM
So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...
Thanks for the shoutout Dr. Kat! I make non-squid jewelry on request too, if folks have other favorite model systems :)
June 22, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Thanks for the shoutout Dr. Kat! I make non-squid jewelry on request too, if folks have other favorite model systems :)
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Protect Trans Scientists.
cowritten with a lot of amazing people (I tagged those I could find but there are so many more incredible folks)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@thepunkscientist.bsky.social @jlw-ecoevo.bsky.social @bfrancescol.bsky.social @drsueishaq.bsky.social
cowritten with a lot of amazing people (I tagged those I could find but there are so many more incredible folks)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@thepunkscientist.bsky.social @jlw-ecoevo.bsky.social @bfrancescol.bsky.social @drsueishaq.bsky.social
Protect transgender scientists
Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGnC) people are a primary target of the Trump administration. Multiple executive orders seek to erase TGnC protections; mandate denial of gender identity; and ba...
www.science.org
June 19, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Protect Trans Scientists.
cowritten with a lot of amazing people (I tagged those I could find but there are so many more incredible folks)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@thepunkscientist.bsky.social @jlw-ecoevo.bsky.social @bfrancescol.bsky.social @drsueishaq.bsky.social
cowritten with a lot of amazing people (I tagged those I could find but there are so many more incredible folks)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@thepunkscientist.bsky.social @jlw-ecoevo.bsky.social @bfrancescol.bsky.social @drsueishaq.bsky.social
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Learning about science is always rad. But as the Animal-Microbe Symbiosis GRC wraps up, I'm most excited about whom I get to do that science with.
June 20, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Learning about science is always rad. But as the Animal-Microbe Symbiosis GRC wraps up, I'm most excited about whom I get to do that science with.
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Our paper in @science.org 👉🏽 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
is accompanied by an especially thoughtful perspective by Carey Nadell and Chris Marx 👉🏽
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
is accompanied by an especially thoughtful perspective by Carey Nadell and Chris Marx 👉🏽
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
June 13, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Our paper in @science.org 👉🏽 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
is accompanied by an especially thoughtful perspective by Carey Nadell and Chris Marx 👉🏽
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
is accompanied by an especially thoughtful perspective by Carey Nadell and Chris Marx 👉🏽
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
🌈 This #PrideMonth, UConn was proud to host the 4th annual Queer Science Conference, which introduces Connecticut high schoolers to the wide rainbow of possible career paths in science. today.uconn.edu/2025/06/at-u...
At UConn’s Queer Science Conference, New Futures Take Shape for Young Scientists - UConn Today
Fourth annual event offers high schoolers hands-on fun served up with a scoop of science
today.uconn.edu
June 12, 2025 at 3:17 PM
🌈 This #PrideMonth, UConn was proud to host the 4th annual Queer Science Conference, which introduces Connecticut high schoolers to the wide rainbow of possible career paths in science. today.uconn.edu/2025/06/at-u...
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
I’m at the Uni of Michigan today! I’ll be doing a science comm. seminar + workshop later, but now I’m catching up on all the squid + bacteria symbiosis work with @spencernyholm.bsky.social & @balunaslab.bsky.social.
These labs collaborate, understanding symbiosis with both biology & chemistry.
These labs collaborate, understanding symbiosis with both biology & chemistry.
June 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I’m at the Uni of Michigan today! I’ll be doing a science comm. seminar + workshop later, but now I’m catching up on all the squid + bacteria symbiosis work with @spencernyholm.bsky.social & @balunaslab.bsky.social.
These labs collaborate, understanding symbiosis with both biology & chemistry.
These labs collaborate, understanding symbiosis with both biology & chemistry.
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
MY ART IN SCIENCE LABS!!!
I should have taken more pictures when everyone was doing their worksheets but I was too engrossed in what everyone was creating!!
The host lab put a poster up, @invertebabe.bsky.social 🥰
The host lab put a poster up, @invertebabe.bsky.social 🥰
June 5, 2025 at 8:50 PM
MY ART IN SCIENCE LABS!!!
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Do you know a high school student who's queer and interested in STEM? Do they want to come to UConn for. *free* one day conference to meet and learn about queer scientists and engineers work. Join us for Queer Science June 8 in Storrs.
May 15, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Do you know a high school student who's queer and interested in STEM? Do they want to come to UConn for. *free* one day conference to meet and learn about queer scientists and engineers work. Join us for Queer Science June 8 in Storrs.
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
An absolutely mesmerizing slime mold found in Soberanía National Park, Panamá. It’s the kinda thing that makes you re-experience child-like wonder at the beauty of life followed by a devastating reminder that we are obliterating billions of years of biological innovation to cool chatbot servers
May 14, 2025 at 12:21 AM
An absolutely mesmerizing slime mold found in Soberanía National Park, Panamá. It’s the kinda thing that makes you re-experience child-like wonder at the beauty of life followed by a devastating reminder that we are obliterating billions of years of biological innovation to cool chatbot servers
Reposted by Jillian Lewis
Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions
Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund
scim.ag
May 8, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.