John McCutcheon
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mcsymbiont.bsky.social
John McCutcheon
@mcsymbiont.bsky.social
3.5K followers 1.1K following 130 posts
I like bacteria that live inside of insect cells.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by John McCutcheon
hassansalem.bsky.social
There’ll be several opportunities to join the group, starting w/ a PhD studentship via the BBSRC-NRP Doctoral Training Partnership.

Team up w/ us, @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social & @berasymbionts.bsky.social to answer how microbes shape insect behavior:
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/mic...
Microbial determinants of behaviour in herbivorous beetles (SALEM_J26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership
Many animals rely on beneficial microbes for nutrition, defence, or reproduction. In this project, the student will explore an exciting new dimension of these relationships:
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
hassansalem.bsky.social
Some news 🎉
After five incredible years in Tübingen, it’s time to say goodbye.

Starting February, the Mutualisms Lab will relocate to the John Innes Centre, right next door to @berasymbionts.bsky.social and her group at The Sainsbury Laboratory 🪲🦠
Hassan, Aileen, and a local resident by the Norwich Cathedral.
November 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
harmitmalik.bsky.social
Sharing this important article... for no reason whatsoever.

"We must also continue to deepen and refine our understanding of fundamental biological processes because these details frequently hold the keys to major advances in applied research."

elifesciences.org/articles/102...
November 23, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
jumpinggenomes.bsky.social
I love mite mt-tRNAs! I did some tRNA-seq on spider mites, and it was the first place I found this sense/antisense expression (+ some crazy short tRNAs). But I could still find all 22 tRNAs. With the mealys, it looks like this process has gone to replacement. Mirror expression -> gene loss
Hopeful monsters: unintended sequencing of famously malformed mite mitochondrial tRNAs reveals widespread expression and processing of sense–antisense pairs
Although tRNA structure is one of the most conserved and recognizable shapes in molecular biology, aberrant tRNAs are frequently found in the mitochondrial genomes of metazoans. The extremely degenerate structures of several mitochondrial tRNAs ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 21, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
blekhman.bsky.social
I wrote about the recent autism-microbiome paper, why I think it's the most important microbiome paper this year, and what it says about the field

open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
The Autism-Microbiome Hypothesis Is Falling Apart
Why this new review paper should be required reading for every microbiome researcher
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
lbobay.bsky.social
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy
Nature Communications - It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core...
rdcu.be
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
apragsdale.bsky.social
Wisconsin Evolution is accepting applications for our Seminar Series' Early Career Scientist Award. Come share your evolution research and visit UW-Madison's evolution community. Open to grad students and postdocs (<5 yrs post PhD) from outside UW-Madison.

Apply by Dec 15th here: shorturl.at/4a4O6
Early Career Scientist Awards 2026
Application to the UW-Madison Evolution Seminar Series - Early Career Scientist Awards.
urldefense.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
mcsymbiont.bsky.social
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 {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:59 PM
mcsymbiont.bsky.social
Oh, your favorite genetic locus only encodes one gene? That's boring.

Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Image showing 4 tRNAs being produced from only 2 loci, the tRNA genes completely overlap
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
paolocrosetto.bsky.social
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.

It's *scientific publishing*.

We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.

Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...

Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
November 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
tweethinking.bsky.social
There's a PhD position now available with me in Bath, on the evolution of symbiosis. www.findaphd.com/phds/project.... The supervisory team also includes @anja1.bsky.social @phil-donoghue.bsky.social and others. NB, this is open both to UK-based students *and* to international students :)
The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
brockhurstlab.bsky.social
Three Bicentenary research fellowships on offer at @officialuom.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social for exceptional ECRs with <3y postdoc experience

3yrs salary + £30k pa research expenses

Do you have a great idea & want to join @mermanchester.bsky.social?

www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...
Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowships | Biology, Medicine and Health | University of Manchester
Find out about and apply for a Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowship.
www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
microbiome.bsky.social
Thinking about a postdoc in microbiome science?
Our lab at the MPI for Biology (Tübingen) builds on the culture I established at Cornell: collaborative, creative, and internationally diverse. Postdocs lead their own projects with secure funding. Join us!
#PostdocJobs #HostMicrobe #AcademicJobs
October 4, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
carlzimmer.com
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
berasymbionts.bsky.social
🚨 Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (📅 March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards.
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky 🦠
The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe
www.embl.org
September 8, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
nonresidentdesi.bsky.social
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/...
June 13, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
policyhound.bsky.social
Things are going from bad to worse at NSF; www.science.org/content/arti...
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
www.science.org
May 8, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
krissychula.bsky.social
This is high art
April 6, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
jencmars.bsky.social
Reposting an oldie

I've moved away from using gouache in this very thick, opaque way, but the colors really are nice to look at
Stylized painting of an annual cicada seen from the side up close. It has lots of detailed texture, and very bright green and orange and blue swirling colors.
April 4, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
thibautbrunet.bsky.social
Striking new study from @archaeon-alex.bsky.social's lab just out in @science.org on multicellular development induced by compression in Archaea: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Tissue-like multicellular development triggered by mechanical compression in archaea
The advent of clonal multicellularity is a critical evolutionary milestone, seen often in eukaryotes, rarely in bacteria, and only once in archaea. We show that uniaxial compression induces clonal mul...
www.science.org
April 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
stairwaytokevin.bsky.social
New article from @science.org gives a bit of a peek behind the curtain. It seems NSF internally has no idea what is happening, how to implement, or what the consequences of non-compliance will be.
January 30, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
brianphillips.bsky.social
If you wanted no leaks you should have gone into Settings -> Security -> Configure privacy & security -> Privacy options -> Other -> Configure -> Media interface and clicked “Disallow.”

The Leak setting is on by default but we understand your privacy is important so we’ve made it easy to opt out
January 30, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by John McCutcheon
kstsosie.bsky.social
Last push for final application to our one-week workshop on #Indigenous #Health and Artificial Intelligence! IndigiData is held this summer on the Tribal lands of the Ak-Chin Indian Community in Central AZ, June 2-6, 2025: indigidata.org Apply: 01/31

(Not reliant on federal funds)
January 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM