Ashley Alexander
@peachypotato.bsky.social
Postdoctoral researcher at Georgia State University
Microbiology, ecology, and evolution
Azimi Lab
Microbiology, ecology, and evolution
Azimi Lab
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Update to BacFighT6, with presets for easy exploration of complex behaviors:
sites.google.com/view/bacfight6
Try "battle royale" preset where prey (blue) produce capsule, attackers (red) move towards prey and feed on it, defenders (orange) retaliate!
Took a while to eliminate the reds!
sites.google.com/view/bacfight6
Try "battle royale" preset where prey (blue) produce capsule, attackers (red) move towards prey and feed on it, defenders (orange) retaliate!
Took a while to eliminate the reds!
November 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Update to BacFighT6, with presets for easy exploration of complex behaviors:
sites.google.com/view/bacfight6
Try "battle royale" preset where prey (blue) produce capsule, attackers (red) move towards prey and feed on it, defenders (orange) retaliate!
Took a while to eliminate the reds!
sites.google.com/view/bacfight6
Try "battle royale" preset where prey (blue) produce capsule, attackers (red) move towards prey and feed on it, defenders (orange) retaliate!
Took a while to eliminate the reds!
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
New paper! Specific PilA and PilY1 sequences make PilU dispensable for T4P-dependent twitching motility in P. aeruginosa. However, most suppressors still had high cAMP levels from loss of PilU, showing that motility and surface sensing responses can be uncoupled.🧐 ⏩ journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Separation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pilus-dependent twitching motility and surface-sensing responses | mBio
The ability of bacteria to sense and respond to contact with surfaces is important
for triggering changes in secondary messenger levels and gene expression, leading
to the formation of biofilms and in...
journals.asm.org
October 7, 2025 at 5:09 PM
New paper! Specific PilA and PilY1 sequences make PilU dispensable for T4P-dependent twitching motility in P. aeruginosa. However, most suppressors still had high cAMP levels from loss of PilU, showing that motility and surface sensing responses can be uncoupled.🧐 ⏩ journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community
@natcomms.nature.com from @oventurelli2.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@natcomms.nature.com from @oventurelli2.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community - Nature Communications
Here the authors leverage a crossfeeding, engineered microbial community to demonstrate that strain abundance cycles are robust across environmental conditions. They pair this with a nonlinear dynamic model to elucidate population cycles.
www.nature.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community
@natcomms.nature.com from @oventurelli2.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@natcomms.nature.com from @oventurelli2.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
The Damage Done by @marianneguenot.bsky.social
Now out in Nature Medicine, featuring analysis from #GrantWitness and #SCIMaP and impacts on grants, clinical trials, patients, discovery, collaboration, and careers.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Now out in Nature Medicine, featuring analysis from #GrantWitness and #SCIMaP and impacts on grants, clinical trials, patients, discovery, collaboration, and careers.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The damage done - Nature Medicine
When clinical trials are suddenly halted by US funding cuts, there are repercussions for investigators and patients, and they do not stop at borders.
www.nature.com
October 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
The Damage Done by @marianneguenot.bsky.social
Now out in Nature Medicine, featuring analysis from #GrantWitness and #SCIMaP and impacts on grants, clinical trials, patients, discovery, collaboration, and careers.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Now out in Nature Medicine, featuring analysis from #GrantWitness and #SCIMaP and impacts on grants, clinical trials, patients, discovery, collaboration, and careers.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
The science was cutting edge, and the company was unparalleled- thank you everyone for such a welcoming and thrilling #GRCMicroPop! Looking forward to cyberstalking all your google scholar profiles ❤️
July 11, 2025 at 5:30 PM
The science was cutting edge, and the company was unparalleled- thank you everyone for such a welcoming and thrilling #GRCMicroPop! Looking forward to cyberstalking all your google scholar profiles ❤️
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Lovely time with new and old friends at microbiology population biology camp. Leaving with lots of new ideas (and lots of new bug bites)
@cbibberson.bsky.social @peachypotato.bsky.social @jamesgurney.bsky.social
@cbibberson.bsky.social @peachypotato.bsky.social @jamesgurney.bsky.social
July 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Lovely time with new and old friends at microbiology population biology camp. Leaving with lots of new ideas (and lots of new bug bites)
@cbibberson.bsky.social @peachypotato.bsky.social @jamesgurney.bsky.social
@cbibberson.bsky.social @peachypotato.bsky.social @jamesgurney.bsky.social
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
My first GRC, but hopefully not the last one. One of the best meetings that I have ever attented
July 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
My first GRC, but hopefully not the last one. One of the best meetings that I have ever attented
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team.
Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Student-led experimental evolution reveals novel biofilm regulatory networks underlying adaptations to multiple niches
We established a research-education partnership known as EvolvingSTEM that provides secondary school students the opportunity to conduct authentic research experiments centered on microbial evolution....
www.biorxiv.org
June 8, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team.
Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
I have some slots avaiable for my #MattersMicrobial podcast (www.microbe.tv/mm) on the following dates: 6/26, 7/10, 7/17, 7/25, 7/31, 8/7, and 8/14. Holler by DM if you have suggestions or are interested? We will also be figuring out Fall soon, too. Appreciate EVERY #MicrobialGuest.
Matters Microbial - Microbial Centrism
Microbial Centrism
www.microbe.tv
May 6, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I have some slots avaiable for my #MattersMicrobial podcast (www.microbe.tv/mm) on the following dates: 6/26, 7/10, 7/17, 7/25, 7/31, 8/7, and 8/14. Holler by DM if you have suggestions or are interested? We will also be figuring out Fall soon, too. Appreciate EVERY #MicrobialGuest.
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Vaccines. 💪🏻💪🏻
And yet Joe Rogan puts guests on who say "Vaccines aren't actually responsible for the reduction in infectious diseases.”
March 30, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Vaccines. 💪🏻💪🏻
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Yes!!!
Finally a university leader standing up publicly for what is right.
No to anticipatory compliance.
Thank you UMich Dean Carlos F. Jackson: may you be an inspirational for many others.
mailchi.mp/04bd06b0c03c...
Finally a university leader standing up publicly for what is right.
No to anticipatory compliance.
Thank you UMich Dean Carlos F. Jackson: may you be an inspirational for many others.
mailchi.mp/04bd06b0c03c...
DEI will Continue at the Stamps School
mailchi.mp
March 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Yes!!!
Finally a university leader standing up publicly for what is right.
No to anticipatory compliance.
Thank you UMich Dean Carlos F. Jackson: may you be an inspirational for many others.
mailchi.mp/04bd06b0c03c...
Finally a university leader standing up publicly for what is right.
No to anticipatory compliance.
Thank you UMich Dean Carlos F. Jackson: may you be an inspirational for many others.
mailchi.mp/04bd06b0c03c...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
who doesn't enjoy some beautiful FtsZ rings on a sunday evening? these from 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴, from all angles, by the @jwveening.bsky.social, posted earlier on 𝕏, on may 6, 2021
Movie S2 from journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
#MicroSky
Movie S2 from journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
#MicroSky
March 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM
who doesn't enjoy some beautiful FtsZ rings on a sunday evening? these from 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴, from all angles, by the @jwveening.bsky.social, posted earlier on 𝕏, on may 6, 2021
Movie S2 from journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
#MicroSky
Movie S2 from journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
#MicroSky
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Happy 37th birthday to the LTEE!
the-ltee.org/history/
the-ltee.org/history/
History – The Long-Term Evolution Experiment
the-ltee.org
February 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Happy 37th birthday to the LTEE!
the-ltee.org/history/
the-ltee.org/history/
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Beyond thrilled - I’ve been awarded an NSF CAREER grant! I get to continue making scientific discoveries, training the next generation of researchers, & sharing knowledge about the scientific enterprise with the general public. This support is much needed, personally & professionally…let’s GOOO!!!
February 24, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Beyond thrilled - I’ve been awarded an NSF CAREER grant! I get to continue making scientific discoveries, training the next generation of researchers, & sharing knowledge about the scientific enterprise with the general public. This support is much needed, personally & professionally…let’s GOOO!!!
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Thoughts what drastic research budget cuts mean for parents of students about to join/already in college, including (and especially) flagship public research-intensive universities in the US.
Takeaway: Pay more for reduced training + opportunities.
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
Takeaway: Pay more for reduced training + opportunities.
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
February 10, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Thoughts what drastic research budget cuts mean for parents of students about to join/already in college, including (and especially) flagship public research-intensive universities in the US.
Takeaway: Pay more for reduced training + opportunities.
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
Takeaway: Pay more for reduced training + opportunities.
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
My Mom: “Dave, you seem down. What’s wrong”
Me: “the guy you voted for is destroying the foundations of research and science in this country. Here’s some examples of how it’s directly affecting me…”
Mom: “well…let’s talk about something else”
Me: “the guy you voted for is destroying the foundations of research and science in this country. Here’s some examples of how it’s directly affecting me…”
Mom: “well…let’s talk about something else”
February 6, 2025 at 2:24 PM
My Mom: “Dave, you seem down. What’s wrong”
Me: “the guy you voted for is destroying the foundations of research and science in this country. Here’s some examples of how it’s directly affecting me…”
Mom: “well…let’s talk about something else”
Me: “the guy you voted for is destroying the foundations of research and science in this country. Here’s some examples of how it’s directly affecting me…”
Mom: “well…let’s talk about something else”
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
Fridays are “Fundays” at GSU Biology! This morning @persisterbritt.bsky.social gave an overview of her research plan at Bio for Breakfast!
@peachypotato.bsky.social
@peachypotato.bsky.social
February 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Fridays are “Fundays” at GSU Biology! This morning @persisterbritt.bsky.social gave an overview of her research plan at Bio for Breakfast!
@peachypotato.bsky.social
@peachypotato.bsky.social
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
My grad students representing Biology at GSU Graduate symposium! @joshlummus.bsky.social and Hannah did great! Also we are finally all in a “group” photo! @peachypotato.bsky.social
February 5, 2025 at 8:04 PM
My grad students representing Biology at GSU Graduate symposium! @joshlummus.bsky.social and Hannah did great! Also we are finally all in a “group” photo! @peachypotato.bsky.social
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
February 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
I'm incredibly honored by this opportunity to serve as President-Elect of @asm.org starting this summer. Looking forward to working with the Board, ASM leadership ,and staff to help advance the microbial sciences. I'm also glad to share my Vision statement, please join us!
asm.org/Press-Releas...
asm.org/Press-Releas...
January 21, 2025 at 8:51 PM
I'm incredibly honored by this opportunity to serve as President-Elect of @asm.org starting this summer. Looking forward to working with the Board, ASM leadership ,and staff to help advance the microbial sciences. I'm also glad to share my Vision statement, please join us!
asm.org/Press-Releas...
asm.org/Press-Releas...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
I'm proud to be elected to the ASM BoD. It is an amazing opportunity to continue to do work that inspires others to do science, tells them how to get to the room, and how to take a seat at the table. If you are interested in my motivations, please read my candidate statement. asm.org/Press-Releas...
ASM Announces New President-Elect and Leadership
A new President-Elect and members of ASM Board of Directors have been elected to ASM leadership. Terms for all new members of ASM’s leadership will begin July 1, 2025.
asm.org
January 21, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I'm proud to be elected to the ASM BoD. It is an amazing opportunity to continue to do work that inspires others to do science, tells them how to get to the room, and how to take a seat at the table. If you are interested in my motivations, please read my candidate statement. asm.org/Press-Releas...
Reposted by Ashley Alexander
We’re thrilled to announce the election of Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., as the new ASM President-Elect & the newly elected At-Large Board Directors Joanna Goldberg, Ph.D., & Michael Johnson, Ph.D. Congrats to our elected officers! Read more: asm.social/2fU @vscooper.micropopbio.org @copperbae.bsky.social
January 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
We’re thrilled to announce the election of Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., as the new ASM President-Elect & the newly elected At-Large Board Directors Joanna Goldberg, Ph.D., & Michael Johnson, Ph.D. Congrats to our elected officers! Read more: asm.social/2fU @vscooper.micropopbio.org @copperbae.bsky.social