Paul Carini

proud to have you as a friend & colleague, MJ. Can't wait to hear all about it at our usual time & place!

Hard to quantify "how much worse." For us at UA, there is no longer "blubber" in the form of institutional support to support us in these times of famine. This means it's now ALL on us to support the students. Making it risky for departments to take on new admits without known funding.

I haven't seen many teaching interviews. But in my experience, well-structured and intentional interaction and discussion is a win. Using slido, etc.

It's not even March and the A/C is kicking on... 😩🥵

Applications are open for PREP Bio at the University of Oregon! A great opportunity for postbacs looking for additional research experience while preparing for graduate school. More here: cas.uoregon.edu/UO-PREP-Bio

Exactly.

Bad news: it's gonna get worse if it hasn't already.

Interesting. It's a bit of a mind bender. How do we define E. coli "lifespan" in the lab? Given GASP phenotypes, etc...

I've been saying that for 15 years

Anne is doing amazing work at Portland State. Can't wait to watch this one!

Happy Birthday!

I first read about the LTEE in high school in a science magazine my Bio teacher had in the classroom. I don't think I thought "I want to be a microbiologist," but the article planted the seed.

Amazing that it's nearly at "mid life" (by human standards)., excited for what's next!

We have about 4-5 months of tolerable weather. Y'all win the rest of the year.

Since everyone is posting pics of their weather...

(not actually taken today, but it's comparable)

ICYMI, our work building on the recent "aeonophily" proposal.

We define anergiobiosis (an-er-jee-oh-biosis) as "life without energy" to describe life persisting on maintenance energy inputs alone.

So-called "aeonophiles" may be specialists under this umbrella.

Feedback welcome!

Two roles for two postdocs:
Evolution of defined methanogenic consortia
Evolution of complex digester-derived microbiomes

Application deadline: 4 March 2026 (23:59 DK time).

You are a strong fit if you have:
- Hands-on experimental evolution experience (serial passaging/ continuous; replication; archiving of lines)
- Time-series metagenomics (variant tracking), other omics (RNA/proteins)
- 1–2 papers where exp. evol. + seq.-based trajectory tracking are central methods

Two postdoctoral positions (3-year) in Experimental Evolution of Methanogenic Microbiomes in Bioelectrochemical Systems Application deadline: 4 March 2026 at 23:59 hours local Danish time

Hiring: two 3-year Postdoc positions

We’re looking for postdocs who can design and run directed laboratory evolution experiments in microbial communities under electrochemical stimulation, and link adaptations to performance using shotgun meta-omics.

"Imagine an elite sprinter, first among equals on a team... who is also expected to sell tickets, maintain the track, coach the junior team, and file the club tax returns. This would clearly be seen as a management flaw; in academia, it is seen as "the job"."

So chilly these last few days. Here in the 'dirty T' summer is the best 9 months of the year! We have summer (apparently now in Feb), super summer, and super-dee duper summer.

I've already had someone contact me about pronunciation. I go with “an-er-jee-oh-biosis” a la "an-hydro-biosis." Thanks for reading.

Interesting ideas. Also "Anergiobiosis" is a great death metal band name.

Agree

New preprint: "Anergiobiosis: a testable framework for microbial life under extreme power limitation", led by @uncultured.carinilab.com and coauthored by @jenbiddle.bsky.social and me. #microsky #testthyhypotheses #testablehypothesis 🦠🧪 ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

New preprint with @uncultured.carinilab.com and @environmicrobio.bsky.social : proposing a new view for subsurface life, one with a testable hypothesis and in line with current terms in physiology: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

cc @jenbiddle.bsky.social @environmicrobio.bsky.social

New preprint! We propose "anergiobiosis" to describe microbial life at thermodynamic limits as a way of separating the physiological state from questions about aeonophilic extremophile specialization. ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
#Microbiology #Extremophiles #SubsurfaceMicrobiology #MicroSky

Trace gas oxidation supports sub-surface microbial communities across Namib Desert fog and aridity gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706496v1