The Townsend Lab

We figure things out

[Seth Bordenstein @Symbionticism]

How do you say goodbye to yesterday? We put a big brick plaque on the future. Bon Voyage Professor @KaurTweets. We spent the best 6 years as friends, collaborators, travelers...with chain link resilience. Carpe diem at your new home in @thisisUIC. They are lucky to have this doc!

[Seth Bordenstein @Symbionticism]

1 lab radically shaking up biology's floor is easily @delafuentelab who visited @PSUmBiome today. AI in biology will not be the same after the work, which notably was hard to get funded; and people did not believe it would yield just 5-10 years ago. Big social lessons there!

[One Health - U of Guelph @OneHealthUofG]

In this article, Ginnan et al. propose that the One Health framework needs a shift in focus from disease surveillance to microbial stewardship. An integrative One Health microbiome science approach breaks down traditional silos in microbiome research: https://t.co/rAEi4NBUJU

[One Health Microbiome Center @PSUmBiome]

🎉 Big news! @PennState ranks 24th in the U.S. and 82nd globally in the 2026 @worlduniranking — and the One Health Microbiome Center got a shoutout for our role in advancing global microbiome science! 🌎🦠

Full story 👉 https://t.co/cEolWx3Es0

#OneHealth #Microbiome #PennState

[Neil deGrasse Tyson @neiltyson]

Every machine in a Hospital that diagnoses your body without cutting you open is based on a principle of Physics, discovered by a Physicist who had no interest in Medicine. If you think the world doesn’t need Basic Science, or that somehow Science has failed you, think again.

[The Townsend Lab @GETxLAB]

@jutraslab 👀

[One Health Microbiome Center @PSUmBiome]

🦠💥 New from @GETxLAB : Simple sugars disrupt gut Bacteroides by inhibiting the key regulator Cur.

ATP-dependent FBP synthesis controls this — linking sugar-rich diets to changes in gut fitness & host interactions.
Full paper 👉 https://t.co/qu6uqn5iou
#Microbiome #GutHealth

[The Townsend Lab @GETxLAB]

The bacteria dominating your gut #microbiome power their #metabolism with pyrophosphate rather than ATP. @SethKabonick and squad shows that ATP-dependent FBP synthesis instead controls their carbohydrate utilization regulator.
https://t.co/Tw6D1W00ku

[Seth Bordenstein @Symbionticism]

Just one single gut bacteria is astonishingly sufficient to repress the antibiotic-resistant C. difficile infection. A real game changer from @PSUmBiome executive committee member @JordanBisanz and Co. AI and synthetic communities boiled it down.

https://t.co/V6N5jTzi3r

[Lucy Crouch-Myers @LucyICM]

New paper from the lab out today on Akkermansia muciniphila and how it breaks down host glycans! @IMIBirmingham @unibirm_CMH Very proud of my group, especially @CassieBakshani who did an amazing job. @NatureMicrobiol
https://t.co/hKT2ijadQG

[bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv_micrbio]

Hierarchical glycolytic pathways control the carbohydrate utilization regulator in human gut Bacteroides https://t.co/12uG3C7P65 #biorxiv_micrbio

[Dr. Erika Ganda @Erika__Ganda]

🔥 Hot off the press! 🔬🤖 AI is decoding microbial messages in milk to boost safety testing and improve quality. 🥛Great collab with @IBM and @Cornell

Learn more: https://t.co/NPAw7EmhWq
Read the full study: https://t.co/N5wDw6IO4O
#FoodSafety #AI #Microbiome #Milk @PSUmBiome

[Seth Bordenstein @Symbionticism]

We're thrilled to lift another veil of our partnership with @QIAGEN and @PSUmBiome as we build towards creating the best industry-academic experience in the one health microbiome sciences at @penn_state and @huckinstitutes. Much more to come.

https://t.co/QSiuFWKMs2

[Dr. Erika Ganda @Erika__Ganda]

Today in #ANSC456 our undergrad Ethan Smith is teaching the basics of R in Penn State’s ROAR supercomputer.

For PIs out there: Ethan will be looking for grad mentors soon!

He was introduced to coding during my class last year and is now teaching it. 🤓#proud

[The Townsend Lab @GETxLAB]

@EA_Proctor Congratulations! Well deserved tears.

[Seth Bordenstein @Symbionticism]

Alright stop, collaborate and listen, #phageWO is back with a brand new invention.

Developing sperm is in yellow. Long noncoding RNA is in blue. Cytoplasmic incompatibility depletes this blue messenger to initiate the catastrophic cascade leading to paternal-effect lethality.

[One Health Microbiome Center @PSUmBiome]

🦠We are getting excited for the One Health Microbiome Symposium, taking place on May 30-31st at the University Park campus!

This year's symposium will feature Dr. Paul Schulzef-Lefert from @UniCologne @mpipz_cologne, giving a talk on understanding plant root #microbiota. 🌿

[Mario Feldman @MarioFeldman9]

I am still looking for postdocs to join my lab. I have several NIH-funded positions to work either on Acinetobacter pathogenesis or OMV biogenesis in Bacteroides. Please RT.

[Oded Rechavi @OdedRechavi]

Your PI back from summer vacation

[Kevin Hockett @k_hockett]

🚨Microbiome Job Alert🚨

We're hiring a postdoc to develop and study plant-associated disease suppressive microbial communities! This is a multi-year USDA funded project 🍅🌱🦠

Please RT!!!

Apply here -> https://t.co/SH8pSXmoKJ
Recent paper -> https://t.co/h5inNTsOvA
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