Matthew Higgs, PhD

Associate Staff Scientist at bioMérieux

[Matthew Higgs, PhD @MadeOfMicrobes]

This week continues to get better! My first, (co)-First author publication is out in #JBacteriology @ASMicrobiology. I spent most of my Master's on this work. Turns out a small protein like thioredoxin can have big (regulatory) effects!

https://t.co/8zq8K1k29R

[Contamination Club @ContamClub]

It’s great seeing the ContamCalendars arriving!

The perfect way to fill your 2026 with beautiful microbes 😍🦠🧫🍄

[Matthew Higgs, PhD @MadeOfMicrobes]

@TheStrugglingS4 5th year

[Blossom Damania 🔬🧬🧪🦠🧫 @DamaniaLab]

NIH funding creates medicines, jobs, and economic growth

[Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg]

You cannot determine whether you saved or cost money based solely on one side of the ledger.

Example: I saved my household $2K by not paying the mortgage.

[Science Magazine @ScienceMagazine]

Extra glucose helps drug-resistant staph thrive in diabetic lesions, suggests a new study in mice. https://t.co/wlkHS2JP7I @ScienceAdvances

[sita ⚡️ @twilisita]

BREAKING: calamity ganon becomes inaugurated and takes residence of the white house

[The Struggling Scientists @TheStrugglingS4]

The best combination 😅

Do you often have either of these ? 

We need to normalize talking about these things more.

[The Struggling Scientists @TheStrugglingS4]

"We thank the reviewers for their feedback"

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

President Carter taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from this remarkable man. https://t.co/dZHL0Nu0Tj

[Matthew Higgs, PhD @MadeOfMicrobes]

What a fun laboratory Christmas surprise @ContamClub

(LB agar with gentamycin and sucrose)

[The PhD Place @ThePhDPlace]

Christmas break? Oh, you mean ‘catch up on all the research I said I’d do in September’

[UNC Women's Soccer @uncwomenssoccer]

2024 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!! 🏆

FOR THE 23RD TIME IN PROGRAM HISTORY, THE TAR HEELS HAVE WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!

[UNC Tar Heels @GoHeels]

#GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH #GDTBATH @uncwomenssoccer

[Dr Ellie Murray, ScD @EpiEllie]

Vaccines work. Vaccine denial kills. It’s that simple.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger @Schwarzenegger]

I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians.

I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.

My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics. I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California.

That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people.

Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.

It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand.

I want to tune out.

But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.

And I will always be an American before I am a Republican.

That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.

For decades, we’ve talked about the national debt. For decades, we’ve talked about comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while fixing our broken immigration system. And Washington does nothing.

The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better.

It is a just game to them. But it is life for my fellow Americans. We should be pissed!

But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems.

It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.

We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger.

That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz.

Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us.

And even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans. https://t.co/eHFZ723I4H

[bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv_micrbio]

Flagellar motility and the mucus environment influence aggregation mediated antibiotic tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in ... https://t.co/vDIQ1HBT3X #biorxiv_micrbio

[Matthew Higgs, PhD @MadeOfMicrobes]

Excited to share that a good chunk of my PhD work thus far is now out as a preprint! Check it out to see how motility and mucus impact aggregation and antibiotic tolerance in Pseudomonas

[Matthew Higgs, PhD @MadeOfMicrobes]

@Lambdaposter But I want your personal data so I can sell it and also send you 50 emails a week until you get fed up and click unsubscribe but the unsubscribe won't actually take effect for 3-5 business years

[Matthew Higgs, PhD @MadeOfMicrobes]

It was so fun to organize this

[Peer Mentor Network @_peermentor]

We recently held our 3rd annual BioOlympics welcome ceremony! This year, we opened the competition up to all of @UNC_Micro_Imm. We had a great turnout, including several faculty! It was a nailbiter at the end, but the Influenzers group took home the victory!

[The PhD Place @ThePhDPlace]

Explaining to my supervisor how much progress I’ve made this year