Mitchell Lab

Systems Biologist untangling Host-Drug-Microbiome interactions | PI at @UMassMed School | Trying to keep the BS to a minimum | @amitchel on the blue place

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

Why are some non-antibiotic drugs toxic to bacteria 💊☠️🦠? Do they work like standard #antibiotics (ABX)? Our latest work by @MarianaNoto published @ScienceMagazine addresses this fundamental question (1/n)
https://t.co/NACiyx8jnz

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

Never-have-I-ever seen technology racing forward as fast as #LMMs in the past two years. Watching the @OpenAI releases coming out in real-time in their twelves-days series is jaw dropping! 🤖🌊
https://t.co/TAc6qY0li9

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

The ability of LMMs (chatGPT here) to *assist* in generating useful code for biologists a mind-blowing power multiplier 🤯! My advice to biologists at all career stages: Learn to code, its a superpower 🦸‍♀️🦹‍♂️ (for example, counting fluorescent colonies from mouse microbiome) 🧪🦠

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

Credit for this work goes to my former student Dr Emily Lowry. @emily_lowry23 literally submitted the revised version of this manuscript at the very last minute before leaving the lab 🥳 (9/9)

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

Our second paper on the bacterial toxin colibactin is now out on mBio, this time we critically evaluated the claim that colibactin toxicity necessitates cell-cell contact 🧪🦠🧵(1/9)
https://t.co/qUWtuYU9PY

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

I love this work since it a wonderful demonstration of (1) Serendipity in research – it started unexpectedly when we saw an active reporter even in non-contacting colonies and (2) it shows the power of simple experiments and quantitative microscopy (8/9)

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

@DrDorSalomon @TanentzapfLab We’re taking this to the comically extreme, in edge cases, the pub ratio at top tier journals per postdoc (over 5 years) is probably 1:3 and the “absent” pi still opens many doors. These are terrible labs for phds, but for postdocs the risk/reward calc is different

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

Can’t believe we unlocked this level of the #AI hype - huge adds for @AnthropicAI in airports (Boston & Atlanta). Wonder what % of ppl even know what’s the product (<0.1% probably)

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

@fraser_lab Quid pro quo is a real slippery slope if you take into account that science, like all human endeavors, is the product of flawed human beings. Also we’re better off having reviewers make accept/reject recommendations than any other admin in the pub chain (unless we go @eLife)

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

@cshperspectives @fraser_lab Very good point, but I still believe it’s the lesser of evils. Under complete anonymity reviews can make unfounded claims and be borderline toxic (a style reviewers would avoid if a couple of peers know who they are)

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

@fraser_lab At a massive scale, who will actually do this work? X reviewed Y very favorably three years ago, now Y reviews X favorably. Should the editor even ask Y to review X and trust it to be above board?

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

We are extremely curious to know if there are other known cases of self-inflicted damage from toxins in bacteria (would greatly appreciate replies to this thread)

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

We found that the bacterial #toxin colibactin acts as a double-edged sword and inflicts self-damage (evident in hundreds of genomes). Our recent collaboration with @DaganLab is now out on @genomeresearch
https://t.co/bnv2huqEMM

[Mitchell Lab @mitchell_sysbio]

This study was truly an exciting one, with many plot twists along the way. All credit goes to @emily_lowry23 who led the study and collaborated with @iwangtoknow on the analysis of the mutation pattern.