Monir Moniruzzaman

Now accepting applications for the fall 2027 graduate student cohort. @utkmicrobiology.bsky.social is looking for PhD and MSc students broadly interested in molecular microbiology, microbial ecology, virology (including phage!), host-microbe interactions and much more.

Meet the giant Sissivirus (and its #virophage)! With 4 Mbp genome, Sissivirus is the champion of all known viruses (by genome size). Check the preprint to learn how it got so big. The study led by Julien Andreani, Frederik Schulz @fmschu.bsky.social & Bernard La Scola www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The latest from my lab is an announcement in MRA for our new R package {rchime} which is an R version of the popular uchime chimera detection algorithm journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

On ep 3, I spoke with @ambonacolta.bsky.social about newly discovered parasitic protists that live on marine animals like corals, fish, fireworms, and sea cucumbers! 🪸🐠 Clip below + full ep here: tinyurl.com/43zsy6s7

On ep 2, I had the honor to speak with Jim Van Etten, discoverer of giant viruses, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and my long lost cousin????? This episode is really special and you get a glimpse into a long, successful, and fun career! Clip below + full ep here: tinyurl.com/mry6bar6

How we are approaching AI at openRxiv - new blog post prompted by growing adoption by researchers, submission patterns, and questions from the community openrxiv.org/approach-to-... 1/n

PSA: For anyone writing a recommendation for the NSF grad fellowship this year, recs are due on Fri Oct 16, 8pm Eastern, cleverly *before* the actual application deadline. This tidbit isn't on the NSFGRF front page anymore; it's buried inside the program solicitation:

I am excited to announce that I am starting a lab at Stony Brook University in Fall 2027! Please reach out about collaborations! Note that the @departmentofenergy.bsky.social Computational Science Graduate Fellowship application has just opened; more later on this fantastic opp. krinoslab.github.io

Reminder, if you are applying for a NSF GRFP, recommendation letters are due this Friday at 8pm ET, well before the submission deadline for other materials (!!!) www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Nice to see the hard work of former UG Gracie Wren pay off with this paper. A small lesson in how normalizing data is really important - it completely shapes the interpretation of that data. Another fun collaboration with @utkmicrobiology.bsky.social & @sunyesf.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ha...

How can a #GiantVirus 👾 lurk inside the host genome undetected? We find that epigenetic conflict lies at the centre of the ⚖️ between infection and co-existence with the host. Great collaboration with the Aylward lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

(Thread) New Logan preprint 🥳 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...! We sketched all the metagenomes of Logan1.0 and released the sketches. These sketches allow quick content comparison with any/all metagenomes of Logan. Cool applications in the paper and hopefully many others we did not foresee yet 😀

Last day to apply! (By Midnight est)

Out today in @nature.com: our review on how single cells evolve into multicellular organisms. With Ozan Bozdag, @kaitong25.bsky.social, Peter Yunker, and @matthewherron.bsky.social. rdcu.be/9ZuiKow9twKa For an overview, check out the video below.

Huge congratulations to all three Nobel Laureates, and especially Peter Hegemann! 👏 His seminal work on the green alga Chlamydomonas 🦠 laid the foundation for optogenetics. Thank you for putting Chlamy in the spotlight! ✨ Proof that groundbreaking discoveries don't always come from animal models! 🔬

UF Biology is searching for an Assistant Professor in Plant Ecology, pass it along explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/search...

My weekly reminder that there is still time to register for VEGA26, and come hang out with us to talk about everything virus/phage ecology, genomics, and applications ! And also still time to submit your abstract for poster/short talk, although this deadline is approaching :-)

El Niño is building in the Pacific, and our BGC-Argo floats are watching. As warm water cuts off the nutrient supply, phytoplankton shift deeper to find what they need to grow, particulate carbon drops, and there's less biomass to feed the rest of the food web. 🌊 #ElNiño @bgc-argo.bsky.social

Pls share: Two tenure-track positions in Molecular Microbiology at Virginia Tech. I had a great visit there a couple of years ago! jobs.apply.vt.edu/jobs/assista...

Grand Prismatic Spring. Yellowstone National Park, 2026 #photography #hotspring #geothermal #yellowtone

Single-cell-resolved genome atlas of prokaryoplankton inhabiting the ocean’s interior from Chang et al. - www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Help recognize the next generation of aquatic science leaders! Nominate a colleague for ASLO’s Early Career Awards, including the Lindeman Award and Yentsch-Schindler Award. 📅 Deadline: Oct. 1, 2026 Awardees receive recognition at #ASM27 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 🔗 www.aslo.org/nominations-...

ASLO Meeting Abstract deadline extended until September 21! Consider joining our session on bioluminescence, dinoflagellates, ecotourism, and conservation! #oceanography 🌊

My star fruit tree. This was a good year. #starfruit #miami

Why did some #viruses evolve to be #giants while others did not? Our perspective piece on this topic with Eugene Koonin. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

My lab is hiring two(!) postdocs interested in (1) building trait prediction models capable of resolving complex microbial traits from genomes and metagenomes, and/or (2) building mathematical models of microbial community dynamics www.microbialgamut.com/mGAMUT_postd...

Our paper describing two new photosynthetic Paulinella species is out today in JPhycol! This is the kind of work I love to do and even it though took many years to finish, we had a lot of fun stomping around together in the marsh! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #protistsonsky

Wanna hear about the new NSF BIO Core Solicitation (NSF 26-517)? Join us at our next BIO Virtual Office Hours (Sept 16, 2026 at 1pm ET). This is a webinar where we will present information and then take questions through the A&A feature. Register here: www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...

New research from our lab revealing pervasive genomic islands (GIs) in giant viruses (GV). Leveraging long-read assembled GV genomes we reveal these GIs, their functional repertiore and roles in GV genome variation. Research led by PhD candidate Benjamin Minch! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Be a #PyroPal and submit an abstract to our session (SS41) at #ASLO2027! Abstracts are due 9/15! 🧪🌊 @aslo.org @margaretbrisbin.bsky.social @cynthiabecker25.bsky.social 🔗 www.aslo.org/san-juan-2027/

Junior faculty position in Basic Sciences @fredhutch.org! Please repost!

Check out this awesome New Yorker article James Dinneen wrote about our work with Emil Ruff's NASA ICAR work and Yasube Yabe's D-SEIS project in the South African Gold Mine! It was a pleasure to have James join us, he's an intrepid traveler! tinyurl.com/4k4fh33r

The new NSF BIO funding opportunity (solicitation) is out, which replaces the DEB, IOS, and MCB solicitations. The BIO Core accepts proposals that cover the scientific topics associated with the legacy programs historically supported by BIO. BIO Core - NSF 26-517. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Backyard wildlife - #backyard #wildlife #birds #photography

Our new paper just out @natmicrobiol.nature.com led by Yumary Vasquez & Frederik Schulz @jgi.doe.gov @norwichmicro.bsky.social Genomic catalogue of giant #viruses reveals expanded diversity and functional potential www.nature.com/articles/s41...

MxA is one of the broadest antiviral proteins mammals make. It’s a big reason most bird flu strains never get a foothold in people. The rare ones that succeed have learned to dodge it. How MxA actually recognizes viral targets at the molecular level is unknown for a bunch of technical reasons.

Does anyone know of any Microbiology, Coral, or General Bio focused journals that don't charge publication fees? Doesn't necessarily have to be open-access. I've been working with some talented high schoolers on a project for the past ~2 years and they wish to publish their findings

I’ve often said (partly tongue in cheek) that spite can be a great motivator. But mudita (freudenfeude), the ability to be truly happy for others’ success, can be a much more reliable way to have a fulfilling career. Even if it can seem that way, science is not a zero sum game. Play the long game.

New #ISEPpapers #PrePrint! Skiaviridae: a large DNA virus family that persistently infects thraustochytrid protists www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... by Jessica Latimer et al. #Protists #Viruses #Microbes

Super cool symposium in Berkeley!!

Integration and regulation of stolen organelles in a marine protist academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs

Tenure-track open position in Biological Oceanography at Texas A&M College Station apply.interfolio.com/189672

A study in Nature Ecology & Evolution identifies Karenia cristata as a brevetoxin-producing species that is the dominant component of the prolonged microalgal bloom causing mass marine mortality in South Australia. go.nature.com/3RjXCaZ 🌎🌊🧪

It's out! Excited to present the Great Barrier Reef Microbial Genomes Database (GBR-MGD), a comprehensive DB of 1000s of high-quality prokaryote, virus, plasmid, and chromosome-level eukaryote MAGs using Nanopore long reads. Subthreads incoming. Please share widely. 🙂 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

my first 'data descriptor'! hoping this one will be useful for folks interested in tracing the distribution of genomes/genes/proteins over physicochemical gradients in the (deep) marine water column.

Our latest, in which the microbes teach us about the DOM field. Led by Dr. Jordan Coelho: Enrichment of polyphenol metabolism within the ubiquitous SAR116 Puniceispirillales bacterioplankton www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...