Rachel Poretsky

My father worked in B6, the 6th basement under the World Trade Center. He had minor knee surgery on 9/10/21 and was home recovering. Totally crazy. I was in grad school, no longer in NY, sitting in a biostats class.

Among the things I’ve made for Rosh Hashana: challah, chocolate babka, taygalach, cous cous with veggies from my garden, beet salad, a ”roast” and gravy, and tsimmis with carrots from my garden. All vegan, of course. Wishing you a shana tova, a year of compassion and kindness.

PHOTO: Trump supporters debate whether or not it's okay to wear white after Labor Day.

Congrats to @ksdrew.bsky.social for a stellar tenure talk on his super cool work on protein assemblies and protein-protein interaction (and thx for tolerating my rambling questions)!

Oh, also, since we last spoke, I took up guitar. Highly recommend learning a new trick as an old dog. It’s humbling and exhilarating.

Hi! Decided to check in after a hiatus where I was doing controversial, DEI things like science and riding bikes. What did I miss? Have we figured out how to solve the clusterfuck that is our country/world yet?

These assholes back down when we push back. We should push back more often. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/c...

While at #ASMicrobe today, look for folks with buttons and stickers with this logo. Often it’s their first-time to the meeting or they’re coming alone so please take some time to talk to them about their work and welcome them to the great community we have in @asm.org #MicroSky 🧪🔬🦠

Come see my poster showing off the @bvbrc.bsky.social at #ASMicrobe on Sunday: HEALTH-SUN-335 @binningsingletons.com

Heading to #ASMicrobe 2026? The Bioinformatics Resource Centers including @bvbrc.bsky.social @brcanalytics.bsky.social, and Pathogen Data Network are planning their first ever Open Community Forum! June 5 • 6:15 PM–7:30 More info and optional RSVP: pathogendatanetwork.org/network/ Please share!

Mayor Brandon Johnson's health commissioner exits www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/22/m...

This is crazy. Imagine a hole the size of a football field that is 700 feet deep. Now fill it up with wastewater, and remove a tablespoon. That was our starting material for this study. 1/

Sad to hear this.

yeah man i'll circle back to you on that agenda item from yesterday's all hands in just a sec. our pedophile king just threatened to destroy a whole civilization

If you are a student whose NSF GRFP application was returned without review for vague 'eligibility' reasons: 1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress 2) Write to your congressional reps. 3) Write to grfp@nsf.gov to request re-consideration;

NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics? 1) Write NSF 2) Write your Congressperson 3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter

It me :)

In honor of the transit bill that was passed in the middle of the night last night, saving public transit in Illinois from certain disaster, here’s a picture of my cargo bike dressed up as a @chicagocta.bsky.social train for Halloween.

The average nucleotide identity (ANI) underpins how we map microbial diversity, compare species, and connect genomes to ecology. I wrote a short piece reflecting on the discovery and significance of this metric (and really enjoyed digging into the context and story behind it!) #microsky 🧬

May it be so.

The Life After Cars audiobook read by Doug and Sarah is out, too! You can listen while you walking, biking and taking public transit.

New story about yesterday’s #NoKings didn’t even make it above the fold in today’s @nytimes.com.

Three reasons I have hope for America, even after a very dark week: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/why-i-have...

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

Three newly published books argue that cars are destroying society as well as the planet. Is the world finally ready to rein in the automobile? My essay, in @bloomberg.com (gift link below)

Apple has removed an ICE tracking app that allows users to report ICE activity nearby from its App Store. The removal came after a direct demand from Trump’s DOJ. Once again, Big Tech is bending the knee to our tyrant-in-chief to protect its bottom line.

Among them, a Poretsky Lab alum whom we miss very much here in Chicago (but are so excited for.)

Hi, Pete Hegseth. It’s me. Army veteran, Judge Advocate lawyer, and law professor. Your vain and gross performance to our nation’s military leaders succeeded only in proving your incompetence, dangerousness, and childishness. You’re a petty spoiled 7th grade boy without the sophistication or class.

This is your daily reminder that registration is open and *FREE* for #BiM2025 #BlackInMicro Week. Get ready to join our online celebration: linktr.ee/BlackInMicro (or see link in bio)

I’m a sewage system. I also have a great personality.

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment. The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

NSF GRFP is out 2.5 months late w/key changes 1. 2nd year graduate students not eligible. 2. "alignment with Administration priorities" 3. Unlike prior years, they DO NOT specify the expected number of awards... that is a BIG problem. a brief 🧵 w/receipts www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

Stay ahead in infectious disease research! Join the Tools for Tomorrow Webinar Series from the NIAID BRCs. Monthly updates, new tools, fresh insights. Starts Oct 10, 2 PM UTC. Register: tinyurl.com/NIAIDBRCWebi...

TERRORISM EXPERT HERE: He cannot designate an idea as a terrorist group. There is no org called ANTIFA. There is no leadership or funding path or no membership. Also there is no terrorism law in America. Ask Luigi. He wants to call anyone a terrorist. That’s Fascism. #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles

I did lab work and didn’t hurt myself or break anything. I did, however, have to constantly ask the labbies where things were.

Scenes from the nightmare hellscape that is Chicago!

So gross. Starting on the front page, too, along with an article about durian. As if there’s a shortage of news to report on.

Dr. Dmitri Daskalakis, who resigned from the CDC says that RFKJr said he believes that Avian flu should be allowed to "burn through" the chickens and then children and others, so we can propagate a "stronger species". RFKJr believes in eugenics. RFKJr needs to resign or be fired.

It bears repeating that nearly the entire US enterprise in science and technology has been irreversibly gutted. This is shocking. All this loss has occurred without any real benefit to the average US citizen. Except we now have the biggest, best funded secret police force perhaps ever. Yay for us!

Multiple ecology faculty positions at @notredame.bsky.social. Apply at apply.interfolio.com/171650. (1/2). 🌎🌐🧪