New preprint: Cyanobacteria isolated from marine volcanic seeps display rapid sinking and robust, high density growth. Thanks to U Palermo and Two Frontiers Project, we got unique samples from Vulcano, Italy, where CO2 bubbles into the shallow ocean, 24-7!

RT @wyssinstitute: An international coalition of scientists discovered a novel cyanobacteria strain adept at “eating” CO2 and sinking in wa….

@LindzBro @wyssinstitute It's been awesome to hear from researchers that are getting ahold of "Chonkus" and trying it out in their lab. Wishing you all the best, and don't hesitate to reach out.

Published version live today in AEM: alongside some commentary from @LindzBro @wyssinstitute

Once again seems to have aged poorly, this time recent Nobel News.

Can we settle once and for all how to pronounce "-mycin" antibiotics?.

Lol also if you are interested in hearing me blubber about this on local radio have a listen (segment starting about 37:00)

Tagging @izzymgm @ZijayTang @bradentierney @geochurch @mason_lab @MeclabU.@twofrontiers @krista_ryon @seedhealth @wyssinstitute @jkowitz and more- ongoing updates to the story forthcoming.

I’m excited about these cyano as fast, facile chassis for photosynthetic bioproduction and potentially carbon sequestration! Much work remaining, and much more we can learn from unique environments. Thanks to all co-authors, collaborators, co-conspirators, and funding.

We found cultures of UTEX 3222 to sink more readily than other strains, and found that larger cells were part of this phenomenon. Sinking cells have applications in industrial processing/dewatering, or even marine carbon sequestration! More work required to explore both

We characterized UTEX 3222 across a variety of growth conditions, notably finding that it exhibits high density growth, >2X as dense when compared to a PCC11901 strain! >30g/L! Few pleasures in life like an exceptionally dense, green, carbon-fixing culture.

We focused on planktonic UTEX 3222 for clearer industrial applicability, but the sister strain 3221 forms large aggregates, and exhibits phototactic motility. Cool! Both strains available from UTEX for others to explore.

I isolated two novel cyanobacteria! One planktonic, one making macroscopic chonks. They exhibit fast growth, doubling every ~2-3 hours, and outpacing other lab strains on solid medium, in the conditions we tested. Genomes available on NCBI.

Garden Grants: Very cool approach toward more collaborative problem-solving and funding exploratory climate-relevant science.

RT @SurroundScience: So @nanopore discovered something a few days ago - and it has to do with light. And they posted this image (sorry, too….

I would recommend opening up your laptop and cleaning the dust off your fans. Improves lappy cooling, and a sobering meditation on the lingering requirement for hardware and moving parts (!) and the fight against entropy.

Great opportunity for Climate-relevant projects looking to pursue translation from within academic labs!.

RT @ATinyGreenCell: Five days left if anyone wishes to donate to my fundraiser! Making a ultra cheap turbidostat for use in experimental ev….

Has been a lot of fun to assist in this broader effort. Excited about the Volcano Cyanobacteria we isolated from co2-emitting volcanic seeps. The ocean near Vulcano is a big bubble column reactor with CO2 churning into the photic zone!.

@CyanoWorld1 2nd choice would be a Clark setup outside of Boston/MA and a couch to crash on, haha.