Swathi Sukumar

More fireworks 💥 for #FluorescenceFriday because I can’t get over how awesome @Abberior 635P is!

So much care for the stuff you put in your body, but you wont robustly interrogate the raw material inputs and find the best sources? Would you not comission a certified greenhouse that grows produce truly without any pesti/herbicides? Seems like cognitive dissonance otherwise...

There’s a misconception that all women in academia support women in academia…. False. Some of the most toxic and sexist academics I’ve ever met are women. It’s bonkers, but IYKYK.

I don't understand the critique of "the Madleen was an attention seeking stunt". Yes, and? It was a stunt to draw attention to Israel deliberately starving an entire people, facilitated by the West. That was literally the entire point

Solidarity with anyone peacefully standing with the victims' family but let's be clear: nobody rioted when these women died. The PSNI recorded 4,090 sexual offences in NI in 23/24. Nobody rioted. Most of the perpetrators are Northern Irish men.

New work: Eukaryotic origins! 🥁 We propose that iron -not oxygen- delayed the rise of complex life. Our model reframes the “oxygen delay” puzzle: the gap between atmospheric O2 and early eukaryotic fossils may reflect iron (not O2)-mediated stress: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Molecular Stress in Old Neurons Increases Susceptibility to Neurodegenerative Diseases, Study Finds today.ucsd.edu/story/molecula…

Meet David Courtney, molecular virologist and a new ambassador for the ERC, from the 🇬🇧 UK's Northern Ireland. 🎬 Hear why he believes supporting fundamental research is essential. Learn about all 32 inspiring ambassadors 👉 bit.ly/4kMISe2 #Amb4ERC @QUBelfast

Register your interest for the next edition of the Early Career Forum Co-chairing Scheme here by 28 July 2025 23:59 BST for a chance to gain session chairing experience during Annual Conference 2026 - microb.io/3GuiDds

The peer-reviewed version of expansion in situ genome sequencing is now out in Science! The news is bittersweet – when we first revealed this last September, I never guessed it would be my final paper in academia, but a lot has changed. A few parting thoughts:

Learned today that an entire chromosome is axed off the genome of all somatic cells in song birds through a process called programmed DNA elimination. Song birds have dedicated an entire chromosome just for their germ cells (a germ-line restricted chromosome). Evolution never…

🚨 A parched spring has left UK crops under stress, with key cereals already showing signs of reduced yield and farmers bracing for a challenging harvest farminguk.com/news/dry-sprin…

It’s Black Inclusion Week this week. If you are a Black microbiologist we would recommend connecting with the Black Microbiologists Association. They are working hard to increase visibility and facilitate connections: blackinmicrobiology.org #BlackInMicro #BIW2025

Not all superheroes wear capes… some wear reusable nappies. Start your reusable nappy journey with our FREE 2-week trial and help protect the planet, one nappy change at a time. If you decide to keep going, we’ll help make it even easier with a £30 refund when you spend £50 or…

Age-dependent expression and antiviral activity of interferon epsilon in respiratory epithelium biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #biorxiv_micrbio

Only two days left to submit your #NSV2025 abstract! negativestrandvirus.org/home

Wow! Since we opened our doors in October 2019, our members have completed 20,000 tool loans! That’s 20k tools that were borrowed at a fraction of the cost of buying new. That’s 20k tools that were shared over buying new, reducing consumption. 1/2

📢 Course Announcement! Applications are now open for the 15th Bangalore Microscopy Course! 📅 14-21 September 2025 ⌛ Application Deadline: 30th April 2025 📍 NCBS, Bengaluru 📝 Apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI… 🌐 For more details, visit: ncbs.res.in/BangaloreMicro…

Huge effort to map all the stakeholders of avian influenza surveillance in Canada. Potentially useful template for other countries. 👉onehealthoutlook.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

Chart type of the day: the CYCLE PLOT! A cycle plot is great if you have data with strong seasonal patterns, but you want to focus more on the growth over time - without losing the granularity of the data. By giving each month its own separate panel, the seasonal effect... 1/2

We captured a snapshot of in-cell protein contact sites during influenza A virus infection. In-cell crosslinking, AlphaFold modeling, and functional follow-ups revealed new host factors and mechanisms. A step toward modeling the infected cell.