Vanja Klepac-Ceraj

> Alt: Screenshot of the title "Codevelopment of gut microbial metabolism and visual circuitry over human infancy", along with an author list. From DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00835-25

🎉 New paper alert, and it's an editor's pick! Looking at the gut #microbiome #brain axis in infants using metagenomics and EEG 🧪🦠

with @emma-margolis.bsky.social, @laurelgd.bsky.social, @gfahurbottino.bsky.social, done in @mightycrobe.bsky.social 's lab.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

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This was a huge effort, but so great to have such amazing collaborators to work with! Way to go @laurelgd.bsky.social @emma-margolis.bsky.social @mightycrobe.bsky.social ! 🧪🦠🔬 #microbesky

Our work on codevelopment of the infant gut microbiome and visual circuitry is finally out! Dream team: @kevinbonham.com @gfahurbottino.bsky.social @laurelgd.bsky.social @emma-margolis.bsky.social Kirsty Donald and Khula South Africa study team! Check it out: doi.org/10.1128/mbio...

Totally amazing and epic. And for some of us, the karaoke night was preceded by 19 branzinos!! (also totally epic
)

@gfahurbottino.bsky.social you too!

Cool things happen when you partner up w/ @zymoresearch.bsky.social. My undergrad course in microbio’s Adopt-a-microbe assignment resulted in @wellesley.edu student Sophia Shin’s card being selected to go into the 2025 deck of Mighty Microbe cards!!

Great job @gfahurbottino.bsky.social presenting our lab’s work on the gut microbiome age model at #ASM2025

Several labs are collaborating on this project - my, @stevenbiller.bsky.social, Rachel Stanley, Alden Griffith, and Dan Brabander’s. Huge thanks to WC Paulson Initiative for funding the equipment!

@wellesley.edu students Arla & Sara’s work this summer includes setting up and testing the water quality sensors and the weather station! We’ll move the sensors with the buoy to the middle of the lake in a few weeks. Huge thanks to Andrew from Onset and nd Nef from WC for their help!

Postdoctoral Associate MIT - Postdoctoral Associate - Cambridge MA 02139

‼️I'm looking for a postdoc‼️ Come join effort in using metagenomes to quantify microbial catabolic potential and carbon substrate availability at the ecosystem level. We seek to understand evolutionary forces shaping the carbon cycle. Part of ccomp-stc.org

careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...

Congrats to the four VKC lab graduates, Nina Zhang, Meredith Swanson, Sally Song, and Trisha Rahman (unfortunately not in the photos). I'm so proud of you, I already miss you, and I cannot wait to read and hear about your next big achievements!

VKC lab party from last April - painting with microbes.

Antagonism as a foraging strategy in microbial communities In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependen...

Thrilled to share our new paper in @science.org describing our discovery that bacteria can switch from competitors to bonafide predators when resources run dry—arming nanoscale “spears” (T6SS) to stab & consume neighbours.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#MicroSKy #Microbiology

In today's WSJ by their editorial board
www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-...

I am grateful for a lab full of kind, supportive, joyful, smart and hard-working people. These days, I am extra thankful to each and every one of them as they keep things light and fun. This is how they surprised me last week 🥰:

Vaccines work. Look at the data - lots of great interactive charts: ourworldindata.org/vaccination). Also, if measles is linked to poor diet, why are free, nutritious school lunches for low-income kids going away?

My two undergraduate research students, Nina and Sally, presenting their research at the MIT Microbiome Symposium last Friday. Great meeting w great talks and wonderful people! I always learn something new.

I hear you. Hang in there.

I'm so sorry.

#medsky#pedsky#idsky#immunosky 🧪
In the midst of all of the scary headlines recently, I thought I could take a moment to share a bit of good news: for the first time in history, a malaria vaccine with >90% efficacy seems to be within reach!

Here’s why that’s a really big deal for EVERYONE 🧵

Multiple faculty positions in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in association with the Center for Immunology, and the
Center for Antimicrobial Resistance at Cornell University

it’s not widely publicized but the minions were designed to represent various medically important protozoan parasites

🦠 🧫 🧪

Unravelling viral ecology and evolution over 20 years in a freshwater lake - Nature Microbiology A long-term metagenomic time series reveals how viruses impact diversity, ecological dynamics and evolution of freshwater microbiomes.

New paper alert: Our 20-year study of viral ecology and evolution reveals viral roles in microbial dynamics, phage genome evolution over time, and key interactions with hosts. A big thank you to our awesome collaborators @quendi.bsky.social @archaeal.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

You’ll need to update your tshirt design with “vegan for… my microbiome” and I’ll be the first to buy it, @marlasrose.bsky.social

How a WHO Staff Member Turned the US Withdrawal into an Act of Solidarity

How a WHO Staff Member Turned the US Withdrawal into an Act of Solidarity

who.foundation/blogs-post/h...

PEPFAR, the acclaimed anti-HIV program, faces loss of funds as part of U.S. aid pause On Friday, a memorandum signed by Marco Rubio called for a 90-day cessation of foreign aid. That would likely put on hold the work of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

a 90-day pause on pepfar will kill so many people it will probably take years of research to document it. abhorrent

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Two seniors from the VKC lab standing next to the ancient autoclave after presenting their senior research at the Biochemistry Winter Session Retreat (right before the semester started)! Both did a great job explaining their work to other thesising seniors.

1st week is done! I’m teaching two microbio courses this semester & super excited about both - students are kind & chatty (in a good way!) & thoughtful. One thought I shared w/ them was this one 👇 students do better when intellectually challenged & stimulated but supported by all. Happy teaching!

@kevbonham.bsky.social - sad to see you leave the VKC lab but excited for your new lab at Tufts MC! Our last mtg at Wellesley - plotting out new projects together w @gfahurbottino.bsky.social! And an appropriate parting gift for a new professor! Looking fwd to testing them out in your new office!

Congrats! And peeps looking to do some exciting and cool microbiome work, apply to work w/ @kevbonham.bsky.social!