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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

@immunofever.bsky.social
11K followers 3.8K following 626 posts

Immunoengineer at MIT BE developing predictive diagnostics. Captivated by #inflammation, #SexDifferences #Lyme, #COVID, #IACI, #IACC and #onehealth. Mom of 2. prev/ PhD in Immunology @Yale; PostDoc @Stanford talresearchgroup.mit.edu

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
jonny (nonvenomous) @jonny.neuromatch.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/04/2026
Neurons regulate whole body homeostasis with a mechanism that includes regulating the amount of fat blobs they have stores up www.nature.com/articles/s42255-026-…
nature.com
Neuronal lipid droplets play a conserved and sex-biased role in maintaining whole-body energy homeostasis - Nature Metabolism
In vivo regulation of neuronal lipid droplet formation mediates whole-body energy homeostasis in a sex-specific manner in Drosophila and mice.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
If you tried to register today for our incredible upcoming Hormone-Immunity Nexus workshop at MIT on Sunday with shuttle buses from #AAI2026 please try again! We had filled up but we added more spots!!! www.eventbrite.com/e/the-hormon... @petterbrodin.bsky.social @sixianyou.bsky.social
eventbrite.com
The Hormone-Immunity Nexus Workshop at MIT
MIT leads NAMs & hosts a Menstruation Science workshop on the hormone-immunity nexus to help humanize immunology research.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Are you in Boston for #AAI2026? Care about sex differences in immune responses? Join us at MIT this Sunday for an incredible event!
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
#immunology #SexDiffences #immune #hormones
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Are you in Boston for #AAI2026? Care about sex differences in immune responses? Join us at MIT this Sunday for an incredible event!
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
If you tried to register today for our incredible upcoming Hormone-Immunity Nexus workshop at MIT on Sunday with shuttle buses from #AAI2026 please try again! We had filled up but we added more spots!!! www.eventbrite.com/e/the-hormon... @petterbrodin.bsky.social @sixianyou.bsky.social
eventbrite.com
The Hormone-Immunity Nexus Workshop at MIT
MIT leads NAMs & hosts a Menstruation Science workshop on the hormone-immunity nexus to help humanize immunology research.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
'Empirical data and the theories that make sense of them are the twin pillars of scientific progress. When one pillar is raised much higher than the other, they cease to be good pillars.' www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
On the balance of knowledge - Nature Reviews Immunology
Ruslan Medzhitov shares his thoughts on the balance between generating data and developing theories in immunology, with a focus on exploring the rules that govern complex systems.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Pearl Freier @pearlf.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
MIT's MAESTRO study is looking for a few more #LongCovid male participants in the 18-28 yrs & 56-65 yrs brackets. See below screenshots for more info on Long Covid research study from posts by @immunofever.bsky.social & talresearchgroup.mit.edu/mitmaestro #medsky
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Jonathan Pritchard @jkpritch.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I'm just delighted to announce our new preprint on genome-scale perturb-seq in CD4+ T cells. We learned both general lessons about the power of perturb-seq, and specific lessons about T cell biology. Led by amazing postdocs Emma Dann and Ronghui Zhu, with my wonderful collaborator Alex Marson.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Anne Astier lab @alastierlab.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
New preprint on the impact of vitamin D in regulating T cell migration to the brain. Great collaboration with Britta Engelhardt 😊
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Anne Astier lab @alastierlab.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
In this study, we highlight a sex difference in Type I regulatory T cells, with potential translational application in MS to be further explored. www.neurology.org/doi/pdf/10.1... @saniya-kari.bsky.social @sexdiffimmunity.bsky.social
neurology.org
Sex Bias in IL-10 Production by Type I Regulatory T Cells Regulated by PI3K/mTOR Signaling | Neurology Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
Background and ObjectivesMultiple sclerosis (MS) is more prevalent in women, with a female-to-male ratio of 3:1. The molecular mechanisms driving this sex difference are still mostly unknown. MS resul...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Jonathan Bartlett @jonathan-bartlett.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
@lshtm.bsky.social will be running a 3-day online short course on using multiple imputation to handle missing data on 23-25th June 2026. Teaching staff include James Carpenter, Ruth Keogh, Clémence Leyrat, and myself. Further details about the course at www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/course...
lshtm.ac.uk
Statistical Analysis with Missing Data Using Multiple Imputation | LSHTM
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Ezra S @ezra.zone · 03/01/2026
Ultimately I don't think it's a branding problem BUT I do think that people really don't understand how vaccines work or what they do, so there is some merit in a straightforward description...
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
What if we rebranded/reconceived/reformatted vaccines as immune stimulants? They stimulate community immunity. Are you yay or nay
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
cgr.mit.edu/2025/12/19/m...
cgr.mit.edu
MIT’s Mikki Tal Joins HHS Roundtable to Redefine Chronic Lyme as a “Solvable Engineering Problem” • The MIT Center for Gynepathology Research
Dr. Michal Tal addressed HHS Secretary Kennedy and key stakeholders on the critical need for Systems Medicine and Novel Alternative Methods (NAMs) to diagnose and treat infection-associated chronic il...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Dr Elisa Perego @elisaperego78.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
NVC test shows significant microvascular damage in #LongCovid patients vs matched healthy controls. Dilated capillaries, microhaemorrhages, abnormal shapes and reduced capillary density are still detectable in LC 12 months after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection rmdopen.bmj.com/content/11/2...
rmdopen.bmj.com
Multicentre retrospective detection of nailfold videocapillaroscopy abnormalities in long covid patients
Background SARS-CoV-2 induces acute non-specific endothelial/microvascular alterations that have been identified by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC). Details on NVC abnormalities in long covid (LC) ...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Tom Kindlon @tomkindlon.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
From a Nancy Klimas team in Florida, USA Inefficient energy consumption is related to post exertional malaise during cardiopulmonary exercise testing in long COVID www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8... #LongCovid #PEM #PASC #PwLC #postcovid #postcovid19 #PostCovidSyndrome
Screenshot of abstract
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Microbial Biotechnology (MBT) @microbiotech.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
#MicroSky: Clinical Treatments: In Crohn’s disease, gut bacteria may shape response to biologic therapy. Patients with more Fusobacterium were less likely to improve on ustekinumab, hinting that the microbiome could help predict who benefits most. Read Wang et al. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Julia MV @julialmv.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
The Long COVID Treatment Trial – Tirzepatide (LoCITT-T) is officially open for enrollment for people with Long COVID in: Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah longcovid.scripps.edu/locitt-t/?ut... 1/16
longcovid.scripps.edu
LoCITT-T - Long COVID Treatment Trial
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Pedro Beltrao @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Looks like OpenFold3 has been formally released in a public "preview". Not quite on parity with AlphaFold3 on a few benchmarks shown, in particular for antibody interactions. All info on the github link. I am sure we will hear more about this from the developers github.com/aqlaboratory...
github.com
GitHub - aqlaboratory/openfold-3: OpenFold3: A fully open source biomolecular structure prediction model based on AlphaFold3
OpenFold3: A fully open source biomolecular structure prediction model based on AlphaFold3 - aqlaboratory/openfold-3
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Pre-print alert! And this one really is a must read for anyone that does spectral #flowcytometry. It is a complete, fully-automated spectral unmixing pipeline that reduces error up to 9000-fold. Want to get a tough sample, like lung, looking like this? Read more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
1/ This is my first time posting a comment on a bioRxiv manuscript, but since I've been asked my opinion on this one a bunch, and I was actually one of the reviewers and waived my anonymity in review, I decided to post my review as a comment: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
1/ This is my first time posting a comment on a bioRxiv manuscript, but since I've been asked my opinion on this one a bunch, and I was actually one of the reviewers and waived my anonymity in review, I decided to post my review as a comment: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Life In Wisconsin @lifeinwisconsin.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
It should be noted that Google has noticed the backlash enough that they quietly published a code that would removed AI results for their searches. An enterprising person built a default site to search without AI, and the results are goddamn refreshing as hell. udm14.org
udm14.org
&udm=14 | the search engine Konami code
A quick way to get an AI-free search without any extra work.
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Sex differences matter! www.sciencealert.com/half-of-hear...
sciencealert.com
Half of Heart Attacks in Younger Women Aren't From Clogged Arteries
Traditionally, most heart attacks have been blamed on clogged arteries causing atherothrombosis – where blood clots block flow to the heart.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Daniel Hurdiss @danielhurdiss.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Epstein–Barr virus exploits desmocollin 2 as the principal epithelial cell entry receptor | @natmicrobiol.nature.com sco.lt/6i4kd6
sco.lt
Epstein–Barr Virus Uses Desmocollin 2 to Infect Cells | Virus World
In a groundbreaking advancement in virology, scientists have unveiled the elusive mechanism by which Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), a pervasive human herpesvirus, infects epithelial cells. This discovery c...
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
My cousin died from a vaccine preventable illness, and that's part of why it's so important to me to work on the immunology of infectious disease. I know what's on the line.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
What if this was your kid, you ask? I'll tell you. As an infectious disease immunologist, I protect my kids through vaccination. A measles outbreak reached my county when I had an infant. Knowing the risk for severe outcomes, I read the literature, vaccinated him EARLY and then rejoined the schedule
Post about my decision to vaccinate my baby ahead of schedule during a measles outbreak
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Microbetv @microbetv.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Immune Booster 2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal
youtu.be
Immune Booster #2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal
YouTube video by MicrobeTV
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Microbetv @microbetv.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
"If you're not vaccinated...there may not be any time."-Michal Tal From Immune Booster 2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal (@immunofever.bsky.social ) Hosts: @cindyleifer.bsky.social @bioprofbarker.bsky.social
youtube.com
Vaccines save lives
YouTube video by MicrobeTV
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
ScreamingMD @screamingmd.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Doubling down as a Toxicologist. The benefits far outweigh the harms.
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
What if this was your kid, you ask? I'll tell you. As an infectious disease immunologist, I protect my kids through vaccination. A measles outbreak reached my county when I had an infant. Knowing the risk for severe outcomes, I read the literature, vaccinated him EARLY and then rejoined the schedule
Post about my decision to vaccinate my baby ahead of schedule during a measles outbreak
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
The only question now is what huge problem do YOU (reader) want to address with this incredible data set? The world's sequences are your oyster. Go make pearls!
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
🌎👩‍🔬 For 15+ years biology has accumulated petabytes (million gigabytes) of🧬DNA sequencing data🧬 from the far reaches of our planet.🦠🍄🌵 Logan now democratizes efficient access to the world’s most comprehensive genetics dataset. Free and open. doi.org/10.1101/2024...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Earth’s genetic diversity is a heritage of humanity. It has been an honour to explore this data with a team of dedicated scientists who shared our vision of making this data free and accessible to all 🌍🧬❤️ Thank you! Updated preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2024...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
All Logan data is freely-available (cc0) right now. We show how Logan-Search (www.logan-search.org) can be used to uncover viral reactivation (HHV-6) in cell therapy products (TIL and CAR-T).
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
JAMA @jama.com · 01/09/2025
Adrenal insufficiency is a syndrome of cortisol deficiency. This Review summarizes the pathophysiology of adrenal insufficiency and approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of adrenal crisis. ja.ma/3HKk9Jr
An illustration from JAMA's review on adrenal insufficiency, dated June 16, 2025, showing normal and impaired hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis physiology with mechanisms leading to adrenal insufficiency.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
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Kelly Turnbull @coelasquid.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Sometimes we’re unsatisfied with a thing we made because when it only existed in our head, we saw all the things it could have been and when it’s done we know all the things that it isn’t, but we can’t see the way it expands into a million new things when someone else unpacks it in their head. 🖊️🦑
Frustrated little dude gripping a pencil saying “how do I pack this down into something I can actually share?” While swirling rainbows labeled “INFINITE POTENTIAL” float around them.

Little dude frowns at a tiny grey box, exclaiming “all that work for THIS?!”

Little dude shoves the grey box into another little guy’s hands; Frowning, stomping off, and saying “Here you go, I made this, it sucks.”

Second little dude cracks open the box, swirling rainbows project out onto their face.

Second little dude stares in awe at all the swirling rainbows now floating around them.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
“Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself.” Leadership, strategy, real action, common sense. #Paris
washingtonpost.com
Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
NBC News @nbcnews.com · 26/08/2025
A federal-state partnership that monitors for foodborne illnesses quietly scaled back its operations nearly two months ago. As of July 1, the critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight, a spokesperson for the CDC says.
nbcnews.to
The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnesses
As of July 1, a critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight.
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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
The year I was born. we basically had no idea why cancers happened and now we understand the underlying force behind it with 100% clarity and the molecular forces behind it with many orders of magnitude more resolution. We were entirely in the dark, and now the room is lit.
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Danielle Beckman @daniellebeckman.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Important paper by members of the European Academy of Neurology. "Healthcare systems should be aware of, and be prepared for a potential increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases in the upcoming years." What has been the state of surveillance and awareness so far? #NeuroCovid
Need for awareness and surveillance of long-term post-COVID neurodegenerative disorders. A position paper from the neuroCOVID‐19 task force of the European Academy of Neurology
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
bioRxiv Immunology @biorxiv-immuno.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Shared Immune and Epigenetic Pathways in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Melanoma Immunotherapy: A Cross-Disease Analysis with Prognostic and Therapeutic Implications www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social Pediatric long COVID Is characterized by myeloid CCR6 suppression and immune dysregulation @sarmoronlo.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
'LAIR1 inhibition enhanced peripheral and intratumoral CD8 memory T cell populations, induced a phenotypic shift of M2-like macrophages toward M1 macrophages, and normalized tumor collagen IV and structural components in the TME' www.jci.org/articles/vie...
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
NB: I had never hear of LAIR1 until a stunning paper 9 years ago from Tan, Lanzavecchia et al that showed LAIR1 insertions into Ig loci, with somatic mutations in the LAIR1 sequences that shifted affinity from collagen to plasmodium-infected erythrocytes www.nature.com/articles/nat...
nature.com
A LAIR1 insertion generates broadly reactive antibodies against malaria variant antigens - Nature
Monoclonal antibodies with broad reactivity against antigens on the parasite that causes malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, are isolated from two subjects and are found to have an unusual insertion of an...
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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Before you open the preprint, can you guess the 12?
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angela oliverio @oliverio.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Second we sought to highlight bias in the distribution of what clades and types of protists are researched and where our major gaps are within protists - TDLR - most organisms studied are parasites biasing our understanding of the capabilities of eukaryotic cells...
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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD
angela oliverio @oliverio.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
New lab pre-print up! "Twelve species of human parasites make up half the literature on microbial eukaryotes" doi.org/10.1101/2025... We (led by UG Joanna Lepper and with @hbrappap.bsky.social) quantified all mentions of protist species in the scientific literature 🧵 #protistsonsky #microsky
doi.org
Twelve species of human parasites make up half of the literature on microbial eukaryotes
Although microbial eukaryotes comprise the majority of eukaryotic phylogenetic diversity and inhabit nearly all ecosystems globally, most research focuses on only a few species of human parasites. Her...
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