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Pranas Grigaitis

@pranasag.bsky.social
221 followers 423 following 50 posts

helping cells spend their molecular cash wisely | ants, microbes, and combinations of both | biochemist behind a computer @kit.edu | ex @vuamsterdam.bsky.social, @uniheidelberg.bsky.social & U Vilnius | rookie bassist, saxophonist | pranasag.github.io

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Reposted by Pranas Grigaitis
Sven T. Stripp @stripplab.bsky.social · 10h
Oh boy my Wiley Certificates are in!
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 9h
Most of my mental energy the last 3 hours was spent on searching for a fitting picture to summarize that email/the whole certificate idea. Have to conclude that any of what I came up with can't top yours, thanks for releasing me from that jail
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Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Philosophy of Biology: The power of theory in the life sciences" elifesciences.org/articles/112... @zdblount.bsky.social shared this thought-provoking paper with the lab group.
elifesciences.org
Philosophy of Biology: The power of theory in the life sciences
Theory can help address cell and molecular biology’s major challenges, particularly those arising from large omics datasets.
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Jürgen Zanghellini @juergenzanghellini.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
What kcat predictor is best for systems biology? We predicted yeast growth w/ 6 tools. Benchmark scores failed to predict model performance. One key error can mess up everything Accuracy is global—impact is local Let’s test AI tools beyond benchmarks tinyurl.com/bdznxy8y @univie.ac.at #PROHITS
biorxiv.org
Beyond benchmark accuracy: machine-learning turnover-number predictors require system-level validation
Enzyme turnover numbers ( k cat) are essential for kinetic models and enzyme-constrained genome-scale metabolic models (ecGEMs), but measured values are sparse and therefore increasingly estimated usi...
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ECMTB'26 @ecmtb2026.org · 13/07/2026
From early morning to late evening; from registration to reception: it's a wrap for the first day of #ECMTB26! Looking forward to more exciting talks, discussions, and the first round of poster presentations tomorrow!
Early morning: fully staffed registration desks. Organisers and student helpers waiting for participants to pick up their nametagsBusy gathering next to the conference office after a plenary talkWelcome Reception: musical performance of Timber (Michael Gordon) by STUDIO PERCUSSION GrazLate evening, welcome reception: social gathering in the main building courtyard
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Exactly my reason to stay for their talk (= not to shut the window in the most civil, but passive-aggressive manner possible)
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
"Sleep is for the weak" seems to be a part of the official policy handbook at @ecmtb2026.org -- woke up at 04.35am to somebody rehearsing their talk with an open window 😁
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This posture seems to be running in the family tbh...
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
and a bunch of very motivated and inspiring scientists at all carreer levels. I had great fun and I had an opportunity to promote metabolic modeling. Thank you @metap-init.bsky.social and we will reunite in the UK in late 2027, I hope!
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Now that the dust has settled. As someone who is not exactly the master of the technique, talking before the audience at the International Metaproteomics Symposium was... an interesting experience, let's put it this way. I have discovered an amazing community
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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🔥 Published today, and just in time for summer conferences, here are your guidelines for presenting badly www.nature.com/articles/s41... rdcu.be/fqa92
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Melissah Rowe @melissahrowe.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
🐦 Interested in avian reproduction, microbiomes, or reproductive microbiomes? I'm looking for outstanding early-career researchers interested in applying for an NWO Veni grant to join my group at NIOO. Pre-proposals are due after the summer. Email me to discuss ideas. #EarlyCareerResearcher #Postdoc
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
I thank everyone who interacted and discussed our/their work with me, and especially the fellow social transfers (www.socialtransfer.net) speakers: Sanja Hakala, Peter Kwant, and Melissah Rowe; Kudos to @joriskoene.bsky.social, Bart Pollux, Aniko Korosi for organizing the session.
socialtransfer.net
Social Transfer Network
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
... which means that less complex meals get co-consumed by the host and its microbes, who chip in some small molecules that metazoans cannot produce themselves (some amino acids, vitamins, etc.). Some of these heroes are well known, but some are truly unsung ones. Needs more research!
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
The NWO Life conference was a blast! Great keynotes, very valuable input on our current research, and the cherry on the top was the focus session on socially transferred materials. There I gave a talk on my post-doc shenanigans regarding microbial up-cycling of social fluids in ant colonies...
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This Friday: microbial superheroes in socially transferred materials! Those who know me can easily guess I will be mostly talking about the feeders, but one just has to appreciate _all_ the microbial goods that circulate in STMs.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Congrats and all the best with the proposal submission 💪
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Joris M. Koene @joriskoene.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
With Bart Pollux and @anikokorosi.bsky.social , I will chair the Focus session “Socially Transferred Materials" at NWO Life (28-29 May 2026) 🐜🐸🐌🐄🥚 Invites speakers are @sanjahakala.bsky.social , @pranasag.bsky.social, Peter Kwant and @melissahrowe.bsky.social @socialtransfernet.bsky.social
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
The metabolic modeling part of this manuscript is just the beginning of what we set up back in my previous life, last fall in Amsterdam. It was great to host Ian Oiler in the low lands back then, and happy to have laid my finger on this whole endeavor. Stay tuned for more ants AND microbes!
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Where one finds food, lactobacilli follow - sweet sweet ant honey is not an exception at all. Quoting Oded Rechavi, the father of The Woodstock of Biology, what's the physiological relevance? Here comes the first set of genome- and proteome analysis-driven ideas on what these replete microbes do.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Why to choose between ants and microbes when you can have both? @khadlily.bsky.social, @adriatica.bsky.social and co. have been diving into what's happening in the honeypot ant repletes for years, and the first papers are coming out 🎉 (photo copyright: Smithsonian Institution-NMNH-Insect Zoo)
Honeypot ant replete (an ant with a massive, inflated belly, full of storage compounds)
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georghochberg.bsky.social @georghochberg.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I will probably be hiring either a PhD or a Postdoc in the near future. If you are interested in deep biochemical history or molecular mechanisms of evolution please get in touch.
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Economic Principles in Cell Biology @economic-cell.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Spring is here and Piglette is getting ready to swim in Liebig's barrel while reading about it in the brand new chapter on Microeconomics of cell metabolism by Jumpei Yamagishi and Tetsuhiro Hatakeyama. Find it here in the new edition of our textbook principlescellphysiology.org/book-economi...
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Late spring 🌼 is an excellent time to be back in the Lowlands, especially as a part of a great line-up at the STM focus session! Thanks @joriskoene.bsky.social @anikokorosi.bsky.social and Bart for the invitation - looking forward
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) @kit.edu · 11/03/2026
KIT Successfully Defends Its Title as University of Excellence! “We are overjoyed,” says Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, President of KIT. www.kit.edu/kit/english/... #KITKarlsruhe #UniversityOfExcellence #ScienceForImpact #ExcellenceStrategy
Das Präsidium des KIT feiert den Erfolg in der Exzellenzstrategie.
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VAAM e.V. @vaam-microbes.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
🚀 VAAM Annual Conference 2026, Berlin, 23–25 March Don’t miss out — register now & meet the microbiology community for talks, poster sessions, Research and PhD Awards, and special events for Young Scientists. Connect, learn, and exchange ideas! 👉 Join us & register here: t1p.de/b2vf8 #VAAM2026
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Jürgen Zanghellini @juergenzanghellini.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
PhD position: AI-driven bioprocess modelling for circular bioproduction @univie.ac.at | Cluster of Excellence: Circular Bioengineering Focus: Simulation. Optimization. Data-driven biotech Apply here careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/s...
careers.univie.ac.at
Chemistry
Live and study in the heart of Vienna- a top-ranked city for quality of life!
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Universiteit Leiden @unileiden.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Renske Gilissen is gespecialiseerd in #suïcidepreventie Met haar onderzoek en onderwijs richt zij zich op preventiemaatregelen.
universiteitleiden.nl
Leidse hoogleraar in nieuwe podcast over zelfdodingsgedachten
Wist je dat ongeveer 25% van de mensen ooit aan zelfdoding heeft gedacht? In een nieuwe podcast van de Universiteit van Nederland vertelt hoogleraar Renske Gilissen over inzichten en praktische handva...
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
I might be biased about whether they are *the* best, but they are truly amazing.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
We demand answers. - on behalf of my pet ants
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
The book chapter (1st as the last author 😎) is finally "officially" out: doi.org/10.1007/978-... Thanks to the team! (DM for the pdf if you need one)
doi.org
From Genome to Function: Metabolism-Wide Models of Lifecycle Stages of Parasites
Metabolism is a complex network of biochemical reactions that cells use to obtain free energy transduced from nutrients and synthesize new cellular components. Understanding the wiring of metabolism c...
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Reposted by Pranas Grigaitis
bioRxiv SysBio @biorxiv-sysbio.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Mitochondrial ribosome content as a proxy for respiration www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
... and helped us to reason the metabolic phenotypes and behaviors the NCY P. kluyveri employs. I will make a point for the potential role of reconstructing GEMs in large-scale studies searching for “new biochemistry” in NCYs and beyond.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
As a case study, we will consider the recently published GEM for an industrially-relevant NCY Pichia kluyveri, used for the production of alcohol-free beverages, such as alcohol-free beer. I will show how P. kluyveri GEM enabled a comprehensive analysis of physiological and -omics data...
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
In my talk, I will briefly reflect on the evolution of yeast metabolic modeling in the last 20 years from the first GEM of Saccharomyces cerevisiae published in 2003. I will discuss how the vast amount of knowledge, encoded in the GEM of S. cerevisiae, can be transferred to other yeasts.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
See the full abstract book here: zenodo.org/records/1801...
zenodo.org
Mining Non-Conventional Yeasts Biodiversity Congress
This meeting is organized within the framework of the Non Conventional Yeasts (NCY) diversity project, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, Mission M4C2, Investment 1.1, PRIN PNRR 2022 (Pr...
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Upon their kind invitation from my lovely colleagues from Uni Verona, I am delighted to join the speakers' list of the online symposium: 📌 Mining Non-Conventional Yeasts (NCY) Biodiversity 📅 February 17, 2026 Details and registration: www.dbt.univr.it?ent=seminari...
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Pedro Beltrao @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
This is such hard news to process. Such an amazing scientist and inspiration for so many of us. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...
embl.org
In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL
EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Congrats! Please pass by Karlsruhe for a coffee at some point when the hurdles of moving are well behind you ;)
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Jenny Stynoski @stynoski.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
🧃☕️ BYOF Seminar | Fri Oct 24 @ 10 am EDT🥛🍹 Bring-Your-Own-Fluid + enjoy 7 min talks about social fluids: 🦈 Viviparity & matrotrophy • Daniel Hughes 🐦 Crop milk • Victoria Farrar 🦂 Sexual stings • Yuqi Reitsema-Wang Email hello@socialtransfer.net for the Zoom link! 🔗 @socialtransfernet.bsky.social
Logo and QR of the Bring Your Own Fluid seminar series, presented by the Social Transfer Network
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Another round of selfish self-promotion: please join us for the best bridging event to your Halloween party if you are nearby Amsterdam on that day (mandatory music reference: youtu.be/vFwYJYl5GUQ?...)
youtu.be
Type O Negative - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare -All) [HD Remaster] [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
YouTube video by Roadrunner Records
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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community @natcomms.nature.com from @oventurelli2.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community - Nature Communications
Here the authors leverage a crossfeeding, engineered microbial community to demonstrate that strain abundance cycles are robust across environmental conditions. They pair this with a nonlinear dynamic model to elucidate population cycles.
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Alex Fedorec @ajfedorec.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
I'm going to be advertising for a few positions in my group in the next couple of months for a big project on synthetic microbial communities. I would love to hear from you if you are interested and I'd also appreciate if everyone could share this far and wide!
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
What, where, when? 📅 October 31st, 2025 | 12:00 – 18:00 📍 Auditorium, O2 building, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 🎟️ Free, register here (before 1st Oct with a talk title; 15th Oct regular): forms.office.com/e/qCrRcXhsyA
forms.office.com
Microsoft Forms
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
We’ll explore these questions (and more!) together at the AIMMS Symposium “Modeling metabolism: successes, challenges, and prospects” With talks by: ✨ Djordje Bajić (TUD) ✨ Meike Wortel (UvA) ✨ Ursula Kummer (Uni Heidelberg) ✨ María Suárez Diez (WUR) 🔷 selected early-career researcher talks.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Metabolic modeling has advanced over decades, built on the dedication and behind-the-scenes work of countless researchers. But some big questions remain: 💡 What are the biggest challenges ahead? 🚀 What is the next frontier in modeling metabolism?
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
🔬 Recent breakthroughs in understanding metabolism, and applying this knowledge, have only been possible thanks to the creative blending of multiple disciplines. Among them, mathematical modeling has become a cornerstone for many successful interdisciplinary studies in the life sciences.
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Metabolic modeling aficionados in the Netherlands (and close to border), attention please! (promo thread)
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Honour McCann @honour.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
There’s a leak - and a conceptual artist - at the Max Planck 👌
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Pranas Grigaitis @pranasag.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Embracing computational models in their research feels like crossing the Rubicon for many people, although it should not be so. That was my red thread while overseeing the writing of this manuscript. Modeling is an essential ingredient for the next grand advance(s) of the 21st century biology!
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