Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
@pawley.bsky.social
University of Denver – Nichols Lab
Animal origins, evolution, sponges, innate immunity, microbes, symbioses. Also dinosaurs. he/him 🏳️🌈
Animal origins, evolution, sponges, innate immunity, microbes, symbioses. Also dinosaurs. he/him 🏳️🌈
Pinned
Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
@pawley.bsky.social
· Jul 14
A fully updated preprint is now live on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social :)
“Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes
🧽🦠🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
“Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes
🧽🦠🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
Denver lunar eclipse 😗
August 28, 2026 at 4:59 AM
Denver lunar eclipse 😗
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
It'll be pretty embarrassing if the dinosaurs went out with more dignity than us.
They can't say they knew about the meteor for decades, knew exactly what to do about it, had all the technology and resources to stop it but didn't so five of them could own everything
They can't say they knew about the meteor for decades, knew exactly what to do about it, had all the technology and resources to stop it but didn't so five of them could own everything
August 14, 2026 at 5:14 AM
It'll be pretty embarrassing if the dinosaurs went out with more dignity than us.
They can't say they knew about the meteor for decades, knew exactly what to do about it, had all the technology and resources to stop it but didn't so five of them could own everything
They can't say they knew about the meteor for decades, knew exactly what to do about it, had all the technology and resources to stop it but didn't so five of them could own everything
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
Hiding in plain sight: Animals eat the natural bioplastic PHA
We discovered that many animals can break down PHA. And many of these enzymes had been sitting unnoticed in genome databases.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We discovered that many animals can break down PHA. And many of these enzymes had been sitting unnoticed in genome databases.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Animal degradation of microbial storage polyhydroxyalkanoates - Nature Ecology & Evolution
This study shows that the degradation of microbial storage polyhydroxyalkanoates is not just restricted to microorganisms by finding that some animals also have the enzymes required to break down thes...
www.nature.com
August 13, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Hiding in plain sight: Animals eat the natural bioplastic PHA
We discovered that many animals can break down PHA. And many of these enzymes had been sitting unnoticed in genome databases.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We discovered that many animals can break down PHA. And many of these enzymes had been sitting unnoticed in genome databases.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A fully updated preprint is now live on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social :)
“Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes
🧽🦠🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
“Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes
🧽🦠🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
July 14, 2026 at 6:02 PM
A fully updated preprint is now live on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social :)
“Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes
🧽🦠🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
“Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes
🧽🦠🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
🐢 The Shell Game...
The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals.
Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life:
X‑ray study of South African fossils was a decider
The phylogenetic origin of turtles🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals.
Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life:
X‑ray study of South African fossils was a decider
The phylogenetic origin of turtles🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
June 15, 2026 at 2:00 PM
🐢 The Shell Game...
The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals.
Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life:
X‑ray study of South African fossils was a decider
The phylogenetic origin of turtles🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals.
Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life:
X‑ray study of South African fossils was a decider
The phylogenetic origin of turtles🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
"The world has used me ill …
these men of learning have sucked my brains..."
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector.
However...
Despite her incredible discoveries, Mary Anning never received the full recognition she deserved.👩🔬🧪
www.discoverwildlife.com/people/mary-...
these men of learning have sucked my brains..."
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector.
However...
Despite her incredible discoveries, Mary Anning never received the full recognition she deserved.👩🔬🧪
www.discoverwildlife.com/people/mary-...
![Mary Anning [is] probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontolgy.
-Stephen Jay Gould](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rygp62vxjwmuyb4xin4uyt7z/bafkreibrvrgqzanj4xznanyrrezkkjc5rdj6el2g2xd76xq5e4wbdgst6y)
June 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM
"The world has used me ill …
these men of learning have sucked my brains..."
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector.
However...
Despite her incredible discoveries, Mary Anning never received the full recognition she deserved.👩🔬🧪
www.discoverwildlife.com/people/mary-...
these men of learning have sucked my brains..."
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector.
However...
Despite her incredible discoveries, Mary Anning never received the full recognition she deserved.👩🔬🧪
www.discoverwildlife.com/people/mary-...
Successfully defended my PhD last Thursday :)
Dissertation Title: “Exploring foundations of animals of host–microbe interactions in a freshwater sponge”
Lab: @scottnichols.bsky.social
#sponge #immunology #symbiosis
Dissertation Title: “Exploring foundations of animals of host–microbe interactions in a freshwater sponge”
Lab: @scottnichols.bsky.social
#sponge #immunology #symbiosis
May 11, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Successfully defended my PhD last Thursday :)
Dissertation Title: “Exploring foundations of animals of host–microbe interactions in a freshwater sponge”
Lab: @scottnichols.bsky.social
#sponge #immunology #symbiosis
Dissertation Title: “Exploring foundations of animals of host–microbe interactions in a freshwater sponge”
Lab: @scottnichols.bsky.social
#sponge #immunology #symbiosis
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
Join us Wednesday, 29th April, at 4pm WEST (Lisbon time), for two Symbiosis Alumni Seminars by @omaistrenko.bsky.social and @pawley.bsky.social.
Zoom link upon free registration at gimm.idloom.events/symbnet_semi...
@symbnet.bsky.social, @moorefound.bsky.social, @mblscience.bsky.social, ECODIM
Zoom link upon free registration at gimm.idloom.events/symbnet_semi...
@symbnet.bsky.social, @moorefound.bsky.social, @mblscience.bsky.social, ECODIM
April 27, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Join us Wednesday, 29th April, at 4pm WEST (Lisbon time), for two Symbiosis Alumni Seminars by @omaistrenko.bsky.social and @pawley.bsky.social.
Zoom link upon free registration at gimm.idloom.events/symbnet_semi...
@symbnet.bsky.social, @moorefound.bsky.social, @mblscience.bsky.social, ECODIM
Zoom link upon free registration at gimm.idloom.events/symbnet_semi...
@symbnet.bsky.social, @moorefound.bsky.social, @mblscience.bsky.social, ECODIM
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
“We can’t afford cancer research but $11 billion for one week of an absurd war is fine” is a hell of an argument
March 13, 2026 at 12:49 AM
“We can’t afford cancer research but $11 billion for one week of an absurd war is fine” is a hell of an argument
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
Thank you, Sir, for speaking plain truth.
March 6, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Thank you, Sir, for speaking plain truth.
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
March 1, 2026 at 7:01 PM
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
This made my day and week—and will become fuel as I finish this thing they call a dissertation :,)
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 7:11 PM
This made my day and week—and will become fuel as I finish this thing they call a dissertation :,)
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
New preprint from @pawley.bsky.social @scottnichols.bsky.social is a great testament to how intentional imaging helps untangle potential functions and mechanisms of host-microbe interactions
The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge
The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge
www.biorxiv.org
February 10, 2026 at 9:02 PM
New preprint from @pawley.bsky.social @scottnichols.bsky.social is a great testament to how intentional imaging helps untangle potential functions and mechanisms of host-microbe interactions
The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge
The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704605v1
February 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704605v1
Excited to announce a new preprint from my PhD student @pawley.bsky.social :
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
"The discovery of an external bacterial niche reconciles sequencing-based microbiomes in a freshwater sponge."
www.biorxiv.org
February 10, 2026 at 1:21 AM
Putting “can multi-factor authenticate through DuoMobile with my eyes closed” on my CV
February 3, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Putting “can multi-factor authenticate through DuoMobile with my eyes closed” on my CV
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
I find it *extremely* disturbing that Jay Bhattacharya—who campaigned for RFK Jr during RFK’s Presidential run—is repositioning the NIH to be the research arm of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine, anti-science MAHA movement😨
“I want the NIH to be a central driver of the MAHA agenda,” Bhattacharya said. “Essentially, it's kind of the research arm of MAHA.”
NIH is not an ideological toy or 'arm'. We must insist on its scientific independence, especially if its Director will not.
🚨
www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
NIH is not an ideological toy or 'arm'. We must insist on its scientific independence, especially if its Director will not.
🚨
www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya talks 'replication crisis' at Duke panel, omits funding cuts
Throughout the second Trump administration, the NIH has frozen billions of dollars in research funding to universities. Those cuts were not the topic of discussion at a Duke Clinical Research Institut...
www.dukechronicle.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:43 PM
I find it *extremely* disturbing that Jay Bhattacharya—who campaigned for RFK Jr during RFK’s Presidential run—is repositioning the NIH to be the research arm of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine, anti-science MAHA movement😨
This is one my favorite images I’ve ever taken of a freshwater sponge
The depth-coded image (stained for F-actin) beautifully shows the static nature of the choanoderm and the extremely dynamic nature of migratory cells along and around the outer epithelia :)
#FluoresenceFriday #confocal
The depth-coded image (stained for F-actin) beautifully shows the static nature of the choanoderm and the extremely dynamic nature of migratory cells along and around the outer epithelia :)
#FluoresenceFriday #confocal
August 8, 2025 at 4:26 PM
This is one my favorite images I’ve ever taken of a freshwater sponge
The depth-coded image (stained for F-actin) beautifully shows the static nature of the choanoderm and the extremely dynamic nature of migratory cells along and around the outer epithelia :)
#FluoresenceFriday #confocal
The depth-coded image (stained for F-actin) beautifully shows the static nature of the choanoderm and the extremely dynamic nature of migratory cells along and around the outer epithelia :)
#FluoresenceFriday #confocal
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
Motherfucking wind farms…
July 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Motherfucking wind farms…
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
There’s a nonzero chance you will die from a cancer that could have been curable because people who couldn’t pass 7th grade biology and are scared of things like “mRNA” and “riboflavin” and “walkable cities” decided to make their ignorance everybody else’s problem
Over 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals.
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
‘Tremendous uncertainty’ for cancer research as US officials target mRNA vaccines
Amid Trump cuts and state-level backlash, experts worry that progress in messenger RNA vaccines could stall
zurl.co
July 14, 2025 at 11:08 PM
There’s a nonzero chance you will die from a cancer that could have been curable because people who couldn’t pass 7th grade biology and are scared of things like “mRNA” and “riboflavin” and “walkable cities” decided to make their ignorance everybody else’s problem
You can take the funds from a scientist, but you will never take their passion
#4thofJuly
@haleyrwom.bsky.social
#4thofJuly
@haleyrwom.bsky.social
July 5, 2025 at 4:04 AM
You can take the funds from a scientist, but you will never take their passion
#4thofJuly
@haleyrwom.bsky.social
#4thofJuly
@haleyrwom.bsky.social
May 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
If we all somehow agreed to follow some unwritten rule that nobody can publish more than four or five papers per year, I think that would make our culture healthier for everybody.
May 18, 2025 at 11:44 PM
If we all somehow agreed to follow some unwritten rule that nobody can publish more than four or five papers per year, I think that would make our culture healthier for everybody.
Reposted by Jacob Pawley 🧽 🦠 🦕
This work is finally officially out!
Check out our paper, where we use various advanced microscopy techniques to shed light on the structures of a complex symbiotic organ and the communities of bacteria that live inside it.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Check out our paper, where we use various advanced microscopy techniques to shed light on the structures of a complex symbiotic organ and the communities of bacteria that live inside it.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Organ structure and bacterial microbiogeography in a reproductive organ of the Hawaiian bobtail squid reveal dimensions of a defensive symbiosis | Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Sequence-based microbiome studies have revealed much about how hosts interact with
communities of symbiotic microbiota but often lack a spatial understanding of how
microbes relate to each other and t...
journals.asm.org
April 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
This work is finally officially out!
Check out our paper, where we use various advanced microscopy techniques to shed light on the structures of a complex symbiotic organ and the communities of bacteria that live inside it.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Check out our paper, where we use various advanced microscopy techniques to shed light on the structures of a complex symbiotic organ and the communities of bacteria that live inside it.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...