Who's writing, anyways?
it's me, Alex
This is me as an E. coli being infected by a T4-bacteriophage (a type of virus that only infects bacteria). That might be about all you need to know about me.
Nice to meet you! My name is Alex, and I am an award-winning science communicator, a PhD student with a research background in immunology and microbiology, and a passionate ambassador for the TOPX Network for women in life sciences. I love to talk about and teach science, and it has become my #1 hobby (alongside my loves for long-distance tandem cycling and sustainable fashion).
Microbial Mondays in its current form was born back when I was a Master student. One Monday night, I sat down after a day in the lab and thought, "Wouldn't it be awesome if more Mondays were microbial?" To answer my own question, yes, it is awesome. To this day, you can visit me here to read all about microbes, written in plain and understandable English by this here enthusiastic PhD student.
If you're looking for somebody to host a workshop on science communication, give a jargon-free talk about microbes or immunology, submit a guest scicomm article, or moderate a popular science event, you've come to the right place. I'd love for you to reach out to me!
And lastly, where do I get all this information from? It's a mixture of information from the papers cited in the posts, fun facts I've picked over the years of studying, lecture notes (especially from Dr. Kluftinger and Dr. Plunkett's excellent courses at the University of British Columbia in Canada), and of course some Wikipedia here and there. If you have a question about a source, or if some information is unclear, let me know and I'll be happy to clarify!
Back the Bugs!
Do you like what I do? Consider supporting me on Patreon! You can become a fan of fungus, an algae enthusiast, or a bacterial benefactor with just a few clicks.
My CV at a glance
PUBLICATIONS (from most to least recent)
Kurtz D, Janke R, Barry J, Cloherty, A, Shahram SZ, Jones, CA (2022). "Learning from “Our Relations” Indigenous Peoples of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and United States: A Review of Culturally Relevant Diabetes and Obesity Interventions for Health. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2022.13.1.14041
Cloherty APM, Rader AG, Compeer B, Ribeiro CMS (2021). Human TRIM5α: Autophagy Connects Cell-Intrinsic HIV-1 Restriction and Innate Immune Sensor Functioning. Viruses, 13(2), 320. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13020320
Cloherty APM, van Teijlingen NH, Eisden TJTHD et al. (2021). Autophagy-enhancing drugs limit mucosal HIV-1 acquisition and suppress viral replication ex vivo. Sci Rep 11, 4767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84081-4
Cloherty APM, Olmstead AD, Ribeiro CMS, Jean F (2020). Hijacking of Lipid Droplets by Hepatitis C, Dengue and Zika Viruses—From Viral Protein Moonlighting to Extracellular Release. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(21), 7901. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21217901
Hovingh ES, de Maat S, Cloherty A, Johnson S, Pinelli E, Maas C, & Jongerius I (2018). Virulence Associated Gene 8 of Bordetella pertussis Enhances Contact System Activity by Inhibiting the Regulatory Function of Complement Regulator C1 Inhibitor. Frontiers in immunology, 9, 1172. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01172
Bottorff JL, Oliffe JL, Sarbit G, Kelly MT, & Cloherty A (2015). Men's Responses to Online Smoking Cessation Resources for New Fathers: The Influence of Masculinities. JMIR research protocols, 4(2), e54. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.4079
... And more coming soon! ;)