Assistant Professor, Texas State University. Microbial Ecology ◊ Astrobiology ◊ Bioinformatics. Interested in early life evolution 🔭🧬🦠 @msobol.bsky.social
Joined August 2012
- Tweets 3,591
- Following 727
- Followers 661
- Likes 10,840
278 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
9 Dec 2024
I’m thrilled to be opening my lab at @txst in the @Txstbiology dept. this January!! We will be studying early microbial ecology and evolution. 🦠 🌎 I’m extremely grateful for the support of my mentors, colleagues, family, and friends! ❤️ Contact me for openings. #newPI #1stgen
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
Jan 30
Our new paper, out today! We resurrected an enzyme first used by life on Earth 3 billion years ago. We validated a #biosignature in rocks that helps reveal ancient life on Earth to guide the search for ancient life on other worlds! @NASA #astrobiology
nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
15 Aug 2025
The Earth is in space. Explore it. For health. For wealth. For humanity.
Sean Duffy says climate science will "move aside," with NASA only focusing on space exploration trib.al/hhk8zFS
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
16 Jun 2025
How did life begin, and why does it matter today? Proud to be one of the organizers of a new @ASMicrobiology report supported by the @MooreFound, exploring microbial origins & how they inform biotech, climate, and search for life in the universe. ➡️ asm.org/reports/early-microb…
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
17 Jun 2025
🚨New preprint!
Origins of life research is fragmented across disciplines.
We built #ChemOrigins, a community curated searchable database of experimental prebiotic chemistry.
Read ➡️ biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Visit ➡️
chemorigins.bact.wisc.edu
For feedback contact: @BrZuviria!
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NASA is facing historic cuts. As these must first be negotiated in Congress, there is time to advocate against these cuts.
Luckily, The Planetary Society has made it extremely easy to advocate to your member(s) of Congress. Please, click the links below and TAKE ACTION!
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
8 Apr 2025
🚨New preprint alert!🚨
Biology’s been metal since the very beginning🤘
We mapped Mo-dependent pathways across microbes and show this reliance emerged before oxygen showed up. Our results challenge assumptions about Mo scarcity on early Earth. @UWBact
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
17 Feb 2025
🚨 We're hiring! 🚨
Our lab is hiring scientists to study enzyme evolution across geologic time. Learn more about one of our projects here:⬇️ microbiology.wisc.edu/2025/0…
Folks who recently lost jobs are especially encouraged to apply! #ScienceJobs Contact: kacarlab.org
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
26 Jan 2025
I'm excited to be co-hosting a new seminar series on Protein Structure Evolution.
Talk 1: Andrei Lupas Topic: "Highly repetitive genomic ORFs: a source of new fibrous proteins?"
📅 Feb. 11, 3PM GMT
🔗 tinyurl.com/prose-seminar1
Please share!
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
14 Jan 2025
Opportunity for a Masters, PhD student, and Post doc at the University of South Alabama/Dauphin Island Sea Lab to work on an EPA-funded water quality project! More information on the job descriptions available at disl.edu/about/employment/
Please share! :)
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
27 Dec 2024
Nitrogenase Structural Evolution Across Earth’s History
astrobiology.com/2024/12/nit… #astrobiology #genomics #evolution
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
17 Dec 2024
Out today! 🚨 We explore how planetary oxidation ~2.5 billion years ago shaped the puzzling history of metal use in nitrogenase, key to nitrogen fixation! 🌍🔬
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
work led by @MorganMicro, @hollyr_rucker, in collab. with Eric Libby & Ariel Anbar. @UWBact
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10 Dec 2024
Come be my colleague @txst @Txstbiology! 😁
19 Nov 2024
@TXST and @Txstbiology invites applications for an open rank position in Aquatic Microbiology specializing in the study of microbiomes of aquatic resources (broadly defined) 🦠🧬🖥️🌊🚰🚱🏊♂️🔬🐸🐟🦐🪼🌱👨🌾🦟
More info here: microbiology.wp.txstate.edu/
Apply here: jobs.hr.txstate.edu/postings…
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
29 Oct 2024
Free alternative to BioRender: BioArt Source
2,000 science and medical art visuals of high-quality, scientifically accurate vectors, icons, and brushes is freely available within the public domain
bioart.niaid.nih.gov/
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
2 Oct 2024
Excited to share my review on reconstructing early life, out @AnnualReviews!
It covers past and future prospects for reviving extinct biochemistry, and how integrating our 4-billion-year planetary history with biochemical evolution can advance biology.
annualreviews.org/content/jo…
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
4 Oct 2024
Woodstoich 5 has wrapped up! Five papers finished, all received at least 2 peer reviews in <24 hours, first revisions for most are complete, and least two are already provisionally accepted! SUCCESS! Congrats to all.
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
4 Oct 2024
Have you ever dreamed of playing a retro video game themed on the origin of life and astrobiology? If yes, I just made the perfect game for you!
Let me know your score and let's see if you can create life on your planet!
lucatonietti.com/origin-of-l…
#astrobiology #spacebiology
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
New online! Marine biogeochemical nitrogen cycling through Earth’s history go.nature.com/3THoakt
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
24 Sep 2024
Interested in leading a dynamic, productive, and growing biology department in San Marcos located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country?
We are still taking applications for our next Chair! Deadline 10/1.
Please share or RT!
jobs.hr.txstate.edu/postings…
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Morgan Sobol retweeted
20 Sep 2024
Many of my colleagues in the Department of Earth Science at UC Santa Barbara (myself included) are looking for grads to start in 2025. Coolest place to be! Topics go from tectonics and volcanoes, to the early evolution of life 🌎🦠🔬
Please share broadly!
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