More than a decade since CRISPR-Cas9 knock in came on the scene, it's remained underutilized in emerging models. Using transposase, and a split-FP system, we built an optimized knock in system for use in the genetically-enabled urchin, Lytechinus pictus. bit.ly/4wswLsd

Proposed terminology for referring to the homes of #symbionts within their ( #insect ) hosts " #Symbiotic organs in #insects: diversity, functional implications, and terminology " w/ @kaltenpoth-lab.bsky.social and co., not in bsky doi.org/10.1098/rstb... #SymbioSky

Picked up this ceramic sea urchins from the village of Choras on the Greek island of Andros! The artist got her inspiration from her childhood in Thessaloniki, when she would spot them while swimming.

I'm hiring a #postdoc 🥳 and applications are open 🤩 Candidates with interests in EITHER statistical methodology or microbial ecology / microbiome are welcome to apply. The position / projects will be tailored to the candidate 🌟📈🎤 Thank you for sharing widely! apply.interfolio.com/188571

Sea urchin salt and pepper shaker on a Greek Island!

Talking about how microbes manipulate egg size and developmental evolution! Thanks to all that came out to our symposium on developmental symbiosis.

You’re pretty, University of Glasgow!

The symposium that Thomas Bosch and I organized on developmental symbiosis is coming up this Thursday at the Euro Evo Devo meeting in Glasgow! Hope to see all of those that are curious about host-microbe symbiosis at #EED2026 there!

If you want to read a cool story today, look no further: A billion-year-old bacterial machinery replicates plastid DNA and supports kleptoplastidy #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Interested in working on the evolution of photosynthetic endosymbioses? Come join us! I have 2 open positions in my new group @cemess.bsky.social in Vienna 3yr postdoc info: tinyurl.com/4emkjpn4 4yr PhD info: tinyurl.com/mtxmsjpy Apply by 1st June! Please share/repost #Protists #Symbiosis #PhD

🪸 We're hiring a PhD student in microbial ecology of crustose coralline algae! Fully funded 3-year position jointly hosted at SZN Genova & MPI-MM Bremen, with fieldwork in Belize, Seychelles & Fiji. ⏰ Deadline: May 21, 2026 #PhD #MarineScience #Microbiology #OpenPosition

learning about the microbial dimension of human life appeared to strengthen people’s psychological relationship with the natural world. This matters because nature connectedness is associated with: - improved wellbeing - stronger pro-environmental behaviours 3/

Lots of people have reached out asking how they can support us after the devastating fire in the MSL building, the heart of @cmarinescience.bsky.social Here’s one way, a GoFundMe organized by our graduate students - gofund.me/4373c6ff3. Please share widely, and thanks for helping our community!

What are the biggest open questions in #microbiome and #symbiosis research? At #CSEE, we’re running a symposium on disturbance, adaptation, and the parasitism–mutualism continuum—and we want to foster discussion around these questions. Share your questions (& this post) ↓ forms.gle/huhvTgZCWVrS...

New funding opportunity from the Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative. We’re inviting teams of two researchers to pursue ambitious, high-risk projects advancing aquatic symbiosis (marine + freshwater). Open globally. Details + how to apply:  moore.org/SymbiosisRFP #RFP #AquaticSymbiosis

Development in the sea is tough and can end in starvation. @tylerjcarrier.bsky.social @utehentschel.bsky.social &co show that #SeaUrchin eggs contain a #plastid -derived structure whose light-dependent activity influences metabolism, #development & survival @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4mOAxZh

Carlotta Kück from @mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social showed host species-specific symbiont gene expression: One Caribbean beach, one symbiont, multiple host species, this symbiont may function differently depending on the host it associates with! In ISMEJ @isme-microbes.bsky.social tinyurl.com/p7abc25f

Eggs released in the environment are at risk from many threats. @jillianlewis.bsky.social & @spencernyholm.bsky.social explore how #plastid -derived #carotenoid crystals benefit larval survival & trans-oceanic dispersal in #SeaUrchin eggs 🧪 Paper: plos.io/4mOAxZh Primer: plos.io/4cPpBGr

@jillianlewis.bsky.social and @spencernyholm.bsky.social were also so very kind to write a Primer on our @plosbiology.org article: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

The @crc1182.bsky.social and @geomarkiel.bsky.social were so very kind to put out a joint press release about our recent @plosbiology.org paper. Here is the one from the @crc1182.bsky.social: www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/n...

New paper entitled "Sea urchin eggs contain a plastid-derived structure that contributes to their development" is now out in @plosbiology.org! Here is a summary... journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

A truly magnificent piece! So happy for the author.

Excited to announce our new journal from @isme-microbes.bsky.social ISME Host Microbe is live and now accepting submissions. Look forward to receiving your papers! #Microsky 🧫 🦠

Come work with us in Vienna and along European coasts! We look for a creative Postdoc (4year contract) in Evolutionary Genomics to cooperate with physiologists, ecologists, see: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Postdoc-... Please share! @univie.ac.at

We have some exciting guests in the @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social lab facility ✨These beautiful E. esculentus sea urchins collected near Bergen will help guest researcher Antoine Rémond from the @minclab.bsky.social better understand cleavage in echinoderms 🥚

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing: MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org #protistsonsky

How diseases spread between oyster reefs 🦪🦠 A new GEOMAR study, led by Dr Lara Schmittmann, marine biologist at GEOMAR, reveals which restoration sites are most at risk from pathogens carried by ocean currents. Read more: www.geomar.de/en/news/arti... 📸 AWI, Emilie Grassl

Open directorship for the MPI on Evolutionary Biology is Plön!

Increasing evidence indicates that many planktonic organisms function as holobionts, whose ecological performance reflects interactions between the host and its microbiome. academic.oup.com/plankt/artic...

Great to finally see this out! Our sponge friend Halichondria panicea’s genome is live! 🧽

Thomas Bosch and I have organized a symposium on the “Impacts of Microbiota on Animal and Plant Development” that will be part of the Euro EvoDevo meeting in Glasgow this summer. Please register through EED. Thanks to generous sponsors, we have some financial support for early-career scientists.

Nothing more beautiful than the larvae of marine invertebrates.

Slow and symbiotic wins the long race. High performance at early ages is driven by intense, discipline-specific practice. Admirable, yet our systems can take more risks to support the creators and doers across disciplines. More heroes will be an outcome. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Live thread of the NSF biology virtual office hour: 🧵

We stand on the shoulders of giants - in science and humanity. youtu.be/DsvBKMkZgaA?...

The long awaited DAAD Master's Student Exchange Kick-Off meeting today with the University Tecnico Lisboa, Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences was a full success. Thanks to Tina Keller-Costa, Rodrigo Costa, Kristina Bayer, #DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst.

An incredibly deserved award, Thomas!! A true trailblazer!

Deeply unfortunate news for such a transformative class! I still refer to class slides and notes (some that are actively integrative into my lectures now) from many moons ago.

✴️Sea urchins have illuminated fertilization 🧫, early cleavage divisions 🔬, and gene regulation in embryonic patterning 🧬. A classic marine model that shaped our understanding of cell fate and axis formation. 📸 Image by Laurent Formery #ModelMonday #DevBio

2026 International Larval Biology Symposium will be held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts on Sept 27 to Oct 1 2026, featuring plenaries from Craig Young, Mary Sewell, and Jeanette Wheeler! You can rock larval swag at Dexter Davis' Etsy shop (Etsy.com/shop/NoDexerity) that will support students!

Say hello to our next set of members of the organizing committee for the Larval Biology Society! Get to know Shawn M. Arellano and Tyler Carrier!

Research (art) under the constraints of our systems (academia, funding agencies, etc.). Stress can breed beauty, but time remains that magical, antagonistic trait.

🎙️JOB ANNOUNCEMENT! I am seeking a scientist to design, implement, support, analyze, and report on research in the molecular biology of insect endosymbionts. Come join us in the tips of the Appalachian mountains for meaningful challenges in symbiosis science. psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Staff/jo...

🚨 Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (📅 March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards. www.embl.org/about/info/c... #EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky 🦠

I am happy to announce publication of our new perspectives paper on applying evolutionary theory to host-microbiome evolution - new tricks for old dogs! @bweek.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de @transevo.bsky.social @crc1182.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We are welcoming applications for a full professorship on Molecular and Evolutionary Zoology at Kiel Univerdity, Northern Germany, with fantastic facilities and infrastructure! @uni-kiel.de @crc1182.bsky.social @transevo.bsky.social www.nature.com/naturecareer...

I still think about this 2018 “American Gut” study every time I go grocery shopping - eating MORE than 30 types of plants per week boosts diversity in your gut microbiome, and also reduces antibiotic resistance genes in your body journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10....

Class activity today was for students to calculate, as a group, what percent of the human holobiont is host. One student left saying, “damn, my world is shook.”

Doctoral position on genomic basis of Fucus (brown algal) local adaptation - join our exciting #Fubluc team! Fully funded for 3.5 years & we also consider candidates with strong molecular or bioinformatic skillls but no marine / algal experience, see www.geomar.de/en/karriere/...

We are so proud of our sea star wasting work that came out today. This interactive article is very complete and includes beautiful videos. Unmasking the Sea Star Killer www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...