Our new publication on HOBIT, a software tool for polyploid gene expression analysis. Compared with our previous method HomeoRoq (2014), HOBIT enables direct and higher-quality analysis of complex allohexaploid species such as bread wheat.

Press release in English about the new paper in Nature Communications thanks to the Earlham Institute doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Interviewed by Nikkei Science (Japanese edition of Scientific American). The photo shows a Swiss Alps village where a new species, Cardamine insueta, formed in the past 150 years via hybridization and genome duplication. The article also covers wheat and Arabidopsis kamchatica.

Excited to be featured in Nature Digest’s “Japanese Author” series! They wrote about some of my work in Nature and sister journals. #genome #evolution #wheat #linguistics #polyploidy #biodiversity #Darwin Article (Japanese): doi.org/10.1038/ndig...

📰When populations meet, they exchange genes, but also language features. According to a new study by NCCR researchers, contact between human populations increases the resemblance between their languages to similar extents all over the world, but differently. evolvinglanguage.ch/capturing-la...

New paper out in Science Advances! We studied language & genetic evolution using the GeLaTo database—focusing on burrowing and schismogenesis. Link: doi.org/10.1126/scia... Special thanks to @chiarabarbieri.bsky.social @annagraff.bsky.social @balthasarbickel.bsky.social @nccrlanguage.bsky.social

Our new preprint introduces HOBIT, a bioinformatics tool for allopolyploid RNA-seq. It’s directly applicable to allohexaploid species like bread wheat and outperforms our previous method, HomeoRoq, in 2014. Software: github.com/bitdessin/he... by Jianqiang Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

My first thesis chapter is out 🎉! doi.org/10.1007/s001... We discovered two potentially novel yellow rust resistance loci in a new Asian wheat NAM population and gained insights into their distribution. Time to celebrate with my first publication cake🍰! @kkshimizu1.bsky.social @cimmyt.bsky.social

Press release: Preserving #biodiversity within the crop species wheat is valuable for food security. Thanks to collaborators, particularly the partnership with Kyoto University, my alma mater. doi.org/10.1007/s001... @kajung.bsky.social‬ www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/... in English and in German

New publication on #wheat disease resistance by my group member Kathi Jung (PhD in Science and Policy)! Using the genome assembly of the Japanese cultivar Norin 61, she identified yellow rust resistance loci in landraces from the Himalayan region. doi.org/10.1007/s001... @kajung.bsky.social

A fundamental and groundbreaking study by Jordi Bascompte, a colleague from our department: The emergence of eukaryotes as an evolutionary algorithmic phase transition | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A major milestone on global biodiversity by our colleague, the Florian Altermatt group — just published in Nature.

I am so happy to see this review online finally! A lot of work, but a lot of fun too! Thank you to all the co-authors! @gretabocedi.bsky.social @trinebilde.bsky.social @jevbio.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Congratulations to Kathi on successfully defending her PhD! 🎉🎓 As the tradition, her PhD hat made by the lab members showcases her fascinating research on Asian wheat cultivars. Well done, Kathi! 🌾👏

Our review of recently evolved allopolyploid plants is out. It was very nice writing this paper with great colleagues! We dedicate this paper to the memory of Richard Abbott who contributed so much to this and many other topics in plant evolution. doi.org/10.1111/nph....

A new review, published on Valentine's Day! We explore the future of the study of contemporary polyploid speciation such as Cardamine insueta in Switzerland, building on discussions from the Polyploidy 2023 conference led by Doug & Pam Soltis, Patrick @nicrodemo.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/nph.20437

A new paper online! Improved GO annotation of the bread wheat genome will be useful, thanks to the first author Yasuyuki and the last author Atsushi. The homeolog expression was studied using 25 Asian cultivars including Norin 61. @plantcellphysiol.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

The Shimizu group seeks a Postdoctoral Researcher in population genomics at the University of Zurich to study genetic and language evolution. Applications are open now. More info: https://jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancies/postdoc-in-population-genomics/40227b73-2360-4e79-8924-844e5f5ed4c0 #postdoc

Excited to be an invited speaker at the CSH Asia 'Plant Reproductive Development and Genomics' conference on Awaji Island, Japan, May 18-22, 2025! 🌸 Awaji Island is home to beautiful botanical gardens, a legacy of the Flower Expo 2000. More details: www.csh-asia.org?content/2653

A new open postdoc position in population genomics! Reposting appreciated. Demography of human beings and crop plants. Attached is a group picture during a lab retreat in Lichtenstein. Job description: jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie... @nccrlanguage.bsky.social