We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

Profits from scientific publishing are eye-watering, costing us billions. In ‘The Drain of Scientific Publishing’ (arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820), (building on ‘The Strain of Scientific Publishing’ doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00327) we show how it is harmful – and unnecessary.

🚨vConTACT3 preprint live!🚨(Peer Review soon...!) vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification. 🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025... Improvements details below 👇

.... 2nd work 2) Parallel #evolution of #Bacteroidota as Long-Term #endosymbionts of #insects by Jinyeong Choi, Cong Liu, Pradeep Palanichamy, Yumiko Masukagami, Hirotaka Tanaka, Takumasa Kondo, Matthew E. Gruwell, @filiphusnik.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025... #SymbioSky @oistedu.bsky.social

Two great works by @filiphusnik.bsky.social group @oistedu.bsky.social on scale insect's #symbioses. 1) Genomic diversity and functional potential of facultative bacterial #symbionts across #scaleInsects by Pradeep Palanichamy, Jinyeong Choi, Arno Hagenbeek doi.org/10.1101/2025... #SymbioSky

Had to draw a cartoon for this fascinating finding! Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #SymbioSky

PhD studentship for interested chinese nationals funded by the China Scholarship Council! Come work with us to investigate how innate immunity works in an important agricultural pest, and disentangle how the immune system evolves. 🇬🇧🇨🇳 For more info, see: bit.ly/4ntrsEe #Drosophila #Aphid #Immunity

Commentary: a review of technical considerations for planning an RNA-Sequencing experiment. #RNAseq #TechnicalConsidertions #ExperimentDesign #LibraryPrep #DataAnalysis #BMCgenomics 🧪🧬 🖥️ bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

The Endosymbiont consortia of two #Cixiidae #Planthoppers reveal an ancient #Symbiosis with ‘Candidatus #Mirabilia symbiotica’ #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1111/1758...

We’re back! ✨ The next #MeeHubs26 is coming with 7 hubs across the globe and incredible lineups at each. Can’t wait to share more soon! meehubs.org

Viral AlphaFold Database (VAD) is live in Science Advances ~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

437 million years ago in what is now Wisconsin, the earliest known leeches were terrorizing trilobites. Instead of sucking blood, these critters were likely engulfing invertebrates whole or vacuuming out their insides! Latest for @nytimes.com on a fantastic #fossil: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/s...

Precisely calling mutations across hundreds of bacterial isolates has been hard, requiring manual filtering and expertise. Until now, using AccuSNV. Herui Liao trained an ML model based on our previous meticulously called SNVs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Last Friday, we published the 500th article of Peer Community Journal! 🥳

Hey #SymbioSky! (@symbionticism.bsky.social, @amelialindsey.bsky.social, @shropshirejd.bsky.social???) I'm preparing material for a lecture on phages of beneficial endosymbionts. Looking for an up-to-date review on #phageWO and/or #Wolbachia....

#Symbionts with eroded genomes adjust gene expression according to host life-stage and environment #SymbioSky @kaltenpoth-lab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Evolution and comparative #genomics of #tick- #associated Francisella #endosymbionts: insights into metabolic pathways and historical biogeographic patterns #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The facultative intracellular #symbiont #Lariskella is neutral for lifetime fitness and spreads through #cytoplasmicIncompatibility in the leaffooted bug, Leptoglossus zonatus #SymbioSky doi.org/10.3389/fmic...

Diversity and spread of #cytoplasmicIncompatibility genes among maternally inherited #symbionts #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Reposting for #SymbioSky

reposting for #giantVirus feed

Digging into the evolutionary history of the fungus-growing-ant #symbiont, #Escovopsis (Hypocreaceae) @ngerardo.bsky.social & many others I wouldn't find here.... #SymbioSky #MicroSky #EvolSky doi.org/10.1038/s420...

On the topic of new additions to the lab, Pegah (@pegah-kalatehjari.bsky.social) joined the group last month. She will delve into symbiont transmission in #leeches working under the #SymBirth_FWF1k project (doi.org/10.55776/TAI...). Exciting times ahead! #SymbioSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social

#Hirudo orientalis made it to the lab: an exciting new symbiotic system!

🚨 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 🦠

Molecular evolution of dietary shifts in ladybirds 🐞 expansions of digestive & detoxifying #gene families in the herbivorous ladybirds, & absence of most plant cell wall-degrading enzymes in the ladybirds from the transition to carnivory link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New preprint from our lab! We show that #Bartonellaceae bacteria, mostly known as mammalian #pathogens, also colonizes #planthoppers. The planthopper #symbionts typically resemble related ant symbionts in nutritional functions, but show a much greater breadth of #genome sizes and functions. 1/2

The before and after paella... w/ @berasymbionts.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social, @marlenygarcial.bsky.social, @francespi.bsky.social, and co. (couldn't find them here....) #ESEB2025

@symbnet.bsky.social alumni crowd at #ESEB2025 w/ @berasymbionts.bsky.social & @vandriienko.bsky.social #SymbioSky

#ESEB2025 just wrapped up today. Had a great time talking about #leeches, meeting with friends, family, and checking out cool science making. @berasymbionts.bsky.social @hassansalem.bsky.social @annamichalik.bsky.social @danieltamarit.bsky.social @willemsenanouk.bsky.social @nicrodemo.bsky.social

Looking forward to discussing ongoing #symbiosis research with the team led by Jun-Bo Luan at the Shenyang Agricultural University (www.junboluanlab.com) Already a great start with a delicious park BBQ! #SymbioSky

And here, the amazing lineup for the #symbiosis speakers and poster presenters at #SMBE2025 #SymbioSky

#Symbiosis symposium underway at #SMBE2025 #SymbioSky

Now this is really cool! Double-extreme #genome reduction in #endosymbionts from #planthoppers. They go all the way down to ca. 50 kbps!!! 1/2 doi.org/10.1101/2025... Work by @annamichalik.bsky.social, @sympiotr.bsky.social, and others not here #SymbioSky

Who shapes the lives of insects? Bacteria, of course! If you want to know more about how Sodalis nezarae and others do it, check out my latest #FEMSmicroBlog fems-microbiology.org/femsmicroblo... @cuwelte.bsky.social @robertsjansen.bsky.social @scoolen.bsky.social @amanzanom.bsky.social

New work out! Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host. doi.org/10.1101/2025... 1/4 #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

🎉 We’re hiring! Two ERC-funded #PostdocJobs on insect–phytopathogen mutualisms are available in my lab. Explore the chemical and molecular evolution of symbioses! 🧪Chemical ecology: tinyurl.com/chem-ecol-symb 🦠Phytopathology & mutualisms: tinyurl.com/symb-plantpath #SymbioSky #PlantPathology

Hirudinaria manillensis (newly arrived) and Erpobdella cocoons. #leeches are simply cool

schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2... #MicroSky #SymbioSky

Check out our dispatch on apicomplexans that infect corals! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... These parasite-like partners have lost photosynthesis but retained chlorophyll... are they friend or foe? @currentbiology.bsky.social #protistsonsky #symbiosky #microsky #coralreefs

On placozoans, their #Rickettsiales symbionts, and their #evolution By @oceanna.bsky.social, @nikobiota.bsky.social, @nicoledubilier.bsky.social, @grubervodicka.bsky.social, et. al. doi.org/10.1101/2025... #SymbioSky

Great talk by @hassansalem.bsky.social today @univie.ac.at, covering bacterial and fungal symbionts of leaf #beetles #SymbioSky

PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses. Awesome topic. Unbeatable location. #symbiosky #microsky #evobio gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-s...

Deadline extended until the 15th of February! still time left to apply! #SMBE2025 #SymbioSky #MicroSky #ProtistsOnSky @official-smbe.bsky.social

Reposting for #MicroSky and #ProtistsOnSky

In case you missed it! Jun-Bo Luan (www.junboluanlab.com) and I are co-organising a #symbiosis session at #SMBE2025. If you plan on attending and want to share your cool research, consider submitting an abstract. Deadline 31st of Jan! #SymbioSky @official-smbe.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/offi...

Check out our latest work! T. turnerae is an intracellular endosymbiont of wood-eating bivalves (shipworms), one of the primary consumers of wood in marine environments. #microsky #symbiosky

These 3D #insect models from #HEMA are really cool!

Absolutely astounding. Experimental horizontal transfer of #phage derived genes to #Drosophila confers innate immunity to #parasitoids. #symbiosky #microsky🧪

Keeping with the #symbiosky green alga from yesterday, this amazing video shows where each little algal cell is (green dots) inside a salamander embryo. The only vertebrate-alga endosymbiosis. We are still trying to understand the interaction. Light sheet microscopy. #protistaday #protistsonsky