📢 Three new #bioRxiv preprints from our team on holocentric chromosomes. Together, they connect centromere repeat evolution, karyotype dynamics, and meiotic recombination outcomes, revealing how holocentric genomes evolve and function. 🧬👇

🔬🔦Our Imaging spotlight from @hiralshah.bsky.social & team highlights their U-ExM atlas of planktonic eukaryotes, including details on how you can explore this wonderful resource. Plus, check out Hiral’s top tips on getting started with expansion microscopy. focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/20/i...

I am happy to share that my postdoctoral work in the @gerlichlab.bsky.social at @imbavienna.bsky.social is finally out 🎉! Our study reveals how cohesin guides focused and accurate homology search. Read more 👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Follow along for key insights and updates! 🧵

Nature research paper: Progressive coevolution of the yeast centromere and kinetochore go.nature.com/4rtOuhu

Our story on the kinetochore composition of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila is out now on bioRxiv! We find surprisingly many orthologs of conventional kinetochore components, but also components that have very different evolutionary origins. A 🧵 (1/11) Check it out here: tinyurl.com/4ectm9x4

Excellent experience at the @embo.org Sectorial Meeting on Evolution. Cozy talks on chalk talk format together with different motivated colleagues, getting feedback and super nice conversations. Had the chance to invite the junior PI @pablo-villa.bsky.social Loved the experience! EMBO

How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery? Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore. 👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1

So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth! #protistsonsky 🧵

Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨ Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?

I launched my lab at UMass Amherst this fall. We study the mechanisms of meiotic homolog pairing using advanced live‑cell and super‑resolution imaging. Currently in budding yeast, with plans to expand to other eukaryotes. #Chromosome #Meiosis #Mitosis www.umass.edu/biology/abou...

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny. #ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

We often talk about THE whole genome duplication in yeasts, but we find new evidence of additional whole genome duplications in other yeast species! Check out this preprint led by @kylethedavid.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/ New preprint alert! In collaboration between the Rosen, Redding, Collepardo-Guevara & Gerlich labs, we uncover a surprising principle of chromosome organisation: electrostatic repulsion positions centromeres at the chromosome surface during mitosis. 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n

Want to acquire #ExM images like this and help us understand the true extent of cytoskeletal diversity across the tree of life? This position might be for you! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j... With @dudinlab.bsky.social @embl.org @biology-unige.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social

Hello! Very excited to share our latest preprint, which is great news for us but terrible news for any diehard fans of PSNR and SSIM as image quality metrics in microscopy... (1/5) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How does evolution shape ancient cellular processes? Our new paper uncovers the mosaic evolution of conserved and diverging endocytic traits in fungi! www.cell.com/current-biol...

It’s out! The evolutionary origins of yeast point centromeres uncovered! “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

📢Excited to share our new paper in Nature Physics @naturephysics.bsky.social: Cooperative hydrodynamics accompany multicellular-like colonial organization in the unicellular Stentor! How do single-celled organisms benefit from teamwork? Let’s dive in! #Multicellularity nature.com/articles/s41...?

My postdoctoral work on the non-canonical role of an autophagy-related protein at the spindle pole body (SPB) is now out in @plosbiology.org (doi.org/10.1371/jour...).

Happy to share our paper’s final version on the evolution, structure, and membrane binding / remodeling of Asgard ESCRT-III proteins! And my first 🦋 post! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cool paper on evolutionary constraints and trajectories shaping point centromere evolution in budding yeasts by @helsenjana.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social @gsherloc.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Centromere evolution isn't a sudden switch! Our study shows centromere transitions are a step-by-step process driven by a combination of drift and selection. Discover how the kinetochore interface shapes this gradual change in our new preprint 🥳 doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.16.633479 🧵(1/8)

Happy holidays from the #DeyLab and 🥂 to a wonderful 2025! (If you haven’t seen one of our cards before, you’re thinking, oh that’s sort of vaguely unsettling, YES! And we are here for it 😊)

I am excited to share this animation of the budding yeast inner kinetochore. Created for David Barford's lab @mrclmb.bsky.social This DNA-binding protein complex acts as an anchor for the spindles that pull chromosomes apart during mitosis. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #blender #animation #b3d

Seeing this community grow and thrive is so exciting and frankly inspiring. Here's my artsy take on the current #SciSky vibes ✨☁️

Haven't seen a yeast pack yet, so I made one! Help the yeast people flocculate, share, and send me your name if you like to be added. go.bsky.app/PyUwqLU

I put together a list of profiles in somehow related subjects of chromosome biology go.bsky.app/KqsM3kd

New preprint! #UExM for >200 microbial eukaryotes, all 1670 volumes available via FIJI/Mobie! Thank you to everyone that made it possible especially Armando and @hiralshah.bsky.social , @gautamdey.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social, and @dudinlab.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/PlanExM1

How do karyotypes evolve? Turns out an intracellular tug of war within the metaphase spindle sets the limits for chromosome number evolution. Excited to see our study out today in Nature Cell Biology doi.org/10.1038/s41556-024-01485-w 1/9

Ever wondered how the mitotic machinery can tolerate large changes in chromosome number? In my first postdoc preprint with @gautamdey.bsky.social @gsherloc.bsky.social & Hashim Reza, we show that spindle architecture is a constraining factor for karyotype evolution doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.25.563899