Haoran Cai
@haorancai.bsky.social
📤 308
📥 234
📝 10
Evolutionary and Quantitative Genetics | Regulatory evolution | Development Post-doc @UCLA EEB
pinned post!
Thrilled to share my recent perspective piece with
@diogromelo.bsky.social
and
@evodaveo.bsky.social
on the empirical measurement of developmental bias in a GP map and its conceptual links with other quant gen variational properties.
www.cell.com/trends/genet...
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Disentangling variational bias: the roles of development, mutation, and selection
The extraordinary diversity and adaptive fit of organisms to their environment depends fundamentally on the availability of variation. While most population genetic frameworks assumes that random muta...
https://www.cell.com/trends/genetics/abstract/S0168-9525(24)00230-0?rss=yes&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it
over 1 year ago
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Haoran Cai
Jenn Coughlan
about 5 hours ago
Promises to be poppin (🍿) BUT SRSLY PLEASE REGISTER, WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Haoran Cai
bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology
4 days ago
A pleiotropic hitchhiking model recapitulates alignments between fly wing divergence and variation
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706930v1
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Haoran Cai
Evolution
4 months ago
Don't miss this issue's Editor's Choice article: "Gene network topology drives the mutational landscape of gene expression" by Sylvain Pouzet & Arnaud Le Rouzic. Free to read here:
doi.org/10.1093/evol...
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Haoran Cai
Genetics Society of America
19 days ago
In
#GENETICS
, a new model developed by
@christianlandry.bsky.social
and colleagues examines how molecular dominance determines total protein activity and contributes to phenotypic dominance.
buff.ly/CfaTDp7
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Haoran Cai
Lee Hsiang Liow (廖珕庠)
14 days ago
Apply for PhD Fellowships at the Centre for Planetary Habitability in Oslo! There are projects for geologists, paleontologists, paleobiologists, astrobiologists, stats-y folks, geoscientists and planetary folks!
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
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PhD Research Fellows in geosciences, planetary or exoplanetary sciences – up to three positions (294610) | University of Oslo
Job title: PhD Research Fellows in geosciences, planetary or exoplanetary sciences – up to three positions (294610), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Sunday, March 1, 2026
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/294610/phd-research-fellows-in-geosciences-planetary-or-exoplanetary-sciences-up-to-three-positions
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Haoran Cai
Charlie Hale
2 months ago
Our paper is out in MBE!
doi.org/10.1093/molb...
We tracked TF binding site evolution across 589 grass species, and found that while binding preferences are pretty stable over 80 million years of evolution, individual binding sites have turned over a lot. Thread here:
bsky.app/profile/char...
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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra
16 days ago
Fun news!
@gcbias.bsky.social
and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!
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Davis Summer Population Genomics Program
Want to learn population genetics? Please fill out this form to indicate your potential interest in a 2-week intensive online summer population genetics course taught by Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra and Graham...
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PqXEKkW_0HXbdge1yXKGXFIf7NDjH72jTfIaEZThHhA/edit
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Molecular Biology and Evolution
27 days ago
The recent MBE Review on the evolution of dark skin in humans is the focus of January's Highlight. Highlight: Dark skin and cancer suppression in humans—an evolutionary spandrel? 🔗
doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag012
#evobio
#molbio
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Haoran Cai
Facundo Romani
about 1 month ago
This is a very special paper for me. I had the idea of combining transcription factor binding with chromatin in 2016/8. It took some time, but thanks to Fred and Vikas, we can finally share the story in
@plos.org
Genetics looking at chromatin states in Arabidopsis and Marchantia.
#PlantScience
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Chromatin state architecture governs transcription factor accessibility across plant genomes
Author summary In eukaryotes, DNA is tightly associated with histone proteins. Histone covalent modifications and histones isoforms, also called histone variants provide most of the complexity of chro...
https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1012015
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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra
about 1 month ago
PEQG! My favorite conference ever*. Single session, fantastic talks, great discussions. Only once every 2 years. And in the best conference location too! Abstract deadline coming up Feb 5! *Disclosure: I am required to say it's the best conference because it is and I told my mom I wouldn't lie.
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Homepage - 2026 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference
Visit our website to learn more.
https://genetics-gsa.org/peqg-2026/
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Rob Waterhouse
2 months ago
A genome-wide comparison of
#gene
regulatory sequences & embryonic gene expression in arachnids - new insights into the impact of the arachnopulmonate whole
#genome
duplication
academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
#biodiversity
#genomics
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Assessing the Impact of Whole Genome Duplication on Gene Expression and Regulation During Arachnid Development
Abstract. Whole genome duplication (WGD) generates a new genetic material that can contribute to the evolution of developmental processes and phenotypic di
https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/17/12/evaf238/8371957
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Haoran Cai
Deepa Agashe
2 months ago
How do bacteria deal with double costs? And how costly are unusual levels of mistranslation anyway? In short - antibiotics are more of an issue than less/more mistranslation, but the latter changes how populations deal with antibiotics. For the long story, check out our new paper!
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Haoran Cai
David Lowry
3 months ago
I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant.
careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...
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Research Associate-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Position Summary The Lowry Lab at Michigan State University is searching for a postdoctoral research associate to conduct molecular and physiological experiments to understand the causes of genetic va...
https://careers.msu.edu/jobs/research-associate-fixed-term-east-lansing-michigan-united-states-7aedcee9-6ddc-4194-a6fc-8ee66459004d
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John Stinchcombe
4 months ago
TWO curatorial positions at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada. Curator of Birds, and Curator of Plants and Sustainability... please pass the word and amplify!
royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/XBR2Yc...
&
royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/Sf2iAO...
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Curator of Birds - Royal Ontario Museum - Career Page
Apply to Curator of Birds at Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, Canada.
https://royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/XBR2YcQAfM/Curator-Of-Birds
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Haoran Cai
Chuliang Song
4 months ago
Ecology faces an accumulation of models but not an accumulation of confidence. Our new paper w/ Jonathan Levine
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
in
@natecoevo.nature.com
introduces a rigorous test rooted in queueing theory to falsify inadequate models and build confidence in useful ones.
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Rigorous validation of ecological models against empirical time series - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Validating theoretical models against empirical data presents challenges. Here the authors present an assumption-light method to validate ecological models against time series data, along with a dedic...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02864-8
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Claudia Bank
4 months ago
We have an open PhD position (application deadline 9 January 2026) in "Theory of fitness landscapes" at
@unibe.ch
🤓⛰️📊👩💻🎓:
banklab.github.io/positions/
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM
#DisabledInSTEM
#BlackInSTEM
#WomenInSTEM
#CarersInSTEM
#AcademicSky
#HigherED
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I'm thrilled to be selected and grateful to be able to contribute to our community
@official-smbe.bsky.social
Looking forward to new connections and future initiatives!
@official-smbe.bsky.social
@molbioevol.bsky.social
@genomebiolevol.bsky.social
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4 months ago
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Haoran Cai
Maitreya Dunham
4 months ago
Incredible new paper from
@schacherer.bsky.social
et al
rdcu.be/eLcTH
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From genotype to phenotype with 1,086 near telomere-to-telomere yeast genomes
Nature - A newly compiled atlas of species-wide structural variants and gene-based and graph pangenomes derived from highly complete assemblies of genomes from 1,086 natural isolates enable...
https://rdcu.be/eLcTH
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Haoran Cai
Graham Coop
4 months ago
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
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Fabio A. Machado
4 months ago
🚨🚨JOB ALERT 🚨🚨 Fresh new position in Comparative Biology at OSU! We're looking for a comp. biologist, especially those who investigate biomechanics, functional anatomy, neuroanatomy, or morphological development. Feel free to ask me any questions!
jobs.okstate.edu/jobs/assista...
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Assistant Professor of Biology - Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States
Campus OSU-Stillwater Contact Name & Email Dr. Michael Reichert,
[email protected]
Work Schedule TBD Appointment Length Regular Continuous/Until Further Notice Hiring Range $85,000 - $8...
https://jobs.okstate.edu/jobs/assistant-professor-of-biology-stillwater-oklahoma-united-states
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Haoran Cai
Ben Hopkins
4 months ago
The Hopkins Lab (hopkins-lab.com) at the University of Florida is looking to recruit a postdoc to work on the genetics of organ function and evolution across Drosophila and beyond. Please visit
tinyurl.com/vcsjpmzz
or email me for more info. And please RT or send to anyone who might be interested!
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Haoran Cai
Matt Rockman
5 months ago
C. elegans is a real animal and we set out to understand how it comes to have its distinctive biogeography. Its ancestral center of diversity is in the higher elevation forests of Hawaii. Its closest relatives are spread across east Asia. Did they travel from Asia? [Preprint 🧵]
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Sergey Kryazhimskiy
5 months ago
Dear colleagues!
@davidmccandlish.bsky.social
and I are serving as guest editors for the new special issue of GENETICS on fitness landscapes:
doi.org/10.1093/gene...
Submissions are due on March 18, 2026. Please spread the word! And reach out if you have questions.
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The Fitness Landscape: A Call for Papers
Ruth Isaacson; The Fitness Landscape: A Call for Papers, Genetics, , iyaf206, https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf206
https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf206
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Haoran Cai
Tanja Slotte
6 months ago
*Postdoc in Evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University* We are recruiting a postdoc for a large interdisciplinary project to investigate evolutionary drivers and genomic consequences of pollen evolution in response to pollination mode shifts in flowering plants. 1/5
su.varbi.com/what:job/job...
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Haoran Cai
The Company of Biologists
5 months ago
Calling early-career developmental biologists! Apply for a funded place at our
#Workshop
, Novelty, Co-option and Divergence During Gene Network Evolution. Application deadline: 5 December
www.biologists.com/workshops/ju...
#DevBio
#BiologistsWorkshops
#Collaboration
#Networking
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Haoran Cai
Jonathan Basile
5 months ago
I'm excited to share with you all a conference I'm planning Oct. 10-12: Dialectical Biology Today: Legacies of Richard Lewontin. It will be hybrid in Toronto and on zoom, so please join us however you can! Register for zoom link here:
ihpst.utoronto.ca/events/diale...
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Christian Landry
6 months ago
Really excited to share our latest paper led by
@simonaube.bsky.social
. Fascinating results examining whether regulatory mutations can lead to adaptation as fast as coding mutations do.
#mevosky
#evobio
#evoSky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Adaptation is less accessible through mutations in promoters than in coding sequences when large effect sizes are needed
Mutations within promoters and coding sequences are both involved in adaptation, but their relative contributions remain to be compared directly. Using the fungal enzyme cytosine deaminase, we examine...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.09.675213v1
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Haoran Cai
Genome Biology and Evolution
6 months ago
We are proud to present the new logo of Genome Biology and Evolution! 🙌 Our new face reflects our continued commitment to serving the fields of genomics and evolutionary biology as a society journal belonging to
@official-smbe.bsky.social
#genome
#evolution
#science
#biology
#societyjournal
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Haoran Cai
Daniel Bolnick
6 months ago
The next stand-alone meeting of the American Society of Naturalists
@asn-amnat.bsky.social
will be on the East Coast!!! Mark your calendars for January 8-12, 2027 and we'll talk evolution, ecology, behavior, and integrative organismal biology at
www.themansionatglencove.com/meeting-venues
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VENUES | The Mansion at Glen Cove | Luxury Mansion Wedding Venues & Events
Discover premium meeting spaces at The Mansion at Glen Cove. Our mansion is perfect for corporate events with elegant surroundings and modern amenities.
https://www.themansionatglencove.com/meeting-venues
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Haoran Cai
Laura K Hayward
6 months ago
Full paper now out in GENETICS: The relationship between sexual dimorphism and intersex correlation: do models support intuition? 🔗
academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
#Evolution
#QuantGenetics
@GeneticsGSA
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The relationship between sexual dimorphism and intersex correlation: do models support intuition?
Abstract. The evolution of sexual dimorphism (the difference in average trait values between females and males, SD), is often thought to be constrained by
https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/doi/10.1093/genetics/iyaf175/8239415
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Mike Moore
6 months ago
Are you looking for a PhD position and want to spend your summers in the Rocky Mountains? My lab
@cudenverclas.bsky.social
is looking for 1 PhD student to work on a NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts in Colorado! 🧪🌍🐙 Apply by Nov 1! Details here
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
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2025 - Hypoxia PhD job ad
The Moore lab at the University of Colorado Denver is searching for 1 Ph.D. student to study the elevational limits of dragonflies in Colorado (http://moore-evo-eco.weebly.com). This position is fully...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZyNUYyRDLJszDjQF_2KkbmRxITr4Zr1fGw441Ntp904/edit?usp=sharing
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Tami Lieberman
7 months ago
We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome. See thread for more information and reach out!
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An updated version
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
. Don't hesitate to talk to me at SMBE2025 if you are interested!!
#SMBE25
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7 months ago
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Looking forward to meeting old and new friends in Beijing!!
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7 months ago
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Roli Roberts
7 months ago
Elegant empirical validation of a theoretical expectation that changing your mutation bias allows you to access more beneficial mutations. From
@deepaagashe.bsky.social
& colleagues in
@plosbiology.org
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Haoran Cai
Lucas Medeiros
8 months ago
Super excited to share our new study, where we introduce and apply a data-driven modeling approach to predict dynamical regimes of ecosystems at unseen environmental conditions (e.g. beyond a tipping point):
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
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PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416637122
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Haoran Cai
Joel McGlothlin
8 months ago
#Evol2025
was for me maybe the most important meeting I have ever been to. My science will be drastically improved by my interactions over the past week. It was bittersweet due to the current situation and the people who weren't there, but I'm optimistic that we are strong enough to overcome this.
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Haoran Cai
Kyle T David
9 months ago
How many paths lead to evolutionary innovation? How versatile are genomic toolkits? Excited to announce my new
@pnas.org
paper addressing these questions in collaboration with
@rokaslab.bsky.social
,
@hittingerlab.bsky.social
, and the Pennell lab!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Dr. Stepfanie Aguillón 😷
11 months ago
So excited to see this paper officially published! 🤩🤩
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Haoran Cai
PLOS Biology
11 months ago
The term "reviewer fatigue” has become familiar in scientific publishing. In this Editorial,
@droutledge.bsky.social
&
@npariente.bsky.social
discuss how we can make the peer review system more sustainable & ways that PLOS Biology is already helping to ease the burden on reviewers🧪 ▶️
plos.io/41YKIRa
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On improving the sustainability of peer review
The term “reviewer fatigue” has become only too familiar in scientific publishing. This editorial discusses how we can ease the burden on reviewers to make the peer review system more sustainable, whi...
https://plos.io/41YKIRa
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Haoran Cai
闵娅(Min Ya; Minya) PhD
about 1 year ago
There’s a google doc trying to keep track of funding/grad school admission/hiring freezes & status please share 🧪
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
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Graduate Reductions Across Biomedical Sciences (2025)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FLlILMkKFHgKwUawLqdwW2o84CLfBARQux5n-Pnbc40/htmlview#
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Haoran Cai
Robin K Bagley
12 months ago
Interested in learning more about
#preprints
and publishing? Join me and
@maurineneiman.bsky.social
on the
@royalsocietypublishing.org
ProcB Editorial Preprint Team! We are now accepting applications from
#ECR
to assess preprints for potential submission to Proceedings B! 1/3
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Haoran Cai
bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology
about 1 year ago
Strong amplification of quantitative genetic variation under a balance between mutation and fluctuating stabilizing selection
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.22.639683v1
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Haoran Cai
Kim Cooper
about 1 year ago
@philipcball.bsky.social
gets a bit spicier in places than I did, "it can be hard to avoid the suspicion that sometimes its (omics data) collection serves to postpone the awkward time when some sense must be made of it all." And I like it :)
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Christian Landry
about 1 year ago
We are looking for a postdoc in
#EvolutionarySystemsBiology
. Exciting science, amazing team, wonderful city!
landrylab.ibis.ulaval.ca/research-opp...
#evolution
#synbio
#systemsbiology
#genomics
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Research opportunities | Landry Lab
https://landrylab.ibis.ulaval.ca/research-opportunities/
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Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos
about 1 year ago
Thrilled to share new work from @stochasnick examining how gene regulatory networks influence quantitative trait evolution! His forward-time simulations reveal fascinating dynamics in the genetic architecture of adaptation.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
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The genetic architecture of polygenic adaptation under a network-derived trait
The genetic architecture of adaptation varies across species, populations, and traits. While existing models capture aspects like the number of loci, effect sizes, and allele frequencies, they often o...
https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.20.639381
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Haoran Cai
bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology
about 1 year ago
Evolution of developmental bias explains divergent patterns of phenotypic evolution
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.04.636455v1
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Haoran Cai
Thomas Gregor
about 1 year ago
Shocking: a pioneer in quantitative developmental biology passed... one of my all-time heroes! He had a dominant influence on many in the early 2000s when this field started to take off. What a loss! Obituary written by two of his former students:
biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/john-re...
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John Reinitz, systems biologist, 1958-2025
Reinitz helped pioneer a data-driven, systems approach to developmental biology that is now widely used in the field today.
https://biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/john-reinitz-obituary
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Haoran Cai
Joanna Masel
about 1 year ago
Now seems a good time to mention that I haven't yet filled a postdoc position in phylogenetic methods. If you just lost your job, need something temporary, and know something about bioinformatics/statistics/evolution, talk to me.
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Angela Hancock
about 1 year ago
No job ad yet, but I'll be hiring a postdoc at Purdue in population genetics/quantitative genetics/genomics in plants. DM if you have relevant experience and are potentially interested.
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