Listen to our recent work, published in Heredity!

The lab will be giving multiple talks and posters at #evol2025! First up, my talk at 2:45 on Monday:

Hey #Evol2025 - My colleague @waspvenom.bsky.social and I are looking for a postdoc for our #NSF - #USDA funded grant to understand the genetic basis of gall formation! Please see that attached ad, and feel free to talk to me @evolmtg.bsky.social, or contact Dr. Ellen Martinson directly!

SSE @sse-evolution.bsky.social address Carol Boggs @carolboggs.bsky.social examines the Evolutionary Play in the Ecological Theater Thinking anout who is welcome to see the play 🎭, what parts are worth studying🔬, what tools we use to see the play 💻, who's funding 💲 & who is watching 🧑🏼‍🤝‍🧑🏾 #Evol2025

Looking for a postdoc on bacterial-insect symbiosis, combining evolution and molecular mechanisms? I'll have one open in my lab starting Sept 2025. If interested contact me (or find me at the GRC on Animal-microbe symbiosis if you'll be there). #SymbioSky

🚨New paper alert!🚨 We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵 📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.... #ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology

Legume can form symbiotic relationship with some bacteria, while recognising others as pathogens. Work @nature identifies a plant kinase that mediates this nuanced balance of tolerance towards symbionts without compromised plant immunity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Colossal genetically altering a grey wolf genome to make it more dire wolfish is not the same thing as de-extincting the actual dire wolf. On the other hand, Colossal Biosciences were transparent in what their future vision is and what they are actually planning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5uC...

Our latest paper revisits Haldane 1957 on speed limits to adaptation, the paper that triggered neutral theory. We clarify and then significantly extend the theory, and apply the resulting model to @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social's data doi.org/10.1093/gene... 1/14

1/ H3K27me3 mimicry has repeatedly emerged through evolution, but what's the physiological relevance? We show that JARID2 and PALI1 mimic H3K27me3 to antagonise PRC2 in vivo and restrict the spread of Polycomb domains. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

With gene genealogies it’s pretty ridiculous. Like you could fit every human genome on the planet on a single usb drive. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me. Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.

This map shows how much NIH funding goes to your state. I used the info on my state when I called officials to ask them to push back against the freeze. And if I can do it when my senators are Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville...well, I mean... www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...

New Goal: turn my house into an insect collection www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/mant...

A nematode gene family evolved by fusing with a transposon! This is such a cool story, congratulations @migueldvalmeida.bsky.social et al! 🙌

Thank you for doing this it's going to be incredibly useful!

Fellow Genetics professors - rejoice! This is pedagogy heaven: the paradigmatic epiallele in calico cats … is built on a cis-regulatory deletion, not a coding mutation! We can teach it all off 1 paper! 1. Woo 2. Hoooo!!! H/t @lianafaye.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I was deeply disappointed by the lack of nature/science/climate/enviro on many major end-of-year book lists—so I decided to make my own! Introducing: ✨🎁📚 The 2024 Holiday Gift Guide to Nature & Science Books ✨🎁📚 Please share: Let's make this go viral in time for Black Friday / holiday shopping!

Adult #Drosophila adipocytes by @isaiahwill.bsky.social for #FluorescenceFriday (cell membranes and nuclear lamina labeled (red) with alpha spectrin and Lamin C antibodies, respectively, from @dshb-antibodies.bsky.social; lipid droplets labeled with BODIPY (green))

omg I love science Also, think of how much fun the authors had in the field. I mean bats are great but I'm kind of jealous of someone watching wolves lick flowers

Professors: we must start teaching creativity in science! Interested in teaching the creative scientific process at your university? Here's our materials to help: Workshops: www.night-science.org/teaching_mat... Editorials: www.biomedcentral.com/collections/... Podcast: nightscience.buzzsprout.com

Apparently UMass are encouraging all international students to return to the US before 20 January.

Reminder: There is a venue for microPublications in Ecology and Evolution! Don't bury results in a supplemental file. Publish them as a micropub! #Evolution #PlantScience 🌍 🧪 #Conservation

For prospective grad students interested in bioinformatic tool development, microbial evolution, and most importantly a superb, kind, and committed mentor: Look no further than @gmdouglas.bsky.social and his new lab launching this summer! douglaslab.ca

My entire team wrote an opinion paper about Common misconceptions of speciation research. Each section is written by 1-2 team members. The bulk of the writing happened during two writing retreats. It was a lot of fun and I am very happy with the result. academic.oup.com/evolinnean/a...

The landscape of structural variation in aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.08.622672v1

"We conclude there is ample evidence of fire in the Middle Devonian... under-interpretation of available data has led to a perceived paucity of charcoal. This reconciliation indicates the Phanerozoic record of wildfire was substantially uninterrupted." doi.org/10.1130/G526... 🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio

#MicroscopyMonday 🔬 — This confocal image of a 10.5 day mouse embryo was taken during the MBL Embryology Course. Immunostained with antibodies against PECAM (endothelial factor present in the vasculature; red), beta-III-tubulin (neurons; green) and DAPI (cell nuclei; blue).

Whole-genome sequencing across space and time reveals impact of population decline and reduced gene flow in Florida Scrub-Jays https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.05.622154v1

This is amazing. Thanks Lut!

When people asked me how can TX and FL want research dollars from their faculty but also constrain them from studying certain subjects, I said that the plan was to take power in order to force NSF, NIH, and the rest to no longer care about those subjects www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

The Chromosome Biology Department of @raphmercier.bsky.social here at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research Cologne (@maxplanck.bsky.social) is looking for a new group leader! jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/8... #PlantScience #PlantSciJobs #GroupLeader #NewPI #PlantChromosomalBiology

Excited to share that my isopod evolution paper is now out: Phylogenomics supports a single origin of terrestriality in in isopods Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Join us!! I'm recruiting a postdoc and grad student to work with us on parallel trait evolution, quant and pop gen, and speciation in penstemons. Find out more about our research interests here: wessingerlab.github.io . Informal inquiries welcome!