Very happy to share that I just published a new paper from my thesis! 🎉 We analysed 546 species of ant to understand how extreme specialisation into reproductive and non-reproductive roles evolved.  Key discoveries in thread🧵 👇 Full paper here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Kissing evolved at least 21 million years ago. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @matildabrindle.bsky.social

The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation -in American Naturalist by @stuwest.bsky.social, @annadewar.bsky.social, @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social, Laurence Belcher, and @asgriffin.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

Super interesting session on post-phylogenomics this morning at #eseb2025 I have a poster on the new version of Orthofinder - there will be a suggestion box 🎁 P03.076 on Thursday

Is there a single PDF with a list of talks/times for #ESEB2025 ? I don't get on well with conference apps

OrthoFinder just dropped a major update It’s faster, more accurate, and ready for thousands of genomes Let’s break it down (1/10) github.com/OrthoFinder/... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolution of cooperation is well represented at #Microbio25 by Rosie's first ever conference poster - definitely worth a visit!

I'm delighted to announce that the 2025 @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" will be held in Liverpool 26-27 November 2025! Abstract submission will open soon... #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Hopefully this will be useful for anyone doing comparative genomics! In Box 1 we show some case studies where controlling for phylogenetic non-independance can reverse a result

Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2 We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets. These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit. @lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social

Sharing three fully funded PhD opportunities to join my lab at Queen’s to work on topics spanning bacterial pathogens, antibiotic resistance, microbial interactions, & mobile genetic elements 🦠. Closing dates in January and February, and open to international candidates 🌍 Projects detailed below ⬇️

When you are a millenial but you want to connect with your students

New job offer: we search a postdoc (bioinformatics) to work on mobile genetic elements and gene flow in bacteria, with a focus on antibiotic resistance within a consortium including bioinformatics, synthetic biology, epidemiology & biochemistry. See research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd... #MicroSky

Post a photo of yourself from a different era. Piazza San Marco, Venice

go.bsky.app/QKajPgc A starter pack for social evolution! Lots of space left for anyone who would like to be added

Tried to put together a Microbial Evolution starter pack, but there were so many great people I didn't want to leave out it turned into 3 starter packs Comment or DM me if you were missed or would like to be added! A thread (1/3) go.bsky.app/6pkuYhi

A few comparative genomics postdocs available here in Oxford www.biology.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

🆕 I’m looking for a postdoc to join the group! This is for a project as part of the @multidefence.bsky.social consortium, looking at genome defences and horizontal gene transfer in Pseudomonas. Deadline 12th August. 🧵 my.corehr.com/pls/ulivrecr...

Introducing my son to his 4th 🇬🇧 Prime Minister (he's not even 2...) Hopeful for a brighter future 🌍

Do you work in ecology/evolution? Did you do a study that is too small to publish as a full manuscript? Negative results? Part of a larger effort? Consider publishing in microPublication Biology: EEB! www.micropublication.org/journals/bio... Short papers, one figure. And we peer review! Please RT

We have moved to a dynamic cover @evolletters.bsky.social The old image served us well, but we are looking to connect aspiring evolutionary artists with authors for a new initiative. Our first beautiful image is by www.jacelyndesigns.com for this issue’s Editor’s Choice doi.org/10.1093/evle.... 🧪

The first step on a path to C4 rice by genome editing ✂️🧬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Why do pangenomes vary so much across bacteria? 🦠🧬 We show that bacterial lifestyle is the key factor shaping variation in pangenome fluidity. Read more in our paper out now in PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas... With Chunhui Hao @lauriebelch.bsky.social Melanie Ghoul @stuwest.bsky.social

The rise of cheats during experimental evolution is restricted by non-kin interactions between Bacillus subtilis soil isolates bioRxiv by Katarina Belcijan Pandur et al from Ines Mandic Mulec and Polonca Stefanic www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fantastic time yesterday at the @microbesng.bsky.social pop-up event in Oxford presenting SOCfinder, our new tool for finding cooperative genes I love small events like this one, thanks for organising @helenmcneil.bsky.social @rwheatley8.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Our new paper on plasmids and cooperation has been published today in Proceedings B! "Genes for cooperation are not more likely to be carried by plasmids." doi.org/10.1098/rspb... With @lauriebelch.bsky.social Tom Scott @stuwest.bsky.social. Summary thread below... 🧵

Announcing the Social Lives of Viruses 2024! Do you study social evolution in viruses? Do you want to? Join us in Puerto Rico this June for a 50-person meeting dedicated to viral sociality. All costs covered. Apply here: forms.gle/sHTEcHJjryDh... #ViroSky #MicroSky #EvoSky #SocialViruses

Important so please help spread the word... Interested in postgrad research? Maybe do a PhD? Oxford runs a summer internship scheme for UK students from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds Stipend, free accommodation, mentoring... Deadline 21 Feb www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g...

Finally published! We show that host metabolites facilitate gutcolonization of a symbiont of social bees. Huge congrats to co-lead authors @andrewhq9.bsky.social & Yassine El Chazli. Super collabo with NanoSIMS expert Anders Meibom EPFL and our Electron Microscopy Facility FBM_UNIL 🐝 🧪

From tiny to huge, soft to spiky, ants are incredibly diverse and have many impacts on the environment around them. DPhil student @juliet_turner6 has reflected on a recent field course in Papua New Guinea and the complexity of these creatures in a new blog: bit.ly/48NVpYD

Beginning my journey to PopGroup57 (Oxford -> St Andrews, via London and Edinburgh) 🚂 I'll be presenting on our new method for finding social genes 🦠 Looking forward to all things evolutionary biology (and my first ever trip to Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿) Not looking forward to my longest time away from my son 👼

Our new tool 'SOCfinder' to find social genes in bacteria is out now, in Microbial Genomics 🦠 www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Study finds that plants, fungi, and microorganisms are underrepresented in the available emojis on social media. But diversity has been increasing over the past years. I would love to see emojis for mosses, slime molds, gingkos and lichen in the future! #PhilSky #FungiFriends #Plants #Botany

I'm glad to see research into the link between publishing 'high impact' papers and getting a job in academia. However, to me this doesn't show "why early career should publish in society journals" - it shows that those with "high impact" papers are more likely to get a job. 1/3

Ending the year with a paper acceptance 🎉 coming soon to Microbial Genomics

Today in 'Journal Formatting Requirements Waste Researcher's Time': "Please upload your figures in the correct order" (I uploaded five files, Figure1.png, Figure2.png etc.)

At least the actions of our shambolic government give me plenty of examples for teaching undergraduate statistics

Current starting point for postdoc salaries at Oxford University is just over £36k - £2.7K under threshold. According to The Royal Society 62% of postdocs are non-UK nationals (5/6 in my lab). Two things: (i) postdocs are underpaid; (ii) UK science is screwed royalsociety.org/-/media/poli...

I always try to improve my figures (and generally enjoy data visualisation), so ofc I love this 🤌 github.com/cxli233/Frie...

Exploiting Cooperative Pathogen Behavior for Enhanced Antibiotic Potency: A Trojan Horse Approach preprint by Alper Mutlu, Emily Vanderpool, @kendrarumbaugh.bsky.social, @digglelab.bsky.social , and Ashleigh Griffin www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3...

Very exciting to see our review article on antibiotic-induced collateral damage to the microbiota and associated infections on the front cover 😊 www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/nrmicro/

Am I dreaming, or did I see an advertisement for a scientific journal at a bus stop in Oxford

I am looking for multiple Ph.Ds and Postdocs to work on exciting projects at the interface of quantitative microbial ecology and genomics. Applicants with experimental, computational, or theory backgrounds are encouraged to apply! email: [email protected]

Do you need a master's degree to do a PhD? I'm trying to help a brilliant undergraduate find PhD funding (evolutionary biology). Do DTPs care much about whether you have a master's? We risk losing many talented people who can't afford to do a master's if this becomes a de facto requirement..

Hi everyone! I'm currently a Postdoc at the University of Oxford. I'm interested in using comparative genomics to ask broad evolutionary questions across species. My research interests include plasmids, pangenomes and cooperation. 🦠

Does anyone have an invite code for a brilliant evolutionary biologist, who can also make logos for your genomic tools?

Cool paper by Andrew Fenton's team on ways the pneumococcus can become less susceptible to penicillin www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Hello, Bluesky! I'm Laurie, I study the evolution of cooperation in microbes Here is my latest paper, where we find evidence for kin selection in natural populations, using the distinct signature of selection that it leaves in sequence data academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...