On my way to my first ever SMBE conference. The Orthofinder team are well represented with three of us travelling. All presenting on Orthofinder-adjacent projects, but always happy to discuss all things orthology. #SMBE2026

The new OrthoFinder paper is out now! In this new work, we introduce major advances in accuracy and scalability, allowing analysis on much larger datasets www.nature.com/articles/s41... github.com/OrthoFinder/...

is there a version of the @official-smbe.bsky.social programme that is just a simple PDF? I struggle with these interactive agenda sites

Excellent opportunity here: a 5 year senior research fellowship in Life Sciences (broadly defined) at All Souls College Oxford. Many opportunities to work with the diverse & inclusive community here in @biology.ox.ac.uk here in the brand new Life & Mind Buiilding www.asc.ox.ac.uk/post-doctora...

Huge congratulations to @stuwest.bsky.social on his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society! From fig wasps to Pseudomonas, he’s shown just how powerful behavioural ecology can be. I couldn't think of anyone more deserving. www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/prof...

We’re hiring for OrthoFinder! Great role for someone who enjoys scientific software development: Python, data analysis, workflows, Git, scalability, and making tools nicer to use. Comparative genomics or open-source bioinformatics experience would be a lovely bonus. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Do I know anyone who wants to swap football stickers this year? goodscienceblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/h... #Gotgotneed #paniniworldcup

I'm currently advertising a PhD position in my lab, to study the transition from commensal to pathogen in Staphylococcus aureus. Details available here, please share! www.keele.ac.uk/research/pos...

Review on how beta-lactamase resistance spans a continuum from private to cooperative resistance A first publication for fantastic PhD student Rosie Randall, working with @asgriffin.bsky.social portlandpress.com/essaysbioche...

Happy 100th Birthday Sir David! Short clip from a film with Sir David Attenborough featuring @ellafcole.bsky.social explaining research in @wythamwoods.bsky.social into how Great Tits adjust behaviour during incubation to fine-tune hatching date: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGjL...

Delighted to have been a part of this. It's a very exciting area in the field of social evolution and beyond!

Comparative analysis across 5,678 insect species shows that, when you control for phylogenetic bias, eusociality has not evolved at a faster rate in haplodiploid species. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Calling all OrthoFinder users! We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny. GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... github.com/lauriebelch/... (1/10)

FastSpeciesTree: Fast and Scalable Species tree Inference https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700630v1

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