Looking for a MSc thesis or a recent graduate project? The Hoffman Lab is looking for a motivated student to work on mutation load dynamics and inbreeding depression in female black grouse! We'll investigate how deleterious mutations affect key fitness traits. Check out our website for more info! 🧬

What is responsible and rigorous science? @anelivb.bsky.social and @rebeccachen.bsky.social spent the last two days discussing this question at the #iScienceTBD workshop at @idiv-research.bsky.social. From EDI and science communication to HARKing, p-hacking, DAGs – lots of food for thought! 🌱🧠

📢 Call for registrations - Science:TBD 📍 Leipzig | 3–4 March 2026 Join us for an inspiring lineup of keynotes: ⭐Sheena F. Bartscherer ⭐Alice Hughes @achughes.bsky.social ⭐Wolfgang Forstmeier ⭐Ulrich Dirnagl ⭐Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social Register now: www.idiv.de/science-tbd

The third chapter of my PhD is now published in Current Biology! 🥳 We predicted deleterious mutations to understand their effects on survival, and found that viability selection predominantly targets evolutionarily conserved mutations in exons. Read all about it here! doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

DNA as street decoration? Of course! Our very own @k-hench.bsky.social made some beautiful pictures of the @eseb2025.bsky.social street decorations at the “Festes de Gràcia”. Check out some of his pictures and read more about why we were there: thehoffmanlab.com/2025/09/05/e...

The genome and epigenome are not independent, so why analyse them separately? 🤔 Come and discuss our hypotheses on the interplay between deleterious mutations and epigenetic mechanisms today with @rebeccachen.bsky.social at #ESEB2025 poster number 85! 🧪🧬

Getting excited for @eseb2025.bsky.social next week! Come listen to my talk on mutation load published earlier this week in NEE (Tues 2 pm, meeting room 131), and/or chat with me about the interplay between deleterious mutations and epigenetics at poster session 3 (Thurs 5-7 pm, P03.085) 🔬🧬🐥

The core chapter of my PhD has now been published in Nature E&E! 🧬🥳 In this paper, we investigate whether predicted deleterious mutations reduce fitness and if so, how? Do heterozygous mutations also contribute? And are non-coding mutations more deleterious? Read all about it here: rdcu.be/eAcM5

Do you work on mutation load? 🔬🧬 Check out our new manuscript where we show that early-life viability selection primarily targets exonic mutations, in contrast to sexual selection which acts on mutations in promoters! 🧑‍🔬 Pre-print is available now: dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn... 🧪 #evolution #popgen

There is still lots of time to sign up for our 2025 edition of the #EvoBioCC 🥳💚✨ It is a FREE, online course in Evolutionary Biology, made by students and for students! Please share widely and don't forget to register! 💚💚💚 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Publication alert! ✨ Our recent paper in Ecology & Evolution addresses how to make conferences more inclusive. We collected observational and experimental data during Q&A sessions at the Behaviour 2023 congress hosted by Bielefeld University, and circulated a survey among conference attendees [1/4]

@anelivb.bsky.social & @rebeccachen.bsky.social emphasise the pre-publication error correction potential of open data in our latest #SORTEEjournal club post: https://sortee.org/blog/2025/01/23/2025_on_open_science_error_correction_and_the_imperfect_scientist/

Our preprint is out! We predicted deleterious mutations and reveal the genomic mechanisms underlying fitness variation in black grouse, a classic lekking bird. Check it out doi.org/10.21203/rs.... #genomics #popgen #genetics