There’ll be several opportunities to join the group, starting w/ a PhD studentship via the BBSRC-NRP Doctoral Training Partnership. Team up w/ us, @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social & @berasymbionts.bsky.social to answer how microbes shape insect behavior: biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/mic...

Some news 🎉 After five incredible years in Tübingen, it’s time to say goodbye. Starting February, the Mutualisms Lab will relocate to the John Innes Centre, right next door to @berasymbionts.bsky.social and her group at The Sainsbury Laboratory 🪲🦠

Sharing this important article... for no reason whatsoever. "We must also continue to deepen and refine our understanding of fundamental biological processes because these details frequently hold the keys to major advances in applied research." elifesciences.org/articles/102...

I love mite mt-tRNAs! I did some tRNA-seq on spider mites, and it was the first place I found this sense/antisense expression (+ some crazy short tRNAs). But I could still find all 22 tRNAs. With the mealys, it looks like this process has gone to replacement. Mirror expression -> gene loss

I wrote about the recent autism-microbiome paper, why I think it's the most important microbiome paper this year, and what it says about the field open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...

Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf

Wisconsin Evolution is accepting applications for our Seminar Series' Early Career Scientist Award. Come share your evolution research and visit UW-Madison's evolution community. Open to grad students and postdocs (<5 yrs post PhD) from outside UW-Madison. Apply by Dec 15th here: shorturl.at/4a4O6

Hey folks, we (the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University) are looking for an Assistant Teaching Professor in microbiology and immunology. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested, or check it out if you are interested yourself! apply.interfolio.com/176994

Oh, your favorite genetic locus only encodes one gene? That's boring. Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma. It's *scientific publishing*. We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_... Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

There's a PhD position now available with me in Bath, on the evolution of symbiosis. www.findaphd.com/phds/project.... The supervisory team also includes @anja1.bsky.social @phil-donoghue.bsky.social and others. NB, this is open both to UK-based students *and* to international students :)

Three Bicentenary research fellowships on offer at @officialuom.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social for exceptional ECRs with <3y postdoc experience 3yrs salary + £30k pa research expenses Do you have a great idea & want to join @mermanchester.bsky.social? www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...

Thinking about a postdoc in microbiome science? Our lab at the MPI for Biology (Tübingen) builds on the culture I established at Cornell: collaborative, creative, and internationally diverse. Postdocs lead their own projects with secure funding. Join us! #PostdocJobs #HostMicrobe #AcademicJobs

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

🚨 Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (📅 March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards. www.embl.org/about/info/c... #EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky 🦠

Our paper in @science.org 👉🏽 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... is accompanied by an especially thoughtful perspective by Carey Nadell and Chris Marx 👉🏽 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Things are going from bad to worse at NSF; www.science.org/content/arti...

This is high art

Reposting an oldie I've moved away from using gouache in this very thick, opaque way, but the colors really are nice to look at

Striking new study from @archaeon-alex.bsky.social's lab just out in @science.org on multicellular development induced by compression in Archaea: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New article from @science.org gives a bit of a peek behind the curtain. It seems NSF internally has no idea what is happening, how to implement, or what the consequences of non-compliance will be.

If you wanted no leaks you should have gone into Settings -> Security -> Configure privacy & security -> Privacy options -> Other -> Configure -> Media interface and clicked “Disallow.” The Leak setting is on by default but we understand your privacy is important so we’ve made it easy to opt out

Last push for final application to our one-week workshop on #Indigenous #Health and Artificial Intelligence! IndigiData is held this summer on the Tribal lands of the Ak-Chin Indian Community in Central AZ, June 2-6, 2025: indigidata.org Apply: 01/31 (Not reliant on federal funds)

👏👏👏 Every state university system should be doing this! lsmagazine.wisc.edu/issues/fall-...

Wow. it must feel terrible when someone takes something you made and uses it without permission or payment

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.

Today’s one for the history books: Mastodon is becoming an independent non-profit, and Bluesky is supporting #FreeOurFeeds taking their AT Protocol in the same direction.

Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning.

Out today! Our review on the current evidence of protein import into endosymbionts/early organelles. We cover protists, insects and plant systems, so something for everybody! With Mygg Stiller, Lena Kröninger and Eva Nowack. #protistsonsky #SymbioSky febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Is it a repeat? Sort of, but this is a radiolarian in motion! I wanted to see how dynamic the symbionts are. They mostly stay still over a couple of minutes. With @micrott.bsky.social and @evocellbio.bsky.social #protistaday #protistsonsky #marinelife

What was a subtweet called in 1912? While in Berlin I’ve been rummaging around in the library and found a book of poems written by Simon Schwendener, the guy who discovered symbiosis, towards the end of his life, and ran across this

I am looking for an ERC-funded postdoc to work on spatial proteomics of microalgae (red algae and glaucophytes). The ideal candidate will have experience with mass spec and data analysis (R), but above all a keen interest in broad eukaryote evolution and protists #protistsonsky (1/2)

!!!

Keeping your symbiosis genes on a plasmid is a smart move if you have multiple potential hosts. Here a gut bacterial symbiont, but same is true for N-fixing Rhizobia. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Hope I'm the first to post this all time classic on this platform

This is why the mayor of flavortown will be re-elected

This is hands down the most important interview I have done in a while — with Megan Garcia, who is suing @characterai.bsky.social and Google for an AI bot product that she alleges was responsible for the suicide of her 14 year old son: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

oh wait

We are excited to announce a tenure track faculty position on the genomics of resilience! Come join us in EEB here in Tucson! More details about the position at the link below. Application review begins on December 9! 🧪 arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Write grants? Read this.

Not quite impartial here but - a lineup worthy of any major cell cycle conference. 😍 Stop by any of the lectures if you’re in Paris next week and interested in the cell cycle or cell division, I promise you won’t be disappointed! (Just noticed the deadline, maybe they still let you register) 🧪🌏

ASU is searching for a new director for our biocollections! If you are an associate or full professor (or know one) and are interested in curating a huge collection of Sonoran desert (and other places) organisms, give us a look! apply.interfolio.com/159166

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

Current and former HHMI-supported trainees and early career researchers (EXROP, Gilliam, Hanna H. Gray, International Research Scholars, Freeman Hrabowski): I created a space for us to informally network across programs! Here is our list - pls comment to be added/removed! bsky.app/profile/did:...

Applications open for several research positions here in Cambridge including evolutionary genetics, genomics and population genetics. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49389/

"Reconstructing the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes" journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... In this Consensus View, we put forth the status quo and an agreed path forward to reconstruct LECA’s gene content. 🧪

Thought I'd reshare our Paulinella staining here! We did this together with @beaplab.bsky.social - huge thanks to BEAP lab for teaching me this amazing staining! Can’t wait to apply it to novel Paulinella species ;) #protistsonsky #ERC research project PlastidOrigin @fburki.bsky.social