Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Last year, we made the decision to step away from X. The Royal Irish Academy is committed to creating, convening, and sharing knowledge for the public good and as an organisation we value Independence; Integrity; Curiosity; Openness and Rigour. In our view, X no longer aligns with these values

www.nature.com/articles/s41... Progressive coevolution of the yeast centromere and kinetochore 🤩 @helsenjana.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social

💙💛 Nine UCD projects will share in €34.5 million of funding announced to support “high-risk, high-reward” projects. Funding under the Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme, seven UCD initiatives are supported through the Projects stream, while two were funded under the Awards stream.

@ucddublin.bsky.social @ucdscience.bsky.social

Exciting recognition for UCD undergraduate research! The @microbiologysociety.org has featured the discovery of 2 new yeast species our students helped uncover:Cyberlindnera hibernica (“of Ireland”)& Barnettozyma discipulorum(“of students”)discovered in Glengarriff Woods🍃📄 🔗 bit.ly/3LiJonn

This is great! Straight into the lab journal club folder

Higher Ed in 2025 is opening your mailbox to see that your institution has sent you: 1. A Center for Teaching and Learning call to integrate AI into your classroom; and 2. An Office of Academic Integrity email encouraging you to crack down on students who use AI to cheat.

Wild yeasts live in the forests all around us. Yet, little is known about the role they play in ecosystems. They can be used to develop new #beer and bread flavors, but can also serve as a unique model for studying #climatechange @stockholm-uni.bsky.social @stelkens.bsky.social tinyurl.com/mebnw7v5

We often talk about THE whole genome duplication in yeasts, but we find new evidence of additional whole genome duplications in other yeast species! Check out this preprint led by @kylethedavid.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our RAPPL purification of ribosomes and associated material is out. I am really proud of this study in collaboration primary with Pavlovic-Djuranovic lab, as well as Jovanovic and Hashem Labs. This method aims to replace 60 years old purification of ribosomes by sucrose cushions rdcu.be/ezlhg

New preprint from lab adding to recent interest in yeast centromeres. There are dramatic changes in structure, but location is conserved www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Research Ireland, on behalf of @deptoffhed.bsky.social, have today launched Global Talent Ireland - a new initiative to attract exceptional mid-career and established researchers from across the globe to Ireland. For more information visit: www.researchireland.ie/funding/glob...

NEW pub: The role of metabolism in shaping #enzyme structures over 400 million years. Now out in @nature.com Super grateful to have played a small role in this project - congrats to lead/corr authors Oliver, Benjamin, and Markus! www.nature.com/articles/s41... #alphafold #evolution #genomics

Really enjoying this series.

🧪👩‍🔬This Sat 14 June, 12 scientists will bring their fascinating research to Dublin city centre! #SoapboxScience Drop by South King St 1-4pm to join them in exploring topics ranging from nematodes & reptiles, to DNA & human health at this FREE event. ucd.ie/research/new...

Postdoc position in new area for lab on yeast biodiversity. See www.findapostdoc.com/search/job-d.... Please forward! @ucd-sbbs.bsky.social

🎉Huge congratulations to Simran Khatri, Stage 3 Pharmacology student,who has been named joint winner of the 2025 Mary Mulvihill Award. Her essay “In Life for Life – A Monologue from the Heart of a Young Researcher,” is a powerful reflection on the ethics of animal research in science. bit.ly/4mtiwPR

Fantastic!

Only one week to go until the abstract submission deadline for Candida and Candidiasis 2025! Make sure to submit your abstract by 15 May 2025 at 23:59 BST. Find out more on our website. microb.io/Candida2025A... #Candida2025

Felt surreal to be live on Sky News Breakfast talking about fungal pathogens and climate change🍄‍🟫🗺️ Hopefully more people will learn about the wonderful (and scary) world of fungi this way

The global fight for science in the face of Trump’s attacks

Help pupils from Irish schools who won a NASA competition to attend the International Space Development Conference in Florida and showcase their hard work. If you can, please click the link below to donate or share it with others. Thanks for your support!

Abstract submission for the Candida and Candidiasis conference, held in Berlin 6th-9th October 2025, is open until 15th May: microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

The Tariff rate is calculated the same way as the Impact Factor

🔬💎 Exciting news for UCD Professors Oliver Blacque, Peter Haughton, and Eoin Casey, whose projects will receive over €5.3 million in funding from Research Ireland’s Research Infrastructure Programme. www.ucd.ie/newsandopini...

My mother had diphtheria. She survived the hospitalisation; her younger brother did not. Was common in Dublin, now eliminated.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Happy St Patrick’s Day. m.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbu...

This was part of a fantastic presentation at ECFG17. HGT in real time! Straight to the lab journal club…

💎⛏️ Warmest congratulations to Professor Sarah Gleeson, the newly appointed Director of the iCRAG Research Ireland Centre for Applied Geosciences at University College Dublin. www.ucd.ie/newsandopini...

Goodbye from (most) of the local organising committee for #ECFG17, see you all in Helsinki in 2027!

Many congrats to Profs Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Aoife McLysaght @tcddublin.bsky.social featured on Irish stamps.

Registration is open for @official-smbe.bsky.social satellite meeting in Chile. We have a great lineup of speakers for topics in Microbial ExpEvo and Adaptation 👏👏 Please consider attending. Plenty of scholarships for students and postdocs! Register here: 👇 smbechile2025.cl @ibiochile.bsky.social

We are indebted to Alessia Buscaino for the discovery that the Candida albicans type SC5314 type strain is an RNAi Argonaut mutant. Her great talk today also shows that this is relevant to microbiome and macrophage interactions and has host niche specific consequences. @ecfg172025.bsky.social

380 Candida parapsilosis strains sequenced by Geraldine Butler @yeastpi.bsky.social These strains are 99.98% similar! They are also phenotypically similar Pangenome analysis to the rescue! 🛟 They find 68 accessory genes... And these are often Major Facilitator Superfamily #ecfg17

Pangenome analysis of Candida parapsilosis and its strategies for generating drug resistance via copy number variation ⁦‪Geraldine Butler #ECFG17

Cheers to 🍻 S. eubayanus - the lager beer! Sean Bergin reveals the population structure of wild S. eubayanus... And finds they are probably poor beer makers #ecfg17

Great start to #ECFG17 today. Think I’ve heard this guy before…

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

PhD positions on yeast available in my lab in science-friendly Ireland! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

PhD positions on yeast available in my lab in science-friendly Ireland! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Good work George.

Really glad to see this… there seems to be a remarkable lack of resistance in US science so far.

#PLOSPathogens: Insights into the origin, hybridisation and adaptation of Candida metapsilosis hybrid pathoge ... dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

I am confident that scientific societies will play an unusually important role in the coming years. If you are a microbiologist of any kind, please consider joining @asm.org if you haven't already. There are many ways to get involved, including advocacy. To learn more: asm.org/About-ASM/Vo...

A beautiful morning on @ucddublin.bsky.social Belfield campus. The upper lake is teaming, a heron, a coot, lots of mallards and what seems to be our new swan. He(?) started visiting before Christmas and now seems to be in permanent residence. I've a tough job but someone has to do it!

Plenty of representation from my old school at #BTYSTE. Managed to speak to some during breaks in judging, and a few prizes were won!

A real pleasure to spend time with the #BTYSTE family again this year. The standard of projects are as impressive as ever. The future is bright. #BTYSTE2025

Very much enjoyed judging at #BTYSTE Young Scientist and Technology exhibition, and many congrats to overall winners Ciara, Saoirse and Laoise Murphy from Tralee. Great communicators and well deserved!

There's still time to apply for this postdoc position in our lab. Ideally suited to someone wanting to develop some independent research, we have lots of new projects to select from! #immunosky 🧪