Nature Reviews Genetics Focus issue: Eco-evolutionary genomics of microorganisms www.nature.com/collections/... 🧬🖥️🧪🦠 🧵 1/

Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed. In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨 What if evolution is the ”law”… and networks are the machines that do the work? In this paper (just published) I try to formalize how living systems are non-equilibrium, information-processing, adaptive matter. With a great biological flavor! 🧪🌐🌍🧬🦠 👉 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... 🧵 1/

Vir2vec: A Genome-Wide Viral Embedding https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693901v1

Come to Birmingham and do a PhD with myself and @wvschaik.bsky.social!

We are recruiting a Research Tech! Funded by the @wellcometrust.bsky.social, join us to work on Mucorales adaption in collaboration with Becky Hall (University of Kent) Deadline: 5th January www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

🎨🔬 Art meets Science! 50 Exeter College Fashion & Textiles students teamed up with MRC CMM researchers to explore fungi & create stunning designs. We enjoyed an inspiring evening of art and science, while celebrating the students achievements 👏 #STEM #ScienceArt

Now officially published in Current Biology 🥳🥳 @mfseidl.bsky.social @binfutrecht.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...

MetaPointFinder: A new approach for detecting mutation-driven antimicrobial resistance directly from metagenomic reads. Fills a major gap in current resistome profiling by capturing chromosomal AMR mutations that metagenome tools miss. github.com/aldertzomer/...

Anyone looking for roommates for #Fungal26 in Asilomar? I will participate and I am looking for someone to share a room for the week! I'm a female PhD student, looking to share a room with another female. Please DM me if you'd like to team up with me 😄 Reposts appreciated!

Our paper with the results of Citizen Science project ‘Fungal Radar’ are now out! @evelinesnelders.bsky.social @benauxier.bsky.social academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

A recent shift in centromere size and DNA content in Podospora pseudocomata co-occurs with the loss of a fungal genome defense system https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.02.690432v1

k-mer-based GWAS reveals a candidate avirulence gene and structural variation in Puccinia triticina linked to gain of Lr20 virulence doi.org/10.1186/s128...

We are thrilled to announce the first official release (v0.1.8) of #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿, the successor to one of our flagship tool, #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀! Based on ideas we conceived of long ago (!), this was achieved thanks to the dedication of Brent Pedersen. 1/n

Our paper on Zymoseptoria tritici 3D genome organization is officially out! @iglavincheska.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Optimized k-mer search across millions of bacterial genomes on laptops https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.690050v1

AI model Helixer predicts eukaryotic genes ab initio, directly from a plain text FASTA file. No RNA-seq. No protein homology. No repeats, hints, or curated evidence. Raw genome → accurate gene models. Deep learning + HMM, published in @natmethods.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PhD position available to study the immune response to the terbinafine resistant dermatophyte T. Indotinea. www.surrey.ac.uk/wessex-one-h... @mrccmm.bsky.social @youngecmm.bsky.social @ishamycology.bsky.social @britsocimm.bsky.social @britmycolsoc.org.uk

Exciting day at London’s Science Museum for the #InnovationforGrowth meeting where we’re showing off AirSeq technology from @earlhaminst.bsky.social and @nhm.org Meeting organised by @ukri.org to highlight the importance of research and innovation for economic growth.

Fungal friends: The University of Minnesota is hiring a tenure track medical mycologist, with emphasis on emergence of pathogens, genomics and evolution! www.nature.com/naturecareer...

We're looking for a PhD student! If you're interested in #fungal #genomics & #TEs, meiotic drive, or pathogens, please consider applying. The project is about toxin/antidote genes in the human fungal pathogen A. fumigatus. uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Whilst this research is available currently as a preprint only www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7... I would like to acknowledge all the researchers on this study who have made this possible. It's great to see the fruition of collaborative science! Thank you 🙏

“Bin Chicken” is now published in Nature Methods! It substantially improves genome recovery through rational coassembly 🧬🖥️. Applied to public 🌍 metagenomes, we recovered 24,000 novel species 🦠, including 6 new phyla. doi.org/10.1038/s415... @benjwoodcroft.bsky.social @rhysnewell.bsky.social 🧵1/6

A great genomics paper from my friend and colleague @drandiwilson.bsky.social on the expansion of heat stress related proteins in Rhizina undulata bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

🔥 At conferences, who asks the questions shapes who gets seen. Across 24 ID&CM meetings, women were 55% of delegates but asked 36% of questions. 💬 When women moderate or speak first, others follow. Let’s change the pattern bit.ly/47VL0eH 🙏 @maudsalmona.bsky.social & MicroID EmpowHERment consortium

A quick tutorial blog on a method I haven't seen before to plot gene gain/loss from e.g. CAFE5 across a phylogeny - and clearly shows I always have fungi on the mind 🤓🍄 #rstats #ggplot2 rowena-h.github.io/data-visuali...

How do GWAS and rare variant burden tests rank gene signals? In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck! 🧬🧪🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exciting news! I have two positions open in my lab at the UoManchester: one PDRA and one Research Tech. Join our team to study evolutionary mycology and help us understand antifungal resistance in fungal pathogens. A fantastic opportunity to join the brilliant Manchester Fungal Infection Group!

SWBio DTP PhD (Univ Exeter): Will global warming speed up antifungal resistance? Work with Prof Gabriel Yvon-Durocher, Prof Neil Gow & team. Experimental evolution, multi-omics & modelling on medical/crop pathogens. Apply: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo... #PhD #AMR #ClimateChange #Mycology

🚨New #PhD #adverts alert🚨 I currently have two PhD studentships being advertised on environmental #AMR ⬇️ More being advertised soon 👀 @ukceh.bsky.social @ukceh-moleco.bsky.social

New research in #GENETICS suggests accessory chromosomes in #fungi #fusarium might be maintained because of Spok genes and not because of their beneficial effects on virulence. Learn more about this work from @fungage-lab.bsky.social and colleagues: buff.ly/R2CRa3O

Bernabeu, @microbiobits.bsky.social and @tonigabaldon.bsky.social use simulations to test for the robustness of inferred relative timings of gene transfers in the lineage leading to the ancestor of eukaryotes 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf190 #genome #evolution

Our new paper maps the tRNA modification landscape in Vibrio cholerae! 💫 We describe differences from E. coli and discuss links to decoding of stress-related codons 🦠 Huge thanks to amazing co-authors and collaborators! @plos.org #rnasky #microsky #tRNAmodifications

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term www.gov.uk/government/p...

NEW EPISODE #ScienceInContext! This week @eonore.bsky.social speaks with @chownbioinf.bsky.social about fungal disease, Aspergillus fumigatus and interactions with the soil it lives in. Harry shares his passions and insights from his work - one to watch 👇 youtu.be/ariW8UKVv-M

1/6 Movi 2 is here: faster and more space-efficient for pangenome queries. Its fastest mode uses half the memory of Movi 1 while running ~30% faster. github.com/mohsenzakeri...

OK, here it is. Come work with me at the University of Liverpool making ALL THE AI models from ALL THE prokaryote pangenome data. Heck, we will make models from ALL the pangenomes, even eukaryotes!!! (link below👇) 1/4

Each year, @unibirmingham.bsky.social offers three scholarships to international students who wish to pursue a PhD in microbiology in my department, School of Biosciences. Interested? Deadline is 7th January 2026! Message any group leader in School of Biosciences to discuss your application

Heads up: ignore samtools dot org, similarly minimap2 dot com and likely others. It's owned by a known phishing site and while the binaries they offer look valid currently (but note they may be serving us different binaries to others), that could change. Ie: it's not us (Samtools team)! Be warned

Yesterday, after 11hrs cycling and 4hrs of breaks, I completed my "Tour de Fungi" — over 200km from London to Norwich — raising funds for @aspertrust.bsky.social and attending @bsmm-meeting.bsky.social. Thanks to all who’ve donated! Still time to give: justgiving.com/page/harry-chown-2

Last practice ride completed at the weekend. 162km from Carlisle to Glasgow 🎉 There's still time to donate!

www.journalofinfection.com/article/S016... 🚨🚨🍄🍄 new research from Washington University Mycoses Group (WUMG) reveals that Invasive aspergillosis & mucormycosis show broad geographic distribution across the U.S. Regions with higher incidence report lower associated mortality. @fungaldoc.bsky.social

#MetagenomicsMonday Analysis of aDNA from 1313 ancient human remains spanning 37k years revealed that the rise of infectious diseases coincided with animal domestication around 65k years ago, with disease spread intensifying during pastoralist migrations. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

6 WEEKS LEFT before we cycle from London to Norwich for the BSMM annual scientific meeting. Raising funds for The Aspergillosis Trust. Please donate (link below) or if you want to take part get in touch ☺️ www.justgiving.com/page/harry-c...

📣 Happy to see the journal publication 📄 of our work on Starships 🚀 in Verticillium fungi: terrific work led by @yukiyosato.bsky.social rdcu.be/exBSp

At the network launch event in April, we announce a competition for ECRs to design our logo. It is with great pleasure that we can now share the finished product, based on a winning design by @chownbioinf.bsky.social !

Nice 48km cycle from Paddington to Royal Holloway for #BMS2025

Structural motif search across the protein-universe with Folddisco https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.06.663357v1

New tool for pangenome analysis! CLARC refines bacterial gene clusters using functional annotation + linkage—not just sequence. New publication by @indragon.bsky.social & collaborators, advised by @mlipsitch.bsky.social & @billhanage.bsky.social. Read more at bit.ly/4ek0Y51

Only 10 days to go! We can’t wait to see everyone at our Annual Scientific Meeting #BMS2025 and hear the latest in fungal biology research. Take a look at the programme: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/asm.html