If you're afraid to ask someone for a recommendation, please don't be. It's part of the job of being a mentor, editor, teacher, advisor, former boss, etc. to write recommendations or politely decline. (I wish I could go back in time and tell my former self this.)

BIG FIGHT AT POLAND’S WROCLAW ZOO!!!

Excellent title - and I'm a sucker for mapping any de novo mutations in insect pigment and pattern mutants. In this case, the culprit seems to be an ncRNA!?!? resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

New paper on minimal NNs for phylogenetic inference, with former grad student, Ben Rosenzweig: arxiv.org/abs/2512.02223

How to keep in step when your (protein) partner speeds up… Here we investigated the adaptive remodeling of a protein-protein interaction surface essential for telomere protection. Congrats to whole team! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

OMG--read this thread. Remarkable clever use of a trick to visualize plasmid competition that reveals key insights into evolution!!!! 🧪

Crain, A. T., Nevil, M., Leatham-Jensen, M. P., ..., B., Matera, A. G., McKay, D. J., Duronio, R. J. (2024). Redesigning the Drosophila histone gene cluster: an improved genetic platform for spatiotemporal manipulation of histone function. Genetics, 228(1) academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

Introducing the 1,000 Flower Collection 🧬🌹 I’m creating 1,000 genetically designed flowers each crafted with new colors, patterns, and shapes. Here’s how I’m making it happen… and how you can join me on this journey 🧵(1/7)

To promote the collection, I’ve launched a designer clothing line where synthetic biology meets aesthetics. I will give out 100 free limited edition shirts to the first who retweet and order with their handle in the name! Available here → nickdesnoyer.com 🧵(6/7)

NEW: In an unprecedented move, the NIH will soon disinvite dozens of scientists about to take positions on advisory councils that make final decisions on grant funding. NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

#drosophila @flybase.bsky.social request emergency funding: "As it stands, by the end of July, 2025, there will be no future updates to FlyBase, and in the worst case scenario access to the website will also be lost" => please donate! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

i encourage all to comment on the federal move to switch scientific staff to political appointees. this would be yet another disaster to the scientific process, unbiased pursuit of knowledge and medicine. deadline june 7. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20... www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP...

Treating a new Covid strain like a crime and not a public health issue is deranged.

Do not give them an INCH! It's not: Well, maybe there are some areas where DEI has become too much a focus. It's: FREE COUNTRIES DON'T SEND OUT BANNED WORDS LISTS TO THEIR SCIENTISTS It's not: Well, science isn't perfect... It's: FREE COUNTRIES DO NOT HAVE SCIENCE COMMISSARS

🧬NEW review article from Henikoff and Ahmad about emerging epigenomic mapping technologies to study chromatin regulation. Very comprehensive - great for beginners and experts alike! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

For all the scientists who voted for Trump (and I know many of you), I hope the war on DEI was worth it.

If you're wondering why there's been so much insistence lately that COVID-19 was a lab leak, here's why: it is going to be an example for why all biomedical research & public health work should be defunded. No evidence supports a lab leak, but it's used to justify cutting NIH's budget by 40%.

💥🥳 At long last, our latest paper is out! Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n

You may be fearing your 401k is no longer enough for you to retire. But with all the cuts to NIH and Medicare you also won't live as long. So the policies are integrated.

If only America would protect school children the way it protects Teslas.

🚀 New Paper Alert! Our latest @natrevmcb.bsky.social explores how nuclear and genome organization drive DNA double-strand break repair! 🧬 📖 Free access: rdcu.be/edViW Please 🔄 ❤️

Mine in today’s @newyorker.com

Proud to be a part of this community! We had a great turnout for #Standupforscience at UMontana. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0s3...

So much this.

Local coverage on budget cuts, thanks @nbcnews.com nbcmontana.com/news/local/u...

This is utterly terrifying. The lack of critical thinking is stunning. nbcmontana.com/newsletter-d...

#FluorescenceFriday #Drosophila chromosomes!

Sadly, our colleague and friend Scott Hawley passed away this morning. He was an irreplaceable presence and force for good in the meiosis an Drosophila communities and will be sorely missed.

To all constituents, journalists, and representatives interested in today’s hearings for RFK Jr, please read, consider, and ask the following questions of him. On behalf of the Coalition for the Life Sciences cc: @needhibhalla.bsky.social www.coalitionforlifesciences.org

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.

Per an NIH source: “Discussions with colleagues have suggested that if the universities all come together and raise hell about the delays to funding caused by not holding meetings, that might move the needle. From every state. There are well-funded universities in red states that will be impacted.”

"our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary." "creativity and innovation in the merchandise and services that we offer," - Costco Board. 98% of Costco shareholders agreed with the board.👍🏿 Segregationists denied.

I am excited to share the first paper from my postdoc in the Cooper lab. Hopefully, this is useful for anyone working on PEV image quantification in Drosophila. Please reach out if you have any questions or comments, and stay tuned for more updates! academic.oup.com/biomethods/a...

New preprint from the lab! We defined the kinetics of strand invasion during meiosis in C. elegans. Great work from Antonia, Henry and Divya. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are hiring an Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Disease (broadly defined) at the University of Montana. Great colleagues in a great place. I’m happy to answer any questions. Please apply! apply.interfolio.com/159494

Continuing to go through my trove of cool videos... here is a classic from my work with Philipp Keller's team at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social A developing fly embryo imaged with a SiMView #lightsheet microscope augmented with our Autopilot self-alignment system. www.nature.com/articles/nbt... 🧪🔬🪰💻

Maybe one of the reasons there are so many unhinged academics is that in order to keep your job, you’re constantly required to tout yourself as a Scholar of World-Historical Significance, even as your office’s ceiling tiles slowly dislodge themselves to fall on your head.

Scared to share this after 10 freaking years of waiting, but here we go: We found that temperature *perception* can change the biology of the next generations, even when “it’s just in the parents' head”. Read how C. elegans neurons control epigenetic inheritance! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

wow! that's amazing!

Early #FluorescenceFriday because I am out of service tomorrow. This is one of my favorite images to think about, a huge #Drosophila polytene nucleus in the salivary gland. GFP-LacI bound to a LacO array.

Check out this fly boxing away a parasitic wasp who is trying to lay eggs in its abdomen. I've watched a lot of fly behavior, but never seen anything like this. Makes you wonder how much we miss by studying lab organisms in isolation from their natural threats. Vid from: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A close-up view of w[1118]. Happy fly day!

Our paper on a centromere-enriched retroelement is out! link.springer.com/article/10.1... Congratulations to all the authors! Comments and reposts welcome and appreciated 🧬🔬

Amazing paper on B chromosomes! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What a fantastic birthday treat – my paper got published today @PNAS!! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Amazed by these SEM images! academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

#FluorescenceFriday with a throwback image from my PhD work. DAPI (blue) shows Drosophila chromosomes, EdU labeling (green) marks late replicating regions. Homologs are paired tightly except at the late replicating pericentromeric heterochromatin, and the entire Y replicates late (bottom).