Labathon week skill-building report: tetrad dissection (lots!), long read genome assembly, DNA copy number analysis, pinning, bulk segregant mapping, FACS ploidy estimation, mating type testing, AI for coding, lit review, learning about weird stuff like mating type switching and tetraploid meiosis

Interested in the Aging Gene Discovery (AGeD) Collaborative NSC Pilot Awards which integrates resources offered by the Nathan Shock Centers of Oklahoma, the University of Washington, and the Jackson Laboratory? Register now for the informational webinar to learn more: bit.ly/4jvyAPQ

Join us tomorrow! with @mehurles.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social and @maitreya.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social Info and Link to join: www.varianteffect.org/seminar-seri...

Great kickoff for 2026 with a sabbatical visit from @gsherloc.bsky.social who is conveniently here just in time to participate in our "labathon" (think hackathon, but for a project that has some computational and wetlab components). This year's project is an attempt at genetics with brewing yeast.

Lab freezer defrost day

Hit a new lab record of 89 yeast genomes sequenced in one run!

The Nathan Shock Center at UW has a unique opportunity to utilize multiple cores for a single pilot project at our center. Please see the RFA below:

Fun new preprint from the lab, headed up by two incredible undergraduate researchers: Using Experimental Evolution to Correct Mother-Daughter Separation Defects in Brewing Yeast. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New preprint with @pyjiang.bsky.social and @kelleyharris.bsky.social! The discovery and patterns of the underlying long-standing mild-effect mutator alleles in S. cerevisiae populations www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Open faculty position (Assistant or Associate) in UW Medical Genetics. As you might expect, faculty often end up also interacting with Genome Sciences, so we're hoping for some great prospects! Note the clinical requirements for the position. apply.interfolio.com/176466

New aging pilot grant opportunity to collaborate with us! The idea is to do CRISPR screens in mammalian cells with the Oklahoma team, then do mechanistic follow up of some of the results using appropriate model organisms (worms, mice, and, of course, yeast, with my lab!) Applications due in February

2026 #Yeast #Genetics Meeting is 13–17 June 2026 in Pacific Grove CA. Conference website has invited speakers, abstract submission topics, preliminary schedule, etc. Bookmark the site as additional updates will be published as they become available. #YEAST26 genetics-gsa.org/yeast-2026/

Incredible new paper from @schacherer.bsky.social et al rdcu.be/eLcTH

The #Yeast26 website is live—start planning your conference attendance now! 🧬 Browse abstract submission topics, key dates, speaker & venue info, details on travel funding, and more: buff.ly/HFIt31b Bookmark the page to stay updated as new information becomes available!

Registration is now open for the Mutational Scanning Symposium!! This is one not to miss. Invited speakers include @mehurles.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @maitreya.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social #VariantEffect26 Register soon for the early bird rate! ℹ️➡️https://www.mss2026.org

It's been a long time coming but, my postdoc work characterizing thousands of variants in G6PD is now available! Many thanks to @maitreya.bsky.social @dougfowler.bsky.social @afrubin.bsky.social and their labs! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

So proud of my lab students Tiffany and Amanda for winning the Roman Scholarship from @uwgenome.bsky.social! I always love the story about how yeast genetics got its start at UW because corn wouldn’t grow in Seattle www.gs.washington.edu/about/histor...

Announcing the yEvo Mutation Browser, a Shiny app for visualizing and exploring sequencing data from experimental evolution and genetic screens. This is the latest from our @yevolab.bsky.social high school teaching & research project and led by my grad student Leah. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Genome Sciences is looking for a Director of Departmental Computing. This is a rare opportunity for someone interested in leading our excellent IT team, building and maintaining computational infrastructure, and working closely with our faculty and labs uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/candidat...

Our annual "Wednesday Evening at the Genome" public lecture series starts this week! Talks by Andrew Stergachis, Ivan Liachko, Gaurav Bhardwaj, & Mary-Claire King geared toward a general audience. 6:00 in Foege auditorium, followed by time to meet the speakers. www.gs.washington.edu/news/publicl...

We have co-organized a MAVE course with Wellcome Connecting Science! Meeting is in November, but the 🗓️📝Application deadline is 18 August 2025 ⏰https://coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/event/multiplex-assays-of-variant-effects-maves-approaches-analysis-and-interpretation-20251123/

Very fun lab party today to celebrate the graduation of several lab undergraduate researchers! Congratulations!

We also had 4 tetrad dissection microscopes join the lab this week, as part of the @uw-nsc.bsky.social renewal! These belonged to Matt Kaeberlein as part of their large scale efforts to measure replicative lifespan in yeast. We are now offering them as loaners for labs who want to try lifespans.

Welcome to our new lab members, postdoc Sarah (co with @kelleyharris.bsky.social) and grad students Zanny and Megan! Very exciting!

Happy to announce our paper comparing embryonic gene expression between C. elegans and C. briggsae, work led by Christopher Large with Rupa Khanal and in collaboration with Junhyong Kim and Bob Waterston. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Had a great day at UBC with a cohort from my lab for the Pacific Northwest Yeast Club meeting! Great science and community, and my student Leah won best talk!

POSTDOC ALERT: Applications now open for SeaBridge postdoc fellowship; opportunity to work on leading-edge biotech w/researchers at the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology. brotmanbaty.org/news/new-pos... @marionpepper.bsky.social @jshendure.bsky.social @coletrapnell.bsky.social

Another art piece created by argot chen last week during Sxaffold, this one snippets of text pulled from one of my papers. how do you Hope to be changed

Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team. Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Student-led experimental evolution reveals novel biofilm regulatory networks underlying adaptations to multiple niches https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.06.658356v1

Had a great time collaborating with artist argot chen this week as part of the inaugural Sxaffold scientist/artist encounter. We made Mt. Rainier from agar using a 3D printed mold, then painted with colorful yeast strains www.sxaffold.org

Second of Taylor’s hybrid genetics preprints: A cross-species rescue by mating method to interrogate gene essentiality across the Saccharomyces genus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Two preprints posting today from prior lab grad student Taylor on doing genetics with interspecific yeast hybrids! #1: Meiotic null MSH2 and SGS1 alleles in S. cerevisiae x S. uvarum hybrids result in near-haploid offspring with mixed parental chromosomal inheritance www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The schedule for the Pacific Northwest Yeast Club meeting (June 20 in Vancouver) looks really great! Love the addition of an Industry Session this year. Less than 30 registration spots remaining, and the poster abstract deadline has been extended to June 6. www.pnwyc.net/schedule

Thanks to @genetics-gsa.bsky.social for starting a Genetics Department (and related) Chairs group. The hope is we will be able to share information & strategize across institutions. Initial invitations have now gone out, but please let me know if we missed you and you would be interested in joining.

Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by Gregor Mendel more than 160 years ago https://go.nature.com/3EC3eqT

The Pacific Northwest Yeast Club is holding their annual meeting on June 20th, 2025 in beautiful Vancouver, Canada! There are only 100 spots and registration is open now: www.pnwyc.net

Application deadline extended to Apr 15 for this summer's #Yeast #Genetics & #Genomics course at @cshlaboratory.bsky.social July22 - Aug12! Get a comprehensive education in all things yeast, from classical genetics through up-to-the-minute genomics. Don't miss out! meetings.cshl.edu/courses.aspx...

This is one of the best features I have seen on blue sky yet- a custom feed of papers from people you follow. I had to un-follow the various biorxiv channels, as it was dominant, but now I am seeing lots of cool papers from people I follow. Great work on this feed, @paper-feed.bsky.social team!

Microbiologists, check out this genius trick for orienting flat toothpicks that comes from the legendary Beth Jones by way of Bonny Brewer. Video taken by my lab manager, Emily.

Nothing like new data to lift the spirits. 44 new caspofungin-resistant @yevolab.bsky.social genomes! Can't wait to get these back in the hands of the high school students who evolved these yeast strains.

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.

Genome Sciences is looking for a Grants Manager for the Model Organism Genetics labs (which include me!): uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/candidat...

Genome Sciences is on Bluesky now!

New work in Genetics by @reneegeck.bsky.social when she was in my lab, Nick Powell, et al. delving into novel variants in G6PD in the All of Us resource. Functional analysis of G6PD variants associated with low G6PD activity in the All of Us Research Program academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

After 60 years, scientists finally know why ginger, calico, and tortoiseshell #cats look the way they do. scim.ag/3BpxRxY

Work with Nick Powell is out on Genetics! Nick used data from the All of Us Research Project to connect G6PD genotypes and phenotypes, and I tested some variant functions in yeast with @maitreya.bsky.social! Power of human+yeast genetics! academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

Had a great workshop today with the Hutch SEP & a bunch of local teachers interested in using our Yeast Madness kit in their classes. This module uses strains evolved by previous yEvo high school students and teaches about mutations, fitness, & cell biology. www.fredhutch.org/en/education...

Question for the #CryoEM crowd: does anyone happen to recognize this lovely ~10-15nm diameter protein complex we stumbled across while imaging slime mold protein lysate (as one does)?