Just arrived - very excited to read @matthewcobb.bsky.social ‘s latest

Incredible paper - Genomic architecture of eggmimicry and its consequencesfor speciation in parasitic cuckoos www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... and a great commentary here www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... @btobirds.bsky.social

Come and work with me and @ariannebabina.bsky.social on #Streptomyces evolution and antibiotic production Origins of a tangled bank: Adaptation and evolution in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate... please repost

@papersapp.com hi guys, is this a bug, I’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks on chrome - when clicking ‘save PDF to Papers by ReadCube’ - the dialogue box is blank? Is there a way to fix? It’s running v4.37.2395

Two new positions are available at the MPI for Evolutionary Biology to support development of our genomics facility. Both stand to become permanent. Both offer a ton of opportunity to engage in a wide range of creative science. Pls repost 🙏 www.evolbio.mpg.de/3838377/job_...

‘Thrilled’ Indonesian scientists celebrate return of fossil trove from the Netherlands - well done @naturalis.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Our new preprint by @nanamikubota.bsky.social shows that P. aeruginosa, and likely many other bacteria carrying filamentous prophages (like V. parahaemolyticus), risk being exploited by these phages in a runaway process that reduces fitness of both host and virus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

Apply for a #PhD with @paulhoskisson.bsky.social and me on all things #Streptomyces, #evolution, #AMR, #antibiotics, #biotech! Deadline 21st November. #MicroSky please share!

Today was the first day of life after my @raeng.org.uk Research Chair - the award was transformative to me and our team and I’ll be forever grateful to the Academy for supporting our science and vision of how it was time for synthetic biology and engineering biology to deliver for industry

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky Please share the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

Come and work with me and @ariannebabina.bsky.social on #Streptomyces evolution and antibiotic production Origins of a tangled bank: Adaptation and evolution in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate... please repost

This is super cool from @brianhie.bsky.social et al- Generative design of novel bacteriophages with genome language models www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Some good stuff in here 😊

Delighted to have been selected as a Sub-panel member (Assessment phase) for Sub-panel 5: Biological sciences for REF2029 #REF2029

The names of panel members for the criteria-setting phase of REF 2029 have now been announced on our panels pages. 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/expert-...

The four UK higher education funding bodies confirm the pause in the criteria setting and publication of final guidance for REF 2029 for a short period, as announced by the UK Science Minister Lord Vallance today at the Universities UK conference. 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/pause-t...

What was antibiotic resistance like before we ever used antibiotics? How did we change what antibiotic resistance genes looked like over 100 years? Our paper looking at resistance genes from a century of NCTC historical isolates now out in mGen: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Adaptive radiation during long-term experimental evolution of the multicellular bacterium #Streptomyces www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A sit in the sauna can save endangered frogs www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New Independent Fellowship position in Microbiology to launch your lab in our department @johninnescentre.bsky.social (UK). We are conducting a broad search in the area of plant-associated microbial interactions. Message me if you have any questions. Apply here: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in...

Looking for a #postdoc position in evolutionary biology? Come join the Budke Lab @utknoxville.bsky.social! Read more about the lab jmbudke.github.io & apply here fa-ewlq-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... Please share widely. Thanks! #Postdocposition #PostdocOpportunity

Writing a paper, listening to the test match and streaming the Lancashire game is what academic summers were made for!

Very pleased to say we have an Assistant Professor job opening (tenure track) in the Department of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin! 😀 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOA399/a... - deadline is August 19th! Please repost!

Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome. See thread for more information and reach out!

The Canal Zone tree frog (Boana rufitela) Photographed in Panama recently, lovely species with the most beautiful red-webbing to their toes - last pic is a female and male sat next to each other showing the size difference

Superbugs could kill millions more and cost $2tn a year by 2050, models show www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Saturday morning reptile spotting - in situ Adders (Vipera berus) two adult females - close to parturition and a juvenile out basking with very little sun and an adult female Slow Worm (Anguis frágiles) - all photographed without disturbing them, so lovely to see

Next up from our lab - a ring nuclease with a novel fold which cleaves all cOA species involved in Type III CRISPR defence. It's also found in plasmid and phage genomes, where it presumably functions as an anti-CRISPR. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Super week at GRC Ecological & Evolutionary Genomics Conference in Tuscany, great science, lovely location & great to see old friends & make new ones @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social @baym.lol @katyls.bsky.social thanks to @chicascientifica.bsky.social & @samyeaman.bsky.social for organising a fab meeting

Register now! Join us at Microbial Genomics of Eukaryotes for a one-day conference in Glasgow, championing the latest research in the field. Network with local researchers, hear from leading speakers and explore opportunities to present your work to fellow scientists.

Bit of #herping during the afternoon free time while at GRC Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics Conference in Tuscany - lots of these gorgeous Common Wall Lizards - Photo 1 (Podarcis muralis migriventris) and the Italian Wall Lizard - photo 2 (Podarcis siculus campestris) m

Bit of #herping during the afternoon free time while at GRC Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics Conference in Tuscany - lots of these gorgeous Common Wall Lizards - Photo 1 (Podarcis muralis migriventris) and the Italian Wall Lizard - photo 2 (Podarcis siculus campestris) m

This is pretty cool - Effects of parental care on skin microbial community composition in poison frogs elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Panama Rocket Frog (Colostethus panamansis) photographed recently in #ElValledeAnton #Panama - they are a pain to photograph as they live in the leaf litter- this is one of my favourite frog genera, they have beautiful calls too and remarkable parental care

Tim Mousseau (U South Carolina) and Elaine Ostrander (NIH) have an open postdoc position to study evolution of dog genomes. Open to US citizens and residents only. Contact [email protected] for more info.

Working on a manuscript and rereading lots of the late Dan Tawfik’s papers - highlights what a great loss he is, not only as a wonderful person but also a fantastic, thoughtful scientist

Juvenile Big head Anole (Anolis capito) in #Panama - this is a widespread but quite shy species of anole but they appear to prefer shade and moist forests - lovely to see this as I’m a massive Anole fan

Bicentenary of Henry Walter Bates birth - Bates’ many contributions. Nat Ecol Evol 9, 1077–1078 (2025). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) recently in #Panama - lovely to wake up to them singing most mornings in Soberanía National Park and was so nice to see a mum and baby close up while they were hanging out close to Canopy Tower

Looking forward to GRC Ecological and evolutionary genomics conference next week - programme looks awesome and a cheeky week in Tuscany will be amazing www.grc.org/ecological-a...

One of my favourite finds in #Panama - Gaige’s Rain Frog (Pristimantis gaigei) - a species that is considered to be a mimic of poison dart frogs, resembling the toxic species (Phyllobates) colocated (sympatric) with some populations of P. gaigei across its range from Costa Rica through to Colombia.

A gorgeous keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) photographed recently in Panama at the Canopy Tower - stunning birds! Second photo is his silhouette in the top of the tree

Smilisca is a widespread genus of Tree frogs (Hylids)-we found two species in #Panama last week - The New Granada Cross-Banded Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota; first picture - in amplexus) & The Panama Cross-Banded Tree Frog (Smilisca sila; second picture -note the blue on the insides of the hind legs)

Last week-herping in Panama with we came across the most amazing amphibian-it may look like a giant earthworm, but its closest relatives are frogs & salamanders-it is a Caecilian. This species is the Yellow headed caecilian (Oscaecilia ochrocephala) & are seldom seen due to being mostly fossorial

Tatayo’s Glass Frog (Hyalinobatrachium tatayoi) photographed recently in Panama -, egg masses in situ above a steam, pair in amplexus - eggs visible in the female and ventral shot of a male

Interesting when one gets a manuscript from a ‘big name’ for one of the glamour mags to realise that if I’d have submitted it, it would have been a desk reject by return…

A beautiful male Emerald Glassfrog (Espadarana prosoblepon) photographed in El Valle de Antón, Panama. Note the humeral spine, close to his front leg that are used for ritualised combat in males of this species