Scott Nichols
@scottnichols.bsky.social
📤 1857
📥 2303
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Associate Professor of Biology @ University of Denver. Sponges, evolution, cell biology.
pinned post!
Happy to announce our latest paper! A fresh look at the sponge Aggregation Factor, a glycoprotein complex involved in self-recognition and adhesion. Previously thought to be sponge-specific, we report compelling structural links with proteins found in all animals!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409125121
11 months ago
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🧬Jacob L Steenwyk
2 days ago
NEW pub in
@science.org
🥳 Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life? For over 15 years,
#phylogenomic
studies have been divided. We provide new evidence suggesting that... 🔗:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Nature Reviews Neuroscience
9 days ago
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution — a Review by Jeffrey J. Colgren & Pawel Burkhardt
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social
@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
#neuroscience
#neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were co-opted into functional assemblies and...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-025-00983-6?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nrn
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Max Telford
17 days ago
I've written a piece about great new article by
@thibautbrunet.bsky.social
, Chantal Combredet & Mylan Ansel. (
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
)
theconversation.com/how-the-firs...
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How the first animals evolved – a new clue from a tiny relative
Meet the choanoflagellates - the microscopic cousins of animals.
https://theconversation.com/how-the-first-animals-evolved-a-new-clue-from-a-tiny-relative-268238
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Pawel Burkhardt
19 days ago
First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊
#Evolution
#Neuroscience
Our latest in
@natrevneuro.nature.com
Link:
rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social
@msarscentre.bsky.social
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The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...
https://rdcu.be/eMX3E
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Prachee Avasthi
about 1 month ago
We have a bunch of new job ads out
@arcadiascience.com
. If you haven’t checked them out, take a look!
www.arcadiascience.com/careers
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Careers | Arcadia Science
Evolve with Arcadia.
https://www.arcadiascience.com/careers
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Tom Williams
about 1 month ago
There's a PhD position now available with me in Bath, on the evolution of symbiosis.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
. The supervisory team also includes
@anja1.bsky.social
@phil-donoghue.bsky.social
and others. NB, this is open both to UK-based students *and* to international students :)
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The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/the-genomic-basis-of-symbiotic-integration/?p187773
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Nat Clarke
about 1 month ago
🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels! Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology? I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics. 🔗:
clarkelab.com/join/
Please repost!
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Steve Haddock
3 months ago
Our science photo book The Radiant Sea is out Sept 2nd!! 30 years of research, 10 years of "we should", and a year of collating pix and writing. Sönke and I show (mostly for the first time) images of how organisms produce, use, and interact with light in the sea.
#bioluminescence
#fluorescence
🦑🧪🌊
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Mike the Mad Biologist and Tsar of All the Antifas
3 months ago
Jared Polis wants Coloradans to get sick.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Raphaël Clément
3 months ago
Mechanosensation and fast reorientation of ciliary structures: Marvin's work on the surprising locomotion capabilities of Trichoplax, an animal without neurons!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Extinct blog
3 months ago
Soooo. I have a new paper on the origin and spread of the expression "Cambrian explosion," with some fun mid-twentieth century paleo, as well as some remarks on post-Wonderful Life shenanigans. Also, Darwin, Lyell, Simpson, Preston Cloud, TC Chamberlin and more!
www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...
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Max's new Cambrian paper — Extinct
Since I just posted my new paper on the historical challenge of classifying the Ediacaran biota , let me shamelessly promote another new paper, this one on the origin of the expression “Cambrian expl...
https://www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2025/8/25/maxs-new-cambrian-paper
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Cell adhesions (magenta) at the leading edge of a sponge epithelium at the interface with the coverslip substrate.
3 months ago
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Tera Levin
3 months ago
I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Hypermutable hotspot enables the rapid evolution of self/non-self recognition genes in Dictyostelium
Cells require highly polymorphic receptors to perform accurate self/non-self recognition. In the amoeba Dicytostelium discoideum, polymorphic TgrB1 & TgrC1 proteins are used to bind sister cells and e...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.01.668227v1
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Harmit Singh Malik
4 months ago
Extra kudos and thanks to all the staff at NIH and NSF and other federal funding agencies for working extra hard in very small windows of opportunity to get grants reviewed and funds released before the attention-addled federal policies change again (on an hourly basis).
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Bhamla Lab @ Georgia Tech
4 months ago
Hiring 4 postdocs — organismal biophysics, soft robotics, frugal Raman diagnostics, or your own bold idea. 3-year funding, $65K+ benefits. GT (Atlanta) now → CU Boulder BioFrontiers Institute in Fall ’26. PDF/details in next post. Tag/share if someone comes to mind. 🧪🪲🪳#livingphysics
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Dr. Brooke Weigel
4 months ago
✨Dream job alert!✨ Come join our Oceans Department at Stanford University! We are hiring an Assistant Professor. This faculty search focuses on 3 major areas: Oceans & global change, Ocean technologies & solutions, or Human dimensions of oceans 🌊
facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/49...
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Stanford | Faculty Positions: Details - Assistant Professor in Oceans
https://facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/494870/assistant-professor-in-oceans
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Marine Biological Laboratory
4 months ago
We're thrilled to announce the largest private gift in our 137-year history: a $25 million unrestricted donation from MBL Whitman Scientist Mark Terasaki. His extraordinary generosity will bolster our renowned research and education programs. 🔬 Learn more:
bit.ly/452WL1m
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MBL Announces Largest Ever Gift for Its Renowned Biological Education and Research Programs | Marine Biological Laboratory
Cell Biology Researcher Mark Terasaki’s $25 Million Unrestricted Gift Will Support Operations and Infrastructure Contact: Samantha Cummis
[email protected]
; 973.800.4119
https://bit.ly/452WL1m
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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn
4 months ago
“A nuclear bomb dropped on cancer research” Must-read
@donmoyn.bsky.social
about a new Trump administration attack on NIH funding
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
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Alert: The Trump administration is quietly slashing new NIH grant awards, and it's not via the budget
NIH’s sudden move to multiyear grant funding is forcing shocking cuts in the number of grants funded. This is an effective budget cut. It's bad, folks.
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-trump-administration-is
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Nature
4 months ago
These members of the NIH Council of Councils are voicing serious concerns about NIH grant terminations, restructure, and budget cuts
go.nature.com/46Vr8t2
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Protect the integrity of the US National Institutes of Health
Letter to the Editor
https://go.nature.com/46Vr8t2
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Please help get the word out - We are hiring at all levels (graduate students, technicians, and postdocs)! If you are interested in sponges, cell biology, evolution, immunity, and symbiosis, please don’t hesitate to contact me to learn more.
4 months ago
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Not the very best picture, but the first Toucan I’ve ever seen.
4 months ago
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Katherine Xue
4 months ago
The Xue lab at UC Irvine is looking for a staff scientist to support our work investigating how microbes interact and evolve in the gut microbiome! Open to a wide range of previous experience levels, see ad for more.
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
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Junior, Assistant, or Associate Specialist – Xue Lab
University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!
https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
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Please help get the word out - We are hiring at all levels (graduate students, technicians, and postdocs)! If you are interested in sponges, cell biology, evolution, immunity, and symbiosis, please don’t hesitate to contact me to learn more.
4 months ago
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Khoa
4 months ago
Using time series graphs to make causal claims be like
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Dan Sloan
4 months ago
Please share! Our lab is recruiting a PhD student to join us starting fall 2026. Our group is broadly interested in plant molecular evolution and comparative genomics. More info about our lab and grad programs at Colorado St. is available on our lab website.
sites.google.com/site/danielb...
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Sloan Lab
Welcome! Our research focuses on the evolutionary process at the molecular level. In particular, we investigate how a mixture of natural selection and non-adaptive forces create and maintain the amazi...
https://sites.google.com/site/danielbsloan
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Dr. Lauren E. Fuess
4 months ago
Celebrating this Friday evening!! After 7 long months I can finally share that I have received an NSF CAREER award to study the link between bleaching and disease in cnidarians!! Stay tuned for more info about postdoc and graduate student positions!
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Dr Alessio Veneziano
5 months ago
US
#science
🧪 is being wrecked and its leaders are ignoring it as it is just a 4yr phase, instead of using their power to fight back. History remembers the 12 profs who stood against the italian fascist regime, not the hundreds who took its oath. (1/2)
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
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US science is being wrecked, and its leadership is fighting the last war
Facing an extreme budget, the National Academies hosted an event that ignored it.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/us-science-is-being-wrecked-and-its-leadership-is-fighting-the-last-war/
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Gert Wörheide
6 months ago
We just published our first paper in the Peer Community Journal - diamond open access, no APCs! Awesome experience, with less than a week from submission after receommendation by
#pcigenomics
. Highly recommended!
#molpalmuc
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
@peercommunityin.bsky.social
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Genomic changes are varied across congeneric species pairs of animals
https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.563/
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@LaBonneLaB
6 months ago
It is beyond disturbing when the NIH and HHS Directors do not understand that animal models are essential in research
www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...
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There is no replacement (yet) for animal models in medical research
The NIH is “reducing animal use in research.” But there is no replacement for animal models.
https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/animal-models-research-nih-biology-medical-breakthroughs-nobel-prize/
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Current Biology
6 months ago
Check out our latest issue to read a Q&A with
@thibautbrunet.bsky.social
, who studies the evolutionary origin of animal morphogenesis at the Institut Pasteur.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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Thibaut Brunet
Interview with Thibaut Brunet, who studies the evolutionary origin of animal morphogenesis at the Institut Pasteur.
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00366-5
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Max Telford
6 months ago
New entry into the sponge/ctenophore debate.... Have the chromosome fusions separating ctenophores from all other animals been given too much weight? Beautifully clearly written paper covering complex arguments from
@rcply.bsky.social
.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Sponges, ctenophores and the statistical significance of syntenies
Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cnidarians and bilaterians to the exclusion of ctenophores...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.07.652388v1
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Gert Wörheide
6 months ago
New contribution in
@elife.bsky.social
: Genetic parallels in biomineralization of the calcareous sponge Sycon ciliatum and stony corals
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
#molpalmuc
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Genetic parallels in biomineralization of the calcareous sponge Sycon ciliatum and stony corals
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.106239
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Noah Mitchell
7 months ago
Applications open for the MBL Light Microscopy Bootcamp in October
www.mbl.edu/education/mb...
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MBL Light Microscopy Bootcamp | Marine Biological Laboratory
Director: Ed Munro, University of Chicago
https://www.mbl.edu/education/mbl-light-microscopy-bootcamp
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William B. Fuckley
7 months ago
I have in general become way less tolerant of ‘crunchy’ bullshit since ascension of people like RFK jr. to actual power. Sorry but the obnoxious Reddit science and logic guys were right, you should be scorned for believing objectively wrong things about consequential issues.
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Thibaut Brunet
7 months ago
A dream come true: the first expansion microscopy images of C. flexa 🤩 Generated by Mylan & Uzuki who learned from the best (
@hiralshah.bsky.social
@gautamdey.bsky.social
@dudinlab.bsky.social
). We will learn so much from these!
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Max Telford
7 months ago
It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.
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@govofco.bsky.social
Gov Polis, care to provide an update on your “optimism” about Kennedy?
7 months ago
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Willem van Schaik
7 months ago
Detecting a microbial DNA signal in a sample does not mean that the sample contains a microbiome.
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Derrick Kamp
7 months ago
This work is finally officially out! Check out our paper, where we use various advanced microscopy techniques to shed light on the structures of a complex symbiotic organ and the communities of bacteria that live inside it.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
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Organ structure and bacterial microbiogeography in a reproductive organ of the Hawaiian bobtail squid reveal dimensions of a defensive symbiosis | Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Sequence-based microbiome studies have revealed much about how hosts interact with communities of symbiotic microbiota but often lack a spatial understanding of how microbes relate to each other and t...
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aem.02163-24
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Derrick Kamp
8 months ago
I made a website! Come check it out! Get to know me! See cool pictures! Learn that I'm looking for a post doc in fall 2025!
www.derrickkamp.com
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Home | Derrick Kamp
https://www.derrickkamp.com/
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Alex Sauerbrunn
8 months ago
A Surf Scoter pauses briefly before diving to the sea floor to hunt mollusks.
#birds
#bird
#duck
#nature
#wildlife
#photography
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Karina Xavier Lab
8 months ago
Symbnet PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses - Oeiras Portugal. Students from all over the world are eligible, we sponsor selected students. Please Repost!
gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-s...
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PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses 2025
Symbnet PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM) & Católica Biomedical Research Centre (CBR) July 06...
https://gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-school-2025
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Rachael Sirianni, PhD
8 months ago
Did you know that science labs work like small business entrepreneurs? Faculty hired on strength of ideas, get some startup $ to last 3-4 yrs. After that is grants- grants pay all our + our trainees’ salaries + scientific work. Funding in this country is frozen. That means scientific work stops
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Carolyn Bertozzi
8 months ago
We are in a biotech space race, cutting off basic science via slashing NIH and NSF funding robs the US of our competitive advantage: early innovation.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Kevin Mitchell
9 months ago
The gut microbiota: an amazing technicolour dream coat or the emperor's new clothes?
physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- an excellent corrective to the relentless hype
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The gut microbiota: an amazing technicolour dream coat or the emperor's new clothes?
Click on the article title to read more.
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP288465
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Brian Tyler Cohen
9 months ago
One of Norway's largest fuel companies just announced that they will no longer refuel US Navy vessels after Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy. “It made us sick... We encourage all Norwegians and Europeans to follow our example.”
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Tristan Snell
9 months ago
BREAKING: Foreign-born leader comes to Oval Office, dressed down in a disrespectful manner, having already received billions from America, asking for American taxpayers to keep paying him more billions, subsidizing him for years to come:
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Marine Biological Laboratory
9 months ago
March 12 is your last chance to apply for the MBL's 2025 Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis course! 🗓️ This immersive, research-based course facilitates state-of-the-art experimental approaches in symbiosis research. Read more:
bit.ly/4ig81fJ
#ScienceStartsHere
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Some NorCal sponges for your timeline. Blows my mind how they survive such extreme intertidal exposure!
9 months ago
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Pedro Vale
9 months ago
PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses. Awesome topic. Unbeatable location.
#symbiosky
#microsky
#evobio
gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-s...
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PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses 2025
PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbioses Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM) & Católica Biomedical Research Centre (CBR) July 06 -19, 202...
https://gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-school-2025/
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