The next ProSE Seminar will be given by Joana Pereira @joanampereira.bsky.social (VIB, KU Leuven) 🗓️ November 11th, 5pm CET Registration is now open: tinyurl.com/prose-seminar2 Please share!

🪰 folks! I spoke to the Transmitter about FlyBase. As noted at flybase.org, bridge $ ran out and many staff were laid off. Good news is stopgap contributions will keep core FlyBase operations active. But community support remains essential. Please donate @FlyBase and share! 1/2 tinyurl.com/FlyBase

Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint We discovered that the fruit fly #drosophila erecta requires food odor to mate and arousal is further enhanced by social group motion. Cross-species analysis of brain activity reveals a novel gate evolved from within a conserved circuit shorturl.at/gGYm7

I completed a PhD in Physics at MIT in '03. Even when the intensity seemed to be off-scale, there was one piece that I never doubted: the place had integrity, purpose, and passion. It's clear the culture and drive of MIT remains. MIT says no to the compact. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

We are recruiting PhD students! If you are interested in evolutionary neuroscience, consider applying: www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Having personally sworn for years that insects don’t use GPCRs for odour detection, Suguru Takagi (@sugurutakagi.bsky.social) discovers that, in fact, they sometimes do … www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Despite These Times...my department is hiring! I really like my department, we have a good mix of disciplines and organisms and we're really low-drama. We also get pizza at faculty meeting. So if you're a computational and structural biologist, join us! 🧪 jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/260...

Really looking forward to following this!

Adriano Senatore @utoronto.ca and colleagues explore the evolutionary origins of the sodium leak channel NALCN and its ancillary subunits FAM155/Mid1, UNC79, and UNC80. rupress.org/jgp/article/... #Evolution #IonChannels

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Thomas Hunt Morgan was born OTD in 1866. If you're ever feeling that your work is uending and unedifying, remember that he once said this: "Two years work wasted, I have been breeding those flies for all that time and I've got nothing out of it." 🌱🐋🧪 #HistSTM

Our lab webpage is out! takagilab.org

On cloud nine to announce that I'll be starting my own lab at the Department of Biological Science, Florida State University in Spring 2026! We'll study neuronal circuits and sensory-guided behavior by combining comparative and functional approaches using non-model Drosophila flies 🪰

Just a reminder - if you run/recruit or have anything to do with an ecology & evolutionary biology PhD program, check out our database and update your departments salary here: rhettrautsaw.app/shiny/Biolog...

We're hiring (yes, in this economy!) a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Neurophysiology. Hofstra is an R2/PUI that values both research & teaching. We offer REAL startup, manageable teaching loads, & a very collegial, growing dept. (7 new faculty in the past few years + 2 searches this year).

Together with @soreklab.bsky.social, our labs discovered that the human cGAS-STING pathway evolved from ancient bacterial proteins in CBASS anti-phage defense www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🤩 Join us for the next TIBBE seminar: Evolution of brain cell types. September 10, 2–3pm UTC This event brings together 2 outstanding evolutionary and developmental neuroscientists who will present their work, followed by an interactive discussion with the audience: www.crowdcast.io/c/evolution-...

I am recruiting a Ph.D. student in microbial ecology, evolution, and systems biology for fall 2026. Please share! Details: qevomicrolab.org/Documents/Gr... Apply by October 1 here: forms.gle/38pPS1Ky84HB...

Neuronal diversity is written in transcriptional codes 🧬. But what is the logic of these codes that define cell types and wiring patterns? To find out we built a #scRNAseq developmental atlas of the Drosophila nerve cord and linked it to the #connectome 🪰🧠 #preprint thread ⬇️1/8

Six years ago, I started at the MPIPZ with a head full of ideas. What a journey. I’m thrilled to share that, from Jan 2026, I will be moving to Zurich as a chaired associate professor at the University of Zurich. A new chapter, and plenty of roots still to grow. Can’t wait for the adventure ahead!

The Zahn lab is transitioning into the TIDAL Lab this Fall and moving to the Appl. Sci. Department at William & Mary. Would love to chat with students interested in doing a PhD at the nexus of microbial ecology and data science (starting 2026). RP please! gzahn.github.io

We are hiring a Postdoc in membrane protein cryo-EM at the University of Georgia. Looking for candidates with expertise in membrane protein purification and biochemistry. Fully funded for up to 5 years. Join us in Athens, GA. Apply: [email protected]

Exciting new Ruta lab preprint by @annaryba.bsky.social et al. on the neural underpinnings of intraspecific behavioral variation: Strain variation identifies a neural substrate for behavioral evolution Drosophila www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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!

I’m excited to share that I'll be joining the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at Rutgers University-New Brunswick as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in January 2026! Thrilled to launch my independent lab and be part of this vibrant research community 💖 #newPI

Wish I could be at #Evol2025 this year! I’ll be starting a new lab at NYU this fall, and will be recruiting at all levels. Please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to work on evo. genomics, phylogenies, and comparative development of inverts (like Hawaiian Drosophila!) shchurch.github.io

Due to popular demand, I am creating starter packs for a) Biology PIs looking for PhD students and b) Biology PIs looking for POSTDCOCs! Please respond saying if which packs you would like to be added to (or if you want to be added to both).

go.bsky.app/8zZNEGV Great resource to connect early career folks with more senior scientists looking to hire postdocs! 🧪

Are you a PI in a biology field looking for students to join your lab as a PhD student? I made a Starter Pack to help PIs and potential PhD students connect! If you would like to be added to this pack, please let me know! go.bsky.app/EFj87fi

I’m thrilled to announce that next summer I’ll be joining the University of Maryland Department of Biology as an assistant professor! The Van Etten lab will study how horizontal processes (DNA and gene transfer + organelle acquisition) drive and are driven by ecology and evolution. vanettenlab.org

We're hiring! Need a microscopy wizard to help build the world’s first synthetic plant chromosome! Bring your lights, lasers, & lens-craft to characterise new artificial chromosomes. Join our ARIA-funded project at UWA in Perth & ‪@plants4space.bsky.social‬. Apply: bit.ly/3GKSRSA

A great collaborative effort of many labs across continents: @vbcscitraining.bsky.social, WACCBIP, TReND in Africa and more. Now a first paper on #open-source RT-LAMP #diagnostics is out: urldefense.com/v3/__https:/... Congrats to the whole team. We hope this pushes affordable diagnostics in #LMICs

Fresh off the presses in @currentbiology.bsky.social : Is the deuterostome clade an artefact? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We (yours truly, Paschalis Natsidis, Laura Piovani and co-leads Paschalia Kapli and @maxjtelford.bsky.social) set out to try to answer this question. Why? (1/12)

In Fall '26 the Himmel Lab will open at NJIT Biological Sciences. I'm beyond stoked! Interested in a PhD/postdoc in the function/evolution/origins of the senses (computation or experimentation)? Message me and come join a great department in the NY metro! Sharing is appreciated. Info: himmellab.org

The entire nation should protesting this utterly unwarranted, unprecedented, & probably illegal on-going attack on a university. It's right out of the authoritarian playbook. It's an assault on possibility free speech, free thought, & dissent. Fascism is coming small step by small step, not at once.

The Laursen Lab (U. of Washington) is recruiting all career stages! We use genetic tools to understand how mosquitoes and other pests sense the world and how this influences their behavior. We welcome applicants from a wide range of backgrounds. The lab (and mosquitoes) can’t wait to meet you!

If you're in the US, considering Europe for your PhD, and you identify as a minority, I will chat with you and review any application documents you need 🧪

I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

In light of today's devastating announcement of a 75% cut to NIH overhead, it scarcely seems newsworthy that couple dozen COVID contrarians are cosplaying PNAS. But two of them are slated to lead the NIH and the FDA. Is this how they'll stand up for science?

NIH has cut billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Happy to share our paper’s final version on the evolution, structure, and membrane binding / remodeling of Asgard ESCRT-III proteins! And my first 🦋 post! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

NEW: We obtained the directions NSF program officers are following to review all grants for compliance with the Trump EOs and the turmoil it has created in an agency mandated to broaden STEM participation. Our story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New pre-print #2: Jérôme Mermet profiles living and dying lineages in the olfactory system to begin to explain how these sensory pathways are robustly specified but also evolvable: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New pre-print: an one-stop shop for everything you wanted to know about the fly olfactory system: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I made the Insect Sensory Neuro starter pack - let me know in the comments if you'd like to be added! (and also I'm sure I missed tons of people - tag them in!) go.bsky.app/JW7c5LN

I made a starter pack of speciation researchers. Please let me know if you or someone you know would like to be added. I am particularly sad that so far there are not many speciation researchers from the Global South represented. go.bsky.app/J7qDY56

I'm thrilled to be opening my own lab this Fall at the @maxplanck.de MPI for Brain Research in Frankfurt. The lab is going to investigate the neuronal and genetic underpinnings of behavioral evolution. We are hiring on all levels. Don't hesitate to share widely and reach out if interested.

I don't have anything new since ditching the other platform... so here's the last paper we published (so I have something to pin): Thanks to AlphaFold, we think homologs of insect Odorant/Gustatory receptors span the tree of life. Neat! doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #phylogenetics #smell #taste

Thrilled to see #choanoflagellates on the cover of Science Advances🤩. Our latest work "Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals" out now. Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👏 @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social