My first bluesky post of 2026. I was away in the UK, for meetings with colleagues but also got to sneak in a few visits with more friends, old and new alike. In what has been a turbulent and disquieting year across the world already, personal connections and support are more important than ever.

🎄 Just published 🎉! Our ongoing genome sequencing of the basal dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina uncovered a new lineage of endogenized Polinton-like viruses, OmPLV. Notably, OmPLV encodes ... [cont] #VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky

What a great way to end the year! This work, with a superb team, gave us the chance to put out some ideas about the evolution of meiosis (and other organellar systems) during eukaryogenesis. Congratulations especially to our undergrad Lisa Matsuo on her first ever paper:) @cloeucl.bsky.social

Wow! Super exciting science:)

The first candle of Channukah; the lights on a Christmas tree; the solstice as the time when the days get brighter; they are about finding a light in the darkest of times. Intentionally looking for, and appreciating something positive, when things seem dire can be a powerful act. Now and always.

This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.

And another Asgard paper. Cells in motion! Wow! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Haven't posted here in a bit. But the public school teachers' strike is over, my program grant is submitted, and our household is now COVID-free. Heard a great seminar today, had a catch up with a long-time collaborator, and taught a grad class to a very talented set of students. Happy Friday!

We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2

Our paper on the #genome of the Trebouxia #photobiont from Xanthoria is now out in @newphyt.bsky.social! Check below for a near-chromosome level assembly, secretome analysis, evidence of ancient HGT, and transcriptomic comparison of the alga in symbiosis and in pure culture doi.org/10.1111/nph.70728

Holy smokes!!!!

Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n #ProtistsOnSky tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

Excited to share our new paper! Tepsin and AP4 mediate transport from the trans-Golgi to the plant-like vacuole in Toxoplasma gondii. A great collaboration between the Meissner, Jiménez-Ruiz, and Dacks labs 🙌 #Toxoplasma #Apicomplexa #Golgi #CellBiology #Parasites

See companion study from Grech et al. @jimenezruizlab.bsky.social @meissnerlab.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

🔎Check out this image from one of the articles in our Sept/Oct issue: 🔬Two Nanochloropsis gaditana cells visualized by quick-freeze deep-etch electron ▶️Read the article: Goodenough & Roth. Ultrastructure of the Endoplasmic Reticulum in Eukaryotic Microalgae. doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #protistsonsky

Always happy to be involved in work that better explains how parasite cells function. Especially in a group like apicomplexans with such a global health impact (Malaria, Theileria, Cryptosporidium). The more we know, the better people are able to find ways to combat them. doi.org/10.1083/jcb....

OK sure, it started out as a typo, but I d like the idea measuring of a gene or protein's "Conswervation". Just feels more groovy and less judgemental than 'divergence".

What you're looking at is a brand new protist species! 🤯🔬 Isn't it beautiful? This image is just a glimpse of what's to come. We can't wait to share our full findings soon, in partnership with Guifré @beaplab.bsky.social @luisjagago.bsky.social. Stay tuned! #NewSpecies #protistsonSky #diversity

One is the best EMBO/EMBL symposium is coming up and it’s going to be AWESOME. Save the date !

New #ISEPpapers! Towards a trait-based framework for protist ecology and evolution: Mahwash Jamy et al. www.cell.com/trends/micro... #protists #algae #microbes #ecology #evolution

I reflect on the changes in the past year and introduce and explain the rationale for JEM's newly established AI guidelines. Most importantly, this piece discusses what I see as the core mission of the journal: to provide a venue for the voices of Protistologists. Hope you like it.

New #ISEPpapers! Selective loss of ATP carriers in favour of SLC25A43 orthologues in metamonad #mitochondria adapted to #anaerobiosis: Natalia Janowicz et al. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.... #Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Metamonads #Anaerobes #ProtistsOnSky

New #ISEPpapers! The fluid dynamics and functional diversity of the flagella of free-living flagellates orbit.dtu.dk/en/publicati... #Protists #Microbes #FluidDynamics #Biophysics

I had missed this when it came out at the end of last year, but I am glad to see some of my *favourite* eukaryotic supergroups marked as resolved #protistsonsky www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ipsj...

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #protistsonsky

The first paper from my PhD is out now! doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... We describe a new photosynthetic #Paulinella species from a brackish beach in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Big thanks to the co-authors Maia Palka and @alive-in-the-ocean.bsky.social, and my supervisor @fburki.bsky.social #protistsonsky

Check out our recent publication on breviate protists and their microbial communities. In this study, led by PhD student Karla and postdoc Julie, we found that breviate growth under anoxia might be dependent on the metabolic capabilities of the prokaryotes they live with. doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Moving fast and stressing hard about getting things done before vacation (and being grumpy about it). Then I opened my laptop to the news of the passing of a mentor and colleague. Her memory will be a blessing and guide. Good reminder about priorities today, though. Connections over check-lists.

Really interesting work!!

We have a postdoc opening for a protistologist with biophysics inclinations to join our @hfspo.bsky.social project! (focus will be on characterising the morphology, ultrastructure and behaviour of excavates) #protistsonsky Apply by Sept 17th (RTs appreciated!) jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

Drafting a budget for an upcoming grant and asked a colleague how much lab space I'd need to culture the fungi I plan to study. They said as mushroom as possible. ...I regret nothing.

🌟 New paper out! 🌟 Multi-omics reveals the microbial consortium sustaining Monocercomonoides exilis in vitro 🧬 Huge thanks to everyone involved, especially my project supervisor, Vladimír Hampl! 🙌 Read 👉 doi.org/10.1186/s407... #Microbiology #Protists #MicrobialEcology #Multiomics #OpenAccess

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Ultrastructure of the Endoplasmic Reticulum in Eukaryotic Microalgae #protistsonsky

✍️ The Jackson/Verbavatz Lab contributed to the publication of a new article 📖 @traffic-journal.bsky.social 📃 Eukaryote-Wide Distribution of a Family of Longin Domain-Containing GAP Complexes for Small GTPases 🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I love the image of the eukaryotic tree!

Wanna read about ARFGAPs, protists, Asgards, and the evolution of the endomembrane system? Have I got a paper for you! This was a pleasure to work on with two great collaborators, Cathy Jackson (@ijmonod.bsky.social) and Anna Novák Vanclová. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New #ISEPpapers! Eukaryote-Wide Distribution of a Family of Longin Domain-Containing GAP Complexes for Small GTPases onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... by Anna Novák Vanclová et al., @dackslabecb.bsky.social #Protists #Microbes #Archaea #Eukaryogenesis #Evolution #Eukaryotes

Congratulations Monica!!

Exciting news: our Board of Trustees has appointed @monicabettencourt.bsky.social as the CRG's new Director. Prof Bettencourt-Dias is expected to take up the post in 2026, replacing Dr. Luis Serrano, who will continue to maintain a research group at the institute. www.crg.eu/en/news/moni...

Please Re-Post. Our global GRUMP microbial ocean database is out in Scientific Data! Unfractionated, single universal PCR, with Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes all on the same scale with the same denominator. Pole to pole, depths to 6000m. Lots of metadata. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks ICOP/ISOP2025! I had a blast. See you in Prague! #protistsonsky

First protistology meeting complete! Fantastic time discussing protist biophysics and behaviour - many thanks to @freejakoba.bsky.social and Núria Ros Rocher for convening this special ISOP symposium! #protistsonsky

New #ISEPpapers! An Update on the Morphology and Phylogeny of the Nanoplanktonic Dinoflagellate Prorocentrum nux: Solenn Mordret et al. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Algae #Plankton

New #ISEPpapers! Repeated duplications and losses shaped SMC complex evolution from archaeal ancestors to modern eukaryotes: Jolien van Hooff et al. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #Protists #Microbes #Archaea #Eukaryogenesis #Evolution

New #ISEPpapers! High Protistan Parasite Occurrence During Fall in a Warm, Low Sea Ice Year in the Eastern #BeringSea: Tanika Ladd et al. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #Protists #Microbes #Parasites #Ecology #ClimateChange #SeaIce

Congratulations! Great to see this work already making an impact. We've included it in the recent JEM Special Collection on Parasitology too! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

Such a pleasure to accept the Department of Medicine Basic Science Publication Award for 2025, for our paper, "https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2403601121", on behalf of all co-authors.

Though taxonomy, species description, or evolution might (rightly) spring to mind when you think of JEM, we also publish tons of super parasitology papers! Here are a few of the greatest hits from the past 5 years. If you've got a protist parasite manuscript to go out, consider JEM😀

Excited to share our new paper in @cellreports.bsky.social that reshapes our understanding of chromosome organization's deep evolutionary roots! Our work dives into the origins of the machinery that structures our very genomes. 🔗: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... #Genomics #Evolution #CellBiology #LECA