Genomic features underlying the origin of sociality and the diversification of caste systems in termites academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor. The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2. www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/

New article from the lab out today, in which we discuss how social behavior evolves at the molecular level. From parenting across the animal tree of life to caste systems in social insects, it’s all connected (and, therefore, slowly starts to make sense)…

Spoke recently to the great folks at the science foundation on their efforts to fund curiosity-driven science. They have a new RFA out for catalytic awards (up to $10K). Take a look if you’re itching to expand or try out a new idea. science-foundation.org

My awesome grad student Shashank and I wrote this paper trying to look at broader patterns of HT in TEs. HT is happening everywhere! DNA transposons jump further than other classes! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/12 Excited to share our new paper. Many essential functions, like DNA packaging and chromosome integrity, are encoded in highly repetitive, "recalcitrant" parts of the genome. But these regions have been incredibly hard to study. Until now. genome.cshlp.org/content/35/9...

🪰 folks! Despite Harvard lawsuit outcome, FlyBase NIH grant was not released. FlyBase now runs on the public, like NPR, PBS etc. If we don't step up, it can go away! Donations site on flybase.org homepage. Note: it links to IU stock center, but its for FlyBase, see instructions. pls give+share! 2/2

Why curiosity-driven research is so fundamental & important, and requires sufficient funding. It's a corner stone of scientific discovery, which has always been and will always be inherently unpredictable!!

Come be our colleague! The University of Rochester is hiring a TT Assistant Professor in evolutionary genetics and genomics: apply.interfolio.com/173431.

I'm thrilled to announce that I’m opening my own research team in the Department of Genome Biology at I2BC @i2bcparissaclay.bsky.social ! #ATIP-Avenir Very excited to start this new adventure! www.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr/equipe-intra...

Guo et al. generated haplotype-resolved genome assemblies of black carp, identifying dmrt1 as the sex-determining locus, with a 13.4 kb insertion containing TEs functioning as cis-regulatory modules that mediate Y-specific activation. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf239 #evobio #molbio #TEsky

Our department @ucdavisvetmed.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social is hiring! We welcome research that diversifies or complements existing strengths in gastrointestinal, neuroimmune, musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory systems and/or developmental biology. @socdevbio.bsky.social @ascbiology.bsky.social

Horizontal gene transfer - a typical source of a major innovation in evolution or a positive publication bias? In the latest preprint from Bourguignon Lab, termite genomes provide a story less frequently told. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

When transposons jump, genomes diverge - even in cultured cells. I am happy to share our new preprint: a chromosome-scale genome assembly for Drosophila OSC cells, one of the key model systems in the piRNA field, especially for nuclear piRNA biology. 🧬🧵 (1/12)

🚨🚨 1 week left to apply to our department's faculty search! We are an interactive and interdisciplinary department for biochemistry, genetics, cell, developmental, and molecular biology. If your work addresses aging or infectious disease, you should especially apply! 🚨🚨 apply.interfolio.com/171941

The Weintraub Award is seeking nominations for 2026! The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of grad students in biology and was established to honor the bold, creative, pioneering spirit embodied by Dr. Hal Weintraub. www.fredhutch.org/en/research/...

Cooperation and conflict in termite societies -- Judith Korb www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Which journal would publish such a fragmented mess? www.cell.com/current-biol...

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...

Visiting UT Austin in Integrative Biology and came across this fantastic opportunity for senior grad students in the life sciences.

#Wolbachia has puzzled scientists with its power to rewire insect reproduction. What if I tell you that we found one of the keys Wolbachia use to rewire its host AND a small molecule inhibitor uses this key to mimic what this microbe has mastered for millions of years. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Check out this new Levine-Lampson collaboration, led by the talented Hyuk-Joon Jeon. We explored the consequences of inheriting long telomeres from dad and short telomeres from mom. Or the reciprocal. Turns out, parent-of-origin matters (in mice, at least). authors.elsevier.com/c/1loW-3QW8S...

Just a few days left to apply! If you do cool molecular/cell biology things and want to start a lab in a supportive department in New England please check out our ad.

📣 Our department is hiring an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Cell and Molecular Biology to join the @weillinstitute.bsky.social PLS spread the word! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30607

New #miRNA paper from Lai lab!! 🧬🔥 some think this field, despite recent Nobel to Ambros and Ruvkun, doesn't have much surprises left. but, do we EVEN KNOW WHAT a miRNA precursor LOOKS LIKE? we found some conserved miRNA hairpins up to 10x longer than suspected. this is mir-12, just bonkers! 1/n

Excited to share that I’ll be joining @uicbios.bsky.social as an Asst. Prof. in Jan 2026! My lab will explore the epi/genetic principles of host–microbe interactions, symbiosis, and vector biology. We’ll be hiring postdocs and techs—details and lab website coming soon! bios.uic.edu/news-stories...

Rapid protamine evolution suppresses meiotic drive in Drosophila by @ching-hochang.bsky.social @harmitmalik.bsky.social et al. 🤩 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Save the date! #PEQG26 June 9-12 2026 in Asilomar, CA. Happens only every 2yrs, but is my favorite conference. Full website coming soon, and registration and abstract submission opens November 14, but I'm allowed to tease that keynotes will be @jnovembre.bsky.social @jennytung.bsky.social and me!

Day 6 of #Behaviour2025 @behaviour2025.bsky.social and I am finally presenting, on my last PhD chapter, and my current postdoctoral work at 11:45 AM in Hall 2. If anyone is interested in butterflies, flies, ejaculate, brain, and behaviour, do come to my talk 😁🦋🪰🧠 @asab.org @wolfnerlab.bsky.social

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...

Flybase in fact is a key resource for people working on ANY #insects! So many folks developing non-model organisms get an idea of what a gene does based on what’s known in the closest model organism like flies. Help support this database for everyone interested in genes in 🦋🪲🐝🦟🪰🐜 … or ANY organism!

New from the lab led by @natrigg.bsky.social. We started by characterizing mRNA in sperm, EVs, and the epithelium across epididymal transit. This revealed evidence that sperm acquire specific mRNAs through fusion with epididymal EVs, which we further established with in vitro co-incubation assays

Thanks for sharing! All activities were spearheaded by Roberto Torres @lcatmon.bsky.social in collaboration with the "44 Perills" association and with the support of @sesbe-org.bsky.social @eseb2025.bsky.social and @ajuntamentbcn.bsky.social. Big shout out to #eseb2025 scientists that participated!

Our department is hiring TWO tenure-track Assistant Professor positions! Join a fantastic group of biochemists, molecular, cell, and developmental biologists! www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/bioc...

A. James Hudpseth, who died 16 August at age 79, devoted his 50-year career to untangling how the ear converts sound into electrical signals. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/hearing/reme...

I watched the video and donated - it was super easy! Please donate if you’re able, and help spread the word so that we can keep this essential resource going.

FlyBase needs your help! We ask that European labs continue to contribute to Cambridge, UK FlyBase, whereas US and other non-European labs can contribute to US FlyBase. For more information and how to donate: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...

🦋A #butterfly paper @science.org 👀 A #microRNA is the effector gene of a classic evolutionary hotspot locus by @tianshenbio.bsky.social et al. #genetics #evolution #development #evodevo #moth #lepidoptera #insects #entomology www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1/ How do animals develop immunity against a newly encountered transposable element from scratch? Our study reveals that the mobility of TEs is their Achilles heel, allowing hosts to develop a powerful small RNA-mediated silencing response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I'm looking for a graduate student (either PhD or master's) to join my lab starting Jan 2026. If you know any students in social behavior and evolution (and termites!), please let them know!

Wonderful (and humble) essay on mentorship by Brandon Gaut, on occasion of Brandon receiving the inaugural Mentorship Award of @genetics-gsa.bsky.social. I hope this will be widely read! academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

The creative process in science has a set of thinking tools that we could do a better job teaching. Here are the 12 articles that Martin and I wrote about them, including "It takes two to think", "A hypothesis is a liability" and "The two languages of science". night-science.org/home/learn/r...

Transcription factors instruct DNA methylation patterns in plant reproductive tissues https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.21.639562v1

Drive, suppression, and escape from suppression of a selfish chromosome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.669186v1

Antisense transposon insertions into host genes trigger piRNA mediated immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.28.667215v1

Happy to share our latest article, led by Tee Muirhead, now out in PNAS! We report the evolutionary genomics of the newly discovered neo-sex chromosomes in Myzomela — involving translocation, inversions & degeneration on the neo-W. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Genomic response to sex-separated gene pools https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.18.665591v1

Our latest paper is out: rdcu.be/ev6Ym — one of my favorite projects. It began about 8 years ago when Nobel laureate Torsten Wiesel asked me: what transcription factors regulate new genes? I had no idea then. Now we have some answers.

Looking forward to my first SMBE meeting #SMBE25 😁 I’ll give a talk on the last day (Thursday) on evolutionary innovation in genome defense!

Need a quick and easy way to probe nuclear protein-protein interactions? => consider nxReLo assays 👀 🧫 cell culture-based (no rec. proteins needed) 🔬 direct read-out via protein co-localization (no IPs, no reporter genes) ⏱️ quick (transient transfection + imaging) Kudos to the Jeske group!