A special collection: recent advances in biological control of spotted-wing drosophila #Drosophila

A high-affinity split-HaloTag for live-cell protein labeling. And much more. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

AlphaFold database has entered the era of complexes. Together with NVIDIA, DeepMind and EBI, we use ColabFold, OpenFold and MMseqs2-GPU to predict ~31 million complexes (homo & hetro-dimers) resulting in 1.8 million high-quality predictions 📄 research.nvidia.com/labs/dbr/ass... 🌐 alphafold.ebi.ac.uk

Grateful to be featured by the @vanderbilt.edu in their 'Beyond the Postdoc' series. If you're a postdoc and looking for some perspective, keep reading until the end - I share a few reflections and pieces of advice that helped me along the way. www.vanderbilt.edu/postdoc/rupi...

Quick plug for our new resource, the Drosophila Species Stock Exchange. This is a database and mailing list that documents species currently in culture and the labs holding them. If you want to know more or sign up then please get in touch. See attached for more info and please share!

"A world-first gene therapy which turns white blood cells into a disease-busting “living drug” has reversed previously untreatable blood cancers." www.positive.news/society/revo...

What do you wish someone had told you before you went on the job market? What actually counts and what doesn’t? Looking forward to our panel discussion on navigating today’s job search landscape. Come with questions and hear the unfiltered version of our experiences. #SciCareers #Academia #ECRs

Epigenome Technologies offers an end-to-end single-cell Paired-Tag service, the first multiomic assay that simultaneously captures RNA expression and epigenetic marks from preparation to data analysis #Epigenetics #SingleCell #PairedTag #Multiomics bit.ly/3HWFoaw

Great read! Congratulations @katarinazimmer.bsky.social on your insightful @knowablemag.bsky.social piece exploring the remarkable biology of the Aedes aegypti #mosquito knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

Goodbyes are never easy when you’ve built a strong community and lifelong friendships. But as they say “We don’t leave foundations behind, we build upon them.” Onward to the next chapter of my career at UIC, with immense gratitude to @symbionticism.bsky.social for extraordinary mentorship & support!

AI learns from chromatin data to uncover gene interactions www.nature.com/articles/d41...

In the #gonad, #sex is not an irrevocable commitment, and requires active maintenance. Artyom Kopp explores a new @plosbiology.org study elucidating the molecular mechanisms that preserve sexual identity in the adult #Drosophila #testis 🧪 Paper: plos.io/4pMT6hq Primer: plos.io/3MRBBxG

👀 Save the date!

Such an impactful work showing that the "chromatin fatigue" is real to pose consistent stress for the survival of the cell! Kudos to the team! 👏👏

Beyond Wolbachia—Can a small molecule control insect reproduction?

This book has never been more timely. Thanks to @sonali-m-19.bsky.social for writing it and for sending me a copy.

🚨 New pub alert! Check out our latest one that showcases how chemical and genetic innovations can recreate complex host–symbiotic interactions in the absence of the symbiont. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Direct single-molecule detection and super-resolution imaging with a low-cost portable smartphone-based microscope www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

New research from EMBL Rome shows how paternal environment prior to conception can shape early embryo development. These findings are a step toward understanding the mechanism of epigenetic inheritance, opening up new possibilities for disease prevention. www.embl.org/news/science...

absolutely wild, from the Small Molecules Considered (SMC) branch: "...this work provides another piece in a complex biological puzzle aiming to understand the persistent and pervasive nature of 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢 endosymbionts." (doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...) #MicroSky #SymbioSky

#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...

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make"

Identification of optimal fluorophores for use in the Drosophila embryo by Timothy E Saunders and team: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

These awesome microscopy images show what actually happens when E. coli is exposed to an antibiotic. A bacterium starts to look bumpy as it tries to put more “bricks” in its defensive wall. But as it builds, it leaves gaps that let the antibiotic to kill it. 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

Out First Release in @science.org this week: A large scale analysis of the epigenetics of transposable elements in Arabidopsis shows transgenerational stability www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #PlantScience

T-minus 14 days for registration opening for the Annual #Drosophila Research Conference in Chicago next March. Looking forward to seeing all our meeting support staff from @genetics-gsa.bsky.social . Ditto for our valued curators @flybase.bsky.social . #genetics genetics-gsa.org/drosophila-2...

ReMOT Control reagents are now available on @addgene.bsky.social! Go git 'em! www.addgene.org/Jason_Rasgon

"Striking diversity of male-killing symbionts and their mechanisms" by Hiroshi Arai (@haraipapilio.bsky.social), Daisuke Kageyama (@daisukekageyama.bsky.social) & co "Why [and how] do maternally inherited endosymbionts kill male hosts?" Find out here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Excited for you to join us!

Congratulations Rim! Will be great to have you in the Midwest!

Congratulation Rim! I can not wait to see what you accomplish in your next chapter!

Ignite and launch: After six years of super science together, @kaurr.bsky.social is heading to Chicago to start a science team and lab. 🚀

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...

Drs @minealtinli.bsky.social‬ @spleonard1.bsky.social‬ @alainkohlvirology.bsky.social & @mosquitomicrobe.bsky.social review #bacteria-mediated #dsRNA delivery for #mosquito-borne #virus control. #RNAi #vectorcontrol #symbiont #engineering #mosquito #arbovirus www.cell.com/trends/paras...

Feeling awed and a bit starstruck that @science.org chose to run a book review on #LabworkToLeadership!! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵

I’m thrilled to share my first review about microbial ecology + mosquito-borne disease control! Bacteria block pathogen development in the mosquito gut, but which bacteria will produce long-lasting results in the field? Let’s think about colonization and persistence in the mosquito gut! (1/4)

A @csisingapore.bsky.social team showed D-I-Tasser can outperform AlphaFold2/3, elevating high-accuracy protein structure & function predictions. We wonder if this moves us closer to resolving protein–protein complex structure prediction? @natbiotech.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

To be or not to be 🤴💀: read how hamlet orchestrates the assembly of adult male reproductive system in #Drosophila in a new paper from our colleagues! Led by Huazhen Wang, a PhD student in Qi Dai group, the study explores how this protein mediates the fusion of testis and supportive gonadal tissue

@harmitmalik.bsky.social and I had a lot of fun sharing our science with intrepid science spotlight reporter David Sokolov (not on blue sky)! I should hire him as my writing coach. Check out his excellent write-up describing our recent study here: www.fredhutch.org/en/news/spot....

Despite all the shit going on, we have to celebrate our victories. New publication with @entomososwin.bsky.social and @vectorimmunity.bsky.social showing that hemocytes play a central role in disseminating flaviviruses to secondary tissues potentially functioning as a Trojan Horse(TBD) rdcu.be/euj4g

🌍🦠 World Microbiome Day shout-out: we’ve just unveiled the Microbiota Vault—a planetary backup for microbial diversity. Built on equitable, One Health values & linked to the new IUCN SSC Microbiomes. Read our Nature Comms piece: doi.org/10.1038/s414... #MicrobiotaVault #Conservation #WMD2025

New paper out at Biological Reviews!! 🥳🥳 "Infection dynamics of endosymbionts that manipulate arthropod reproduction" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.70024 A joint effort with Franziska Brenninger (now a postdoc ‪@unibe.ch‬) and @kokkonut.bsky.social‬. (1/5)

Histone modifications in development Read this 'Development at a Glance' article by Yu-Hao Liu and @robertife.bsky.social, summarising the role of selected histone modifications during development. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Started a starter pack for the presenters and attendees of the 2025 Animal-Microbe Symbiosis Gordon Research Conference. Let me know if I should add (or remove) you! go.bsky.app/Pnzz1R9

🇧🇷 World's largest #Wolbachia facility launches this Summer: 5B mosquito eggs/year → 100M people protected 3000 m² state-of-the-art facility. A true partnership model for global health innovation. @oficialfiocruz.bsky.social #dengue 1/2

🚨📢 New paper alert! A study led by Kirsten Senti and Julius Brennecke offers new insights into how ancient endogenous retroviruses diversified to exploit different cell “niches” in the fruit fly ovary, and how the host’s defenses adapted in return. https://imba.science/Brennecke_EMBOJ

Move over AlphaFold3. Boltz-2 has arrived, bringing affinity prediction for protein-small molecule interactions! Can’t wait to see what this group does next. Congrats to all @gcorso.bsky.social Was a pleasure writing this: www.cancergrandchallenges.org/news/boltz-2...