In personal good news, my new brain surgeon says the gliosis (white area on right) from my surgery in 2006 looks the same as it did on my last MRI in 2013. He'll keep me on the anti-seizure med I started in May (the one that made me mean 20 yrs ago) but reduce the daytime dosage.

In the category of good news amidst a sea of bad, the T32 that supports UNC's Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology was renewed! July 1 started our 51st year of continuous support from NIGMS that has funded students & driven changes that improve training & outcomes.

Dr. Nila Pazhayam, PhD! Nila authored a review and 2 research papers, was on T32, had an F31, mentored undergrads, and more. Fun fact: Since Nila did a straight-to-MS degree (no BS) before her PhD, if she were to apply for a job in India that requires a BS she would be deemed unqualified.

Congratulations to Nina Wozniak, Ilan Socolovsky_Hull, and Josh Ponder, who all earned Honors in Biology for research they did in the Sekelsky lab! (Also to Sasha Sagar; her degree is Neuroscience so a different venue.)

@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social Corbin Jones, & I give huge thanks to Frank McNally, Christoph Haag, Andy Kern, Bengt Hansson, @takashiakeralab.bsky.social & @scienceleah.bsky.social for being guests in our #Meiosis, Recombination, & Evolution of Sex class at UNC. A pic from our final session w/ students

ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM Implementation of Schedule F This is what a lot of us have been worried about. This allows for many civil service positions to replaced with political appointees. This could include NIH institute directors and even POs. BUT THERE IS A COMMENT PERIOD... 1/n

Congratulations T$ - well-deserved and long overdue!

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ @scienceleah.bsky.social about her lab's @plos.org Genetics paper on a unique chromosome segregation mechanism in holocentric moths. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ @takashiakeralab.bsky.social about his lab's @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social on meiotic cohesin errors & sterility in hybrid mice. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Congratulations to Nila Pazhayam for a successful defense of her PhD dissertation! Her research provided important insights into how crossovers are kept away from the centromere. doi.org/10.1093/gene... doi.org/10.1093/gene...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ Bengt Hansson from @lund-university.bsky.social about his lab's #G3journal paper on bird male-biased CO patterning + new work: doi.org/10.1093/g3jo...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social , Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking with Any Kern @uoregon.bsky.social about his lab’s @currentbiology.bsky.social paper on octopus ZZ, ZO sex chromosome system: www.cell.com/current-biol...

It's happening on March 7: Nila's PhD defense! (We know this conflicts with #standupforscience2025, but this was scheduled months ago.)

The Biology Dept @uncchapelhill.bsky.social is searching for a Teaching Assistant Professor or Teaching Associate Professor. We're a vibrant community with fantastic colleagues and students. Apply and tell all your friends too! Here's the job posting link: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/297...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social,Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class at UNC loved talking w/ Christoph Haag @cnrs.bsky.social about his lab’s @journal-evo.bsky.social paper on recombination and asexuality in #Daphnia plus some unpublished work: doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Feeling very lost today with the news of the passing of my undergrad advisor Scott Hawley. He had a huge impact on the field and on me personally. He was the first person to see me as a scientist and gave me the confidence to apply to grad school. I am so grateful to be a part of his legacy.

Our (@mei_newt, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class at UNC had a great talk w/ Frank McNally from UC Davis on his lab’s #GENETICS paper showing C. elegans can correct trisomy and triploidy during female meiosis using spindle asymmetry: doi.org/10.1534/gene...

📢The 2025 MAYosis webinar series will be held on consecutive Wednesdays, May 7-28, at 4 pm CET (7 am PST; 12 am JST) meiosis.cornell.edu/mayoss2025/ Apply to give a talk (deadline is March 8, trainees and junior faculty only): tinyurl.com/47k3cjpn Registration is free: tinyurl.com/39rs53yv

What's the biggest Drosophila gene? Priscila Santa Rosa, co-mentored by Bob Duronio and me, is studying fragility within Myo81. In FlyBase, Myo81F is at least 1.966 Mb, but Pri has this exciting Nanopore sequencing that adds at least 24 kb to that.

Now that there are people here, I want to post about the highlight of the summer for me: My lab's 25th anniversary reunion, organized by several former members. They made a wonderful website that I looked at frequently. I made a timeline poster of everyone that's been in the lab. 1/5

Congratulations to our three undergraduate researchers that graduated with Honor in Biology. Emerson & Reese are off to graduate school, while Gray goes into the real world.

I’m here. Did I miss anything?