www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... It's finally out! Meriam Guellil expertly led this project from the first HHV6 detection to the final paper. We found both human herpesviruses 6A and 6B in ancient remains going back 2500 years.

1/ In a recent @britishacademy.bsky.social video @rebeccasear.bsky.social from @brunelpsy.bsky.social takes a clear-eyed look at the 21st‑century rise of eugenics - an ideology that should have been left behind, yet is now re‑emerging in a number of troubling ways ⚠️🧬 🧪 Watch the full talk here 🎥👇

Great talk from @ugiatucl.bsky.social post-doc @cenkcelik.bsky.social presenting his work developing new approaches to explore the spatial patterns of cancer evolution. Preprint 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thanks for giving our last seminar of the year!

Lovely is the right adjective. Writing this was so enjoyable in the company of @acstone.bsky.social @blevinske.bsky.social and Verena Schuenemann. Hope you enjoy.

We’re recruiting a PhD student as part of the AI-Intervene DTP to join FlightPath, an exciting project combining viral genomics, bird migration data, and AI-powered phylodynamics to forecast how avian influenza evolves and spreads. Project Details 🦠🧬🦅🦆🌎: tinyurl.com/2v4xaxmx.

🚨 PNAS Special Feature 2 🐕 We used ancient DNA and dietary isotopes to show that landscape modification and the introduction of European dogs impacted dingo populations across Australia. 🔗 Full paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Despite my insomnia, I'm very happy to share our preprint: a multi-disciplinary assessment of a sheep mass mortality event from ~18th century France. We report the first ancient sheeppox virus (think smallpox) and the Taenia hydatigena (nasty roundworm) genomes. #aDNA

UK science and technology is suffering from a lack of investment, a hostile immigration system, and fragile university finances, reports @cathleenogrady.bsky.social 🧪 #scipolicy www.science.org/content/arti...

Our manuscript on bovine deep-time paleogenomics at Denisova Cave and in the broader mid-latitude Asia is online! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... 🦬🦴🧬 Main findings in the 🧵 below ⬇️ @cpgsthlm.bsky.social @genomebiolevol.bsky.social #aDNA

a life changing opportunity made possible by the Nobel Prize funds awarded to John Sulston -- the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social runs the Sanger Prize scheme, open to an undergrad from any LMIC to spend 3 months here learning all about genomics. more details here www.sanger.ac.uk/about/study/...

Briefly, we identified three extinct mitochondrial bovine lineages in mid-latitude Asia: aurochs basal to haplogroup C, bison clade X, and a previously unknown yak-like clade X sister to all known yak diversity. This yak X mitochondrial lineage diverged around 675,000 years ago from modern yak!

What an incredible resource for those starting out in ancient DNA! Thanks once again @oskolkov.bsky.social for being our first #AaRCademy speaker

New online! Insights into infectious diseases through ancient pathogen genomics

A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

Applications are now open for the NERC TREES DLA 2026 PhD cohort. If you’re interested in conducting high-impact research in environmental science via an advertised or self-proposed project please take a look: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/news/applica.... #PhDprogramme #PhD #genomics #evolution

Wonderful and engaging talk by @lucyvandorp.bsky.social who was invited to speak on the drivers of pathogen evolution using ancient DNA at the Ancient Genomes: Perspectives on Human Biology and Medicine meeting @gensocuk.bsky.social 🧬🦠

Great to have Priya Moorjani visit UGI and give a talk on inferring Neanderthal ancestry in ancient individuals, and to share a bit about her work on Indian genetics, including insights into the evolution of lactase persistence.

How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities? Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation. 🧵(1/n) @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515

Great to have Dr Hrushikesh Loya give a fantastic talk on his tool Ghostbusters: A Genome-Wide Genealogical Approach to Uncovering Hidden Admixture Events in Human Evolution 👻

Fantastic reporting by @kakape.bsky.social on @scs22.bsky.social's work in the Arctic looking for sequenceable ancient RNA viruses. Amazing pictures (including this gem), and as always great story telling and commentary on the topic. Excited to see what they find. www.science.org/content/arti...

Thrilled to share our preprint where we propose that S. enterica Paratyphi C entered Mexico via European conquest and then diversified locally. More evidence is needed to assert whether or not it caused Cocoliztli (a major contact-period epidemic). Comments welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🦠💀🦠 Happy to share our (with @gunnar-u-neumann.bsky.social) new preprint on ancient Salmonella enterica genomes! We analysed 53 new genomes along with published ancient and modern datasets to learn about lineage replacements and host adaptation in prehistory: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Almost 10 years after my masters here, I finally get a chance to talk at @lshtm.bsky.social for CEE's autumn symposium 🍁🧬🦠

I have funding for a 2-year dry-lab postdoc to join our team @humanevouu.bsky.social 🧪 (Deadline Oct 21st) The project will utilize modern and #aDNA data from humans and sheep to study environmental adaptation (including method development and simulations). Please share! www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Very excited to receive an ERC Starting Grant to study the earliest archaeological and biomolecular evidence of Homo sapiens in NW Europe Watch this space for new positions in Bristol in 2026! 🎉 #HorizonEurope #ERCStG

Check out our latest paper, a huge effort led by @benjaminguinet.bsky.social and @tvdvalk.bsky.social 🦣🔍🦠 Paper: www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Centre for Ecology & Evolution autumn symposium & mixer www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/e...

Come join us!! A very exciting project with a wonderful team!! 🤩🧬

If you like generating genomic data from unusual medical samples, past and contemporary epidemiology and advancing methods in phylo/population genetics please get in touch. Group website: www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbpvan/ Closing date Sept 25th 2025. #aDNA #microbialgenomics #ISBA #popgen #UCL

Excited to say we’re hiring 😊. We’re looking for a post-doc in ancient pathogen genomics to join our friendly supportive team in London at @ugiatucl.bsky.social. Start date January 2026. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

We were part of another viral aRNA study that was just published. In this work spearheaded by Christian Urban in the lab of Verena Schuenemann, a new protocol was assessed (good for short fragments) and a seventh 1918 flu genome was completely sequenced bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

📣 Work with us! 📣 The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge is looking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology. 📅 Closing date: 15 September 👉 More info and how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

I am starting a computational lab at LIOS, Riga, Latvia, and going to recruit a few people. Please DM if you are interested in a postdoc or PhD position in my Metabolic Research Group within the TARGETWISE project. I can highly recommend Riga, it is a beautiful city with very good living conditions.

New review paper led by @nancybird1.bsky.social which unpacks the complexities of genetic ancestry and examines what genetic data can and cannot tell us 🧬 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks to @gregerlarson.bsky.social for a fabulous talk 'Hunting the Earliest Dogs' which rounded up this academic year's UGI seminar series. It was great to have Greger visit us @ucl.ac.uk.

A big advance today in the infectious disease history of Eurasia: Sikora et al., "The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia," www.nature.com/articles/s41.... #histmed #aDNA 🧪🗃️

✨🧬 Sharing our UCL Genetics Institute starter pack of researchers, friends and alumni past and present 🧬 ✨ #UGISKY (DM us to be added) go.bsky.app/Gw1NqRa

Had a chance to present my research on Cameroonian genetic history last Thursday at the conference 'From Genes to Nationhood' in Yaoundé, organised with the Cameroonian ministry for Youth Affairs and Civil Education!

We welcomed @kguschan.bsky.social to @ucl.ac.uk for our UGI Seminar Series. A fantastic talk spanning primate population histories, mito-nuclear interactions, temporal microbiomes, and antimicrobial resistance.

A pleasure to welcome Kevin Daly @gingerhowley.bsky.social to @ucl.ac.uk for our UCL Genetics Seminar series. Kevin gave a great talk on reconstructing the relationship between animal herding and pathogen evolution using paleogenomic techniques.

Had the opportunity to chat about @poojaswali.bsky.social's study on louse-borne relapsing fever on the French radio today 🧬🦠 www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur... @franceculture.fr @radiofrance.fr @crick.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk

Our @ucl.ac.uk @crick.ac.uk work, out this week in @science.org, traces a genetic time series of bacterial infections to reveal when and how Borrelia recurrentis jumped from ticks to humans—via our body lice. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New UCL-Crick led paper out this week in @science.org on the evolution of louse-borne relapsing fever led by @poojaswali.bsky.social. See below for her thread explaining the work and it's relevance to when and how this bacteria has adapted to louse-borne human infection. tinyurl.com/76vzy4tn

Scientists used to think diseases that jump from animals to people really took off when people started domesticating cattle, sheep and goats 11,000 years ago. A new look at ancient bacterial DNA in @science.org by @poojaswali.bsky.social and colleagues suggests the pivotal moment came much later.

And sharing this BBC Science in Action podcast featuring my amazing supervisor @lucyvandorp.bsky.social (from 24:00) discussing the paper www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I love this site so much, and our understanding of it has been enhanced in ways we couldn’t have imagined thanks to the hard work of @poojaswali.bsky.social and colleagues! Thanks for letting us be a part of this incredible research! 🥰

Congratulations @poojaswali.bsky.social (and everyone else involved) for this amazing achievement! Very excited to have been a part of this ancient pathogen research🦠🧬

And a wonderful article covering our new paper written by @spoke32.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Excited to announce our paper on ancient Borrelia genomes is finally out! 🦠💀We document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever, published today in @science.org‬ with @lucyvandorp.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social #aDNA 🏺🧪🧬 Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️

Today @ugiatucl.bsky.social explored the use of #AI in biology through a special seminar event. Great talks from @mariasecrier.bsky.social, Chris Barnes, Cedric Tan and Alexei Yavlinsky spanning bacterial pangenomes, cancer biology and viral evolution. Thanks to Marina Escalera and UGI seminar team.