@mikeblazanin
Postdoc with @kayla-king.bsky.social and @sarperotto.bsky.social at UBC. Host-pathogen evolution. C. elegans, phages, and bacterial communities. Modeling and experimental evolution. Microbial and computational methods. https://mikeblazanin.com/
Did you know that Evolution Letters now publishes reviews?! Our inaugural one is fantastic! Deep learning is opening new doors for evolutionary genomics, especially for nonmodel organisms with sparse or uncertain genomic data. doi.org/10.1093/evle...
Beloved lepidopterist Kevin dissects some noctuid genitalia in the Visible Lab, which he has decorated to look like the penalty box at a hockey game. He is wearing a Pens jersey and a hockey helmet while he looks thru the microscope.
I thought our new “visible lab” space felt like a petting zoo but @mothpotato.bsky.social had a much better idea
🔔Collaborator Advert🔔
I am looking to get my hands on some Lactobacillus spp. from the urogenital tract for work on UTIs and AMR. Does anyone have any that they would be willing to share?
I had a contact, but the MTA has been a nightmare to sort from their end, so struggling.
Join @berasymbionts.bsky.social , @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social and us for a postdoc on the remarkable developmental biology of symbiosis!
Applications are due March 25th 🪲🦠
@johninnescentre.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social
🔔Seminar Opportunity🔔
We're looking for (self)recommendations for a Postdoc who is working in the area of AMR (any area, any discipline) to give an online seminar in May.
Reply, DM or email me, there will more opportunities in the future as well so will be good to have a list.
#MicroSky #AMR
Any recommendations for books / vids for little ones interested to learn about microbiology?
My 5yo has picked up on work chatter and keeps asking “Tell me about Klebsiella?” and I am running out of ideas! 😂
#MicroSky
Check this FRESH REVIEW about how the #wildlife #microbiome can shape infection ecology and #parasite #evolution led by @jingdi.bsky.social - which I got to contribute for! 🕺
NOW OUT in Molecular Ecology 🦋🐸🐝🐻🦠
#MicroSky #SymbioSky
@ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social
@science.ubc.ca
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years thinking about genome evolution and how recent research revealing complex gene-gene interactions has complicated traditional ‘gene-centric’ genomic approaches to evolution. So here is a review that consolidates these thoughts!
rdcu.be/e6pHY
Are you a grad student attending #Evol2026? Submit your talk for the SSE Hamilton Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation! Finalists will present their talks during the virtual portion of the meeting. Apply during registration. Deadline April 15! shorturl.at/qDIP4 @evolmtg.bsky.social
Long long ago I was hanging out with a girl who would often say "We're all just dogs wearing sweaters" as if that was a common saying. She had made it up, but we all know what that means I think. Now I, too, say it as if it's a known idiomatic phrase. And now it is.
Given that clonal biofilms of single bacterial species rapidly diversify into niche specialists, how do biofilms of multiple species evolve? Below is the TLDR to a🧵 w/pub links, h/t to @mozammel.bsky.social 🇦🇺 & Henriette Lyng Roder lab 🇩🇰 for extending our single-species work in clever ways!👇🏻
Exciting announcement! My new department is launching a postdoc fellowship in quantitative biology. Fellows will be co-advised by two Bio faculty, one that is quant focused (not me) and one that is not (me???). I would love to co-sponsor a postdoc and build a collaboration so please reach out!
AI has huge promise for genomics -- but it has consistently failed at microbiome-based prediction.
My new post on why simple models keep winning, where deep learning actually earns its place, and where the field is headed
blekhman.substack.com/p/ai-keeps-f...
In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨
Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!)
Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇
doi.org/10.1093/fems...
📢 Now accepting proposals for the Graduate Research Excellence Grants! These provide evolutionary biology research funds for early and advanced Master’s and PhD students. Applicants must be members of SSE. Deadline: May 18, 2026
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
This is a cool use of Hi-C within microbiology.
🧪 This bacterial strain has been maintained in sterile water since 1994.
Possible carbon sources incl. “phthalic acid - a plastic degradation product likely leached from inoculation tubes“.
Genomic variations accumulated between 1994 and 2022 suggested adaptations to long-term nutrient deprivation
Divergent creativity in humans and large language models www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧬💻🧪
bioRxiv continues to grow – a brief spike and lag in the pandemic (details of which are included) but a steady increase in submissions since then. % revisions, license choice, etc. all fairly constant. 0.1% withdrawal rate is comparable to journal retraction rates 2/n
I've been wondering about this since a post that said authors have something to hide if they don't preprint. I have nothing to hide & don't preprint bc I'm always the one writing the paper, and by the time I get it done I submit it to a journal, when I see no benefit of preprinting. Change my mind?
Ad for Postdoctoral Scientist Position in Burmeister Lab on Bacteria-Phage Coevolution. Full document available here: https://arburmeister.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/9/9/19990727/burmeister_lab_postdoc_position_2026.pdf
Postdoc position on phage-bacteria coevolution available in the @aburmeister.bsky.social lab at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee #phage #evosky #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🔬 #microbiology
arburmeister.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
📢 Funded PhD in molecular microbiology & phage biology
How do bacterial stress responses control prophage activation and horizontal gene transfer?
Join us at St Andrews to dissect Clp protease–mediated regulation in Staphylococcus aureus.
Apply:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
1. Kevin Gross and I have a new paper out today PLOS Biology.
We used economic models based around screening games and the market for unpaid labor to highlight a meltdown cycle threatening peer review.
Pablo Picasso created a figure with light, 1949. Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection.
In Gjon Mili’s photographs of Pablo Picasso drawing with light, you see the figure because the camera integrates time.
Inspired by long-exposure photography, Dante Ashih, an undergraduate in my lab, built the Wormtrails Python package to make it easier to see recent C. elegans behavior.
Thread. 1/
Evolution 2026 meeting logo. Clilp art of a globe and laptop showing a virtual presentation. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Global Meeting Participation.
SSE is pleased to offer free virtual #Evol2026 registration to all SSE members residing in 152 countries and territories around the world including India, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Request your free registration code today! www.evolutionsociety.org/index.php?mo...
Evolution 2026 meeting logo. A heart with hands reaching toward each other across it. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Caregiver Grants to facilitate virtual or in-person attendance. Apply by March 15.
Applications due March 15 for the SSE Caregiver Grants, which provide up to $500 USD to help cover caregiving costs while attending virtual or in-person #Evol2026. Apply today!
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
One scientist talking to two others. "These days. If you're not a mad scientist, you're not paying attention."
Me. I'm a mad scientist.
(Paul Noth cartoons)
Paper list for undergraduate phylogenetics seminar
Lineup for #Phylogenetics seminar paper discussion. How'd I do? Minus points for destructive bird bias and friend bias.
Can't ever pass up the opportunity to get them to roast my own work though.
I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across.
If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers.
If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.
The increased mutation rate of DNA-repair–deficient mutators accelerates resistance evolution in bacteria and cancer. In a great collaboration with @mulkern.bsky.social, we find that DNA-damaging antibiotics can turn this advantage into a liability—but only for certain genotypes.