Elizabeth Ostrowski

Kids’ hands on a mottled, camouflage looking tree trunk in New Zealand

Is this the same type of tree? I’ve always loved the bark. (Taken in Cornwall Park, Auckland)

I am looking for wide-ranging mammalian DNA samples for a class I am developing. Especially sought-after would be parent-offspring paired samples.

Please retweet (re-skeet?), thank you!

I am looking for wide-ranging mammalian DNA samples for a class I am developing. Especially sought-after would be parent-offspring paired samples.

Please retweet (re-skeet?), thank you!

I tried to avoid providing keys for exactly this reason — but I’ve given in to student demand. How do you get buy-in for this policy?

Rookie mistake, returning to the US: signed up for an FSA and forgot about it. In other (not unrelated) news, I am the proud new owner of a fancy foot massager 🙃

In our new study we were the first to experimentally simulate the origin of sociality! By controlling how many wasp 🐝daughters could help their mom, we found that early helpers don't just add to colony success—they multiply it!

Here is a video that I think might be the best I’ve seen to give students an idea of what is involved in transfers and competitions. I’d like something less detailed/ specific to LTEE, though, while still covering logistics

www.jove.com/v/65342/dail...

4/ #DYK during pregnancy🤰, cells are exchanged between mothers + offspring, & even twins? Awardee @elizostrow.bsky.social will study how microchimerism mediates genetic conflict and drive resource competition.
🍾 Congrats Dr. Ostrowski! @uwbothell.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social

3/ Awardee @mixotrophe.bsky.social aims to uncover how mixotrophs (marine microbes that harness energy from the 🌞 & organic matter) strategize their metabolisms. Her project may be key to understanding our changing ocean.
🎉 Congrats Dr. Moeller! @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout Ginger Armbrust

2/ Awardee @megbehri.bsky.social will study how chaotic dynamics arise in microbial🦠 populations. Her research could transform how we predict microbiome dysbiosis across human health and beyond.
🥳 Congrats Dr. Behringer! @vuartsci.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social

✨Announcing our newest awardees, who are taking scientific leaps to uncover new knowledge across microbial ecology, marine microbiology, and mammalian genetics. Learn about their projects: bit.ly/HFAwardees

Meet our awardees and hear from their #HFScouts in our 🧵/1

I’m watching this! I could use the resources too.

"are you enjoying duo mobile" does a hamburger enjoy being made of quarks. does a fish enjoy linear time. does the mountain enjoy the first taste of a cup of hot chocolate when you get back to the ski lodge. your question means nothing to me. i couldn't enjoy duo mobile even if i tried

Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking

Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧪 #socialviruses

Does anyone have a favorite experimental evolution overview for undergraduates? Ideally one that goes into the details of fitness assays, marking strains, etc.

Everything I’ve found doesn’t dig into the details sufficiently.

Quantitative genetics of microbiome-mediated traits Microbiomes, the complex communities of microorganisms associated with multicellular hosts, play a vital role in shaping host traits and fitness. But how d

Treating emergent traits of the microbiome like quantitative genetic traits of the host reveals how environmentally acquired symbionts can contribute to hosts' adaptation

David became a freelance bioinformatician due to the situation he describes 👇.

Freelance workers are typically looking for the next contract. That's how it is. Maybe we could boost this signal so that people who appreciate David's experience and principles can find him?

A photograph of a slime mold fruiting body on a log. The slime mold is a round orange blob on a transparent stalk.

A photograph of slime mold fruiting bodies on a log. The slime molds are a round white blobs on transparent stalks.

A photograph of slime mold fruiting bodies on a log. The slime molds are a round black blobs on red stalks.

These are the beautiful spore-producing structures of plasmodial slime molds. Which is your favourite colour?

Originally considered Fungi, they are now classed as Ameobozoans - single celled organisms with thousands of nuclei... not animals or fungi but something else entirely!

#SoilBiodiversity 🧪

Column three is 😍

And probably extroversion too

I dunno - I mean, this person is cool, they think just like me is going to result in hires of people reflecting the current dominant phenotype

Eg your earlier example of a faculty interview as being a vibe check

I would urge a lot of caution on using vibes if you’re in a position of power making these decisions.

That sounds very sensible. I don’t know why my subconscious brain pulls this scenario out over and over 🤷‍♀️

Oh no! I’m surprised that’s not my dream, actually

The value of public R&D

Here in the uk, the government has found that £1 of spending on R&D results in £8 of benefit: www.gov.uk/government/p...

Will I ever stop having that dream where I’ve forgotten that I signed up for a class, and today is the final? 😰

Winner of top science prize blames ‘batshit’ Budget for brain drain Dr Samuel Mehr says the Government values science, but their ‘idiotic’ approach to funding it will cost them their best and brightest.

I appear to have spoken to a reporter who took seriously the gravity of NZ's science crisis

does anybody have a newsroom pro subscription so that I can learn what other choice phrases I used on the record?

newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/29/w...

🎯🎯🎯
But surely Kiwis are having heart palpitations from how direct this is 🤣🤣

Why can’t I have more content like this?