Amy Webster

@amywebster.bsky.social

Assistant Professor of Biological Science at Florida State. epigenomics of complex traits, gene x environment interactions, and phenotyping-by-sequencing with C. elegans amykwebster.github.io

NEW: NSF confirmed that they fired 168 employees today, out of their staff of ~1,500 feds. This includes some people who'd finished their 1-year probationary periods, which were extended to 2-years last month without explanation. More to come.

One of the coolest and most novel findings I’ve seen in years. This is why I work in worms. To find things no one even really knew to look for. Like a conserved system that splices transposons out of mRNAs to prevent otherwise lethal insertions in essential genes! - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

An RNA Splicing System that Excises Transposons from Animal mRNAs

All genomes harbor mobile genetic parasites called transposable elements (TEs). Here we describe a system, which we term SOS splicing, that protects C. elegans and human genes from DNA transposon-medi...

biorxiv.org

On January 6th, 1995, my (now ex) wife and I boarded a flight from Heathrow to JFK on a one way ticket. We had two suitcases and about $900 in cash - this was everything we owned and we were moving to the US. We thought it was maybe for 2-3 years. I had visited the US once, for a conference, and

In the present discussions about NIH and the need for reform, two recurring points I am seeing are: (1) NIH doesn't fund truly high impact research (2) NIH needs to experiment with alternative approaches to peer review, particularly for high risk-high impact research 1/n

Very happy to see this out! It was great to think deeply about integrating epigenetic variation into the genotype-phenotype map, from historical perspectives, to current research, to future possibilities. I hope others interested in these topics find the framework and scope of this review helpful.

Patrick Phillips@patrickphillips.bsky.social · 2y ago

Just out in @natrevgenet.bsky.social, led by @amywebster.bsky.social: Epigenetics and individuality: from concepts to causality across timescales. Access available via the Sharedit Initiative. rdcu.be/d5LYh

I am very excited to announce I am starting my lab as an Assistant Professor @FloridaState this week! We will be focused on understanding the basis of individual variation in complex traits using a variety of genomic approaches and primarily using C. elegans as a model.

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'Using an inbred line from a natural population with high diapause plasticity, we demonstrate that diapause is determined epigenetically: only a subset of genetically identical individuals enter diapause and this diapause plasticity is epigenetically transmitted for at least three generations'

Histone methylation regulates reproductive diapause in Drosophila melanogaster

Author summary Fluctuating environments pose significant challenges to developing organisms. To better match the immediate, local environment, many organisms follow distinct developmental trajectories...

journals.plos.org