On my way to my first ever SMBE conference. The Orthofinder team are well represented with three of us travelling. All presenting on Orthofinder-adjacent projects, but always happy to discuss all things orthology. #SMBE2026

The new OrthoFinder paper is out now! In this new work, we introduce major advances in accuracy and scalability, allowing analysis on much larger datasets www.nature.com/articles/s41... github.com/OrthoFinder/...

OrthoFinder: improved phylogenetic orthology inference with enhanced accuracy and scalability - Nature Methods

The updated OrthoFinder v3 software boosts accuracy and scalability in phylogenetic orthology inference with massive and diverse datasets.

nature.com

is there a version of the @official-smbe.bsky.social programme that is just a simple PDF? I struggle with these interactive agenda sites

Excellent opportunity here: a 5 year senior research fellowship in Life Sciences (broadly defined) at All Souls College Oxford. Many opportunities to work with the diverse & inclusive community here in @biology.ox.ac.uk here in the brand new Life & Mind Buiilding www.asc.ox.ac.uk/post-doctora...

Huge congratulations to @stuwest.bsky.social on his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society! From fig wasps to Pseudomonas, he’s shown just how powerful behavioural ecology can be. I couldn't think of anyone more deserving. www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/prof...

Professors Tim Coulson, Stuart West, and Kathy Willis elected as Fellows of the Royal Society

biology.ox.ac.uk

We’re hiring for OrthoFinder! Great role for someone who enjoys scientific software development: Python, data analysis, workflows, Git, scalability, and making tools nicer to use. Comparative genomics or open-source bioinformatics experience would be a lovely bonus. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Do I know anyone who wants to swap football stickers this year? goodscienceblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/h... #Gotgotneed #paniniworldcup

I'm currently advertising a PhD position in my lab, to study the transition from commensal to pathogen in Staphylococcus aureus. Details available here, please share! www.keele.ac.uk/research/pos...

FacultystudentshipinSchoolofLifeSciences

keele.ac.uk

Review on how beta-lactamase resistance spans a continuum from private to cooperative resistance A first publication for fantastic PhD student Rosie Randall, working with @asgriffin.bsky.social portlandpress.com/essaysbioche...

Happy 100th Birthday Sir David! Short clip from a film with Sir David Attenborough featuring @ellafcole.bsky.social explaining research in @wythamwoods.bsky.social into how Great Tits adjust behaviour during incubation to fine-tune hatching date: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGjL...

How Do Birds Incubate Their Eggs? | Attenborough's Wonder of Eggs | BBC Earth

YouTube video by BBC Earth

youtube.com

Edward Grey Institute@egioxford.bsky.social · 3mo ago

On the occasion of his 100th Birthday - many happy returns Sir David! - we remember fondly the time Sir David Attenborough came to do some filming of Great Tits in Wytham Woods (and with clip of the resultant film here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGjL...) wythamtits.com/the-day-sir-...

Delighted to have been a part of this. It's a very exciting area in the field of social evolution and beyond!

Stu West@stuwest.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Huge thanks to @asn-amnat.bsky.social for inviting our review on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation. @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Comparative analysis across 5,678 insect species shows that, when you control for phylogenetic bias, eusociality has not evolved at a faster rate in haplodiploid species. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Calling all OrthoFinder users! We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny. GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... github.com/lauriebelch/... (1/10)

FastSpeciesTree: Fast and Scalable Species tree Inference https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700630v1

Very happy to share that I just published a new paper from my thesis! 🎉 We analysed 546 species of ant to understand how extreme specialisation into reproductive and non-reproductive roles evolved.  Key discoveries in thread🧵 👇 Full paper here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Kissing evolved at least 21 million years ago. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @matildabrindle.bsky.social

The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation -in American Naturalist by @stuwest.bsky.social, @annadewar.bsky.social, @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social, Laurence Belcher, and @asgriffin.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation | The American Naturalist: Vol 0, No ja

journals.uchicago.edu

Super interesting session on post-phylogenomics this morning at #eseb2025 I have a poster on the new version of Orthofinder - there will be a suggestion box 🎁 P03.076 on Thursday

Is there a single PDF with a list of talks/times for #ESEB2025 ? I don't get on well with conference apps

OrthoFinder just dropped a major update It’s faster, more accurate, and ready for thousands of genomes Let’s break it down (1/10) github.com/OrthoFinder/... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolution of cooperation is well represented at #Microbio25 by Rosie's first ever conference poster - definitely worth a visit!

Very excited to be in Liverpool for #Microbio25 ! I'll be presenting a poster on bacterial cooperation and antibiotic resistance in Block A on Tuesday. Come and check out poster A098 to hear more! 🧬🧫🦠

I'm delighted to announce that the 2025 @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" will be held in Liverpool 26-27 November 2025! Abstract submission will open soon... #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics - 2025 meeting

microbiologysociety.org

Hopefully this will be useful for anyone doing comparative genomics! In Box 1 we show some case studies where controlling for phylogenetic non-independance can reverse a result

Anna Dewar@annadewar.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2 We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets. These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit. @lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social

Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2 We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets. These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit. @lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social

A phylogenetic approach to comparative genomics

Nature Reviews Genetics - Controlling for phylogeny is essential in comparative genomics studies, because species, genomes and genes are not independent data points within statistical tests. The...

rdcu.be

Sharing three fully funded PhD opportunities to join my lab at Queen’s to work on topics spanning bacterial pathogens, antibiotic resistance, microbial interactions, & mobile genetic elements 🦠. Closing dates in January and February, and open to international candidates 🌍 Projects detailed below ⬇️

When you are a millenial but you want to connect with your students

New job offer: we search a postdoc (bioinformatics) to work on mobile genetic elements and gene flow in bacteria, with a focus on antibiotic resistance within a consortium including bioinformatics, synthetic biology, epidemiology & biochemistry. See research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd... #MicroSky

Post a photo of yourself from a different era. Piazza San Marco, Venice

go.bsky.app/QKajPgc A starter pack for social evolution! Lots of space left for anyone who would like to be added