yes so happy for him!!! this is exactly why we do curiosity-driven science... #chlamydomonas #protistsonsky Funders and universities are you watching...???

Nobel Prize@nobelprize.org · 2h ago

Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel – awarded the 2026 medicine prize – discovered a remarkable protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga. Hegemann wondered how Chlamydomonas, a single-celled alga, is able to swim towards a light source.

Why optogenetics deserves the hype www.wiringthebrain.com/2013/09/why-... (a piece I wrote in 2013 explaining how it works and why modulating specific cell types is so key to understanding how neural circuits and systems work)

Why optogenetics deserves the hype

Optogenetics has come in for some stick lately, with a number of people criticising the hype that this technique generates in some quar...

wiringthebrain.com

Protist eyespots for the win!!

Florent Waltz@florentwaltz.bsky.social · 1h ago

Huge congratulations to all three Nobel Laureates, and especially Peter Hegemann! 👏 His seminal work on the green alga Chlamydomonas 🦠 laid the foundation for optogenetics. Thank you for putting Chlamy in the spotlight! ✨ Proof that groundbreaking discoveries don't always come from animal models! 🔬

We have a new branch in the family tree of animals: Atreyea- a previously unrecognized lineage among the closest unicell relatives of animals. Led by @konsmitsi.bsky.social & @freejakoba.bsky.social together with a fantastic team of collaborators. 🔗 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... #protistsOnSky

It was a pleasure to host Karla and Félix from @gautamdey.bsky.social and @dudinlab.bsky.social ! A wonderful week filled with great talks, and microscopy with friends. Thank you for the UExM training you provided to members from different departments across our university. Come back soon!

🏔️ Las lagunas de Sierra Nevada sufren un calentamiento sin precedentes 👨‍🔬 La #UGR ha organizado unas jornadas para investigar y divulgar esta realidad ⌨️ "Dichos ecosistemas son sumideros de contaminación debido al turismo intensivo" 👇 Noticia canal.ugr.es/noticia/unas...

Unas jornadas científicas en Sierra Nevada alertan sobre el calentamiento de las lagunas de alta montaña - Canal UGR

Tras el muestreo en más de 40 lagunas a lo largo de las sesiones de este evento, las pruebas han sido trasladadas a los laboratorios de la UGR con el fin de dar continuidad a las series temporales de ...

canal.ugr.es

Great weekend sampling Sierra Nevada high mountain lakes with friends from the @multicellgenome.bsky.social and @rmassanam.bsky.social labs! Thank you for coming!

I am extremely happy to announce that I have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu ERC Starting Grant to lead the ProtistEye project! We will be diving into the function, architecture, and diversity of eye-like structures across different protists to better understand their evolution. Stay tuned for more!

European Research Council (ERC)@erc.europa.eu · last mo.

📣 Good news! 📣 Results of the ERC 2026 Starting Grant call are out! Funding worth a total of €705 million will go to 421 early-career researchers across Europe. Discover who, what and where 👉 link.europa.eu/9M3MmN 🧪 #ERCStG #FrontierResearch #HorizonEurope 🇪🇺 @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

What's that? You wish we had more data on those bizarre dinoflagellates WITH EYES? Have no fear! With @protistwtmostest.bsky.social, Gordon Lax, and @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social, who also have eyes.

Evolution of complex organelles in ocelloid-bearing dinoflagellates

Abstract. Warnowiid dinoflagellates are known for possessing two of the most complex structures known in single cells: multi-projectile nematocysts and the

academic.oup.com

A novel jakobid genus from the soil of an indoor plant #microbiology #protists #eukaryotes #ProtistsOnSky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Checkout 𝘚𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘭𝘶𝘬𝘰𝘭𝘪, a new species of amoeba isolated from cow poop that aggregates on the tips of dung fibers doi.org/10.64898/202... #ProtistsOnSky

Sailing in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social ready for summer, our study on the iconic Portuguese man o' war 🪼 is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We use (epi)genomics to understand a critter that fascinates me since childhood. Massive team effort with @obog.bsky.social, Cummins and Neely groups. 🧵

Cool! Looks like #nucleariids / #rotosphaerids can be (1) flagellated/ciliated (2) parasitoids similar to other deep #holomycota. #ProtistsOnSky

phy_papers@phypapers.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A parasitic flagellate among the Nucleariae: a new perspective on the phylogeny of Holomycota (Opisthokonta) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.739728v1

So proud! Congrats Varsha and the whole team for this incredible study! #protistonsky

Varsha Mathur@varshamathur.bsky.social · 3mo ago

So happy to share our new paper out now in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We establish Pirsonia-Coscinodiscus as a model pathosystem and uncover how this tiny parasite infects and kills bloom-forming marine diatoms 🌊🦠 rdcu.be/fuQyF

Do #tintinnids dream of electric sheep? 🤯 Here is a single cell capable of building a lorica and living inside it for protection... it also swims, feeds, hunts Can even detect and habituate to mechanical cues! #celllearning #protistsonsky #cilia Read more in our preprint doi.org/10.64898/202...

Apusomonads are the best protists (no discussions allowed🤣). Join Iñaki and his team to describe new “water-elephants”!

Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo@multicellgenome.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Most people have never heard of #apusomonads. Yet these tiny protists occupy an important position in the eukaryotic tree of life. And we know so little about them! We're looking for a Master's student to help uncover their hidden diversity. #ProtistsOnSky 🧵 @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @prbb.org

In September we will have the pleasure of hosting Karla and @fmikus.bsky.social from the labs of @dudinlab.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social. If you are around Granada please join us for their talk! They will present ExÂME, an incredible initiative to build a 3D atlas of protists diversity!

Facultad de Ciencias@fcienciasugr.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🔬 Seminario: Microscopía de expansión: una nueva perspectiva sobre la diversidad de la vida 🗓️ 8 de sep ⏰ 11:00 am. 📍 Salón de Grados @fcienciasugr.bsky.social 🗣️ Dra. Karla Azucena Juárez y Dr. Félix Mikus 🔗 fciencias.ugr.es/facultad/not...

1/10 For decades, cellular aggregation was considered an evolutionary dead end. Cells could come together temporarily. But complex multicellular organisms like animals? Our study, led by JP Gerdt, with Ruibao & @jennahed.bsky.social suggests it may be time to rethink that🧵 #ProtistsOnSKy

New #ISEPpapers by @deemteam.bsky.social! Reversal to osmotrophy in eukaryotes www.nature.com/articles/s41... "Distant eukaryotic lineages convergently reverted from predation to osmotrophy through co-option of bacterial genes and their mobilization via eukaryote-to-eukaryote HGT" #Protists

And a fancy poster! Check out comparativegenomics2026.com for more information :)

Our ExM Atlas of eukaryotes is moving along with more and more images coming in - some featured in nature last month! Culture we’re provided by @ccapoban.bsky.social & Julius Lukeš during visits last year www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

See the intricate worlds of parasites and algae — March’s best science images

The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.

nature.com

Please join us tomorrow morning (9 AM CEST) to hear about Rocío Mozo Muñoz's work on the phylogenomics of Symbiodiniaceae (from the lab of @fonamental.bsky.social) #protistsonsky

Liz Cooney@protistwtmostest.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Tune in this week to the DinoSphere seminar to hear Rocío Mozo Muñoz (IBE-UPF-CSIC) talk about her work in phylogenomics of Symbiodiniaceae! 📆 16 April - 9AM CEST 🔗 tinyurl.com/5fje3s55 @ehehenberger.bsky.social @manondemulder.bsky.social @chandnibhickta.bsky.social Norico Yamada, Edmée Royen

New #ISEPpapers #preprint by @deemteam.bsky.social: Re-evaluating the eukaryotic Tree of Life with independent phylogenomic data www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Eukaryotes #TreeOfLife #Phylogeny #Phylogenomics #Bioinformatics #Algae

We all know #fungi are the dominant microbial #eukaryotes in #forest #soils… or are they really? In our new paper, we revisited 51 forest metatranscriptomes from 4 European and North American forest regions - and found that protistan predators outshine fungi in activity!

Our phylogenetic classification of >400 diatom genera is now published in Journal of Phycology. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A phylogenetic classification of diatoms (Bacillariophyta)

Diatoms are known for their extraordinary species richness, cornerstone roles in aquatic ecosystems, and immense contributions to the global cycling of carbon, oxygen, and silica. For nearly 2 centur....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing: MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org #protistsonsky

Why did consciousness evolve at all? A superb special issue of @royalsocietypublishing.org brings together experts across disciplines to explore the functions of consciousness and why it emerged in some species but not others. @tecumsehfitch.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

Discovery of a photophobic response in #Apusomonads reveals insights into Opisthokont origins phys.org/news/2026-02... New #ISEPpapers! Photophobic response in Podomonas kaiyoae is mediated by coordination of cilia, actin filaments: Aika Shibata et al. www.nature.com/articles/s42... #Protists

Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes (San Feliu, Spain): Abstract submission is open, with a short deadline! comparativegenomics2026.com Join us as we explore the most diverse, surprising, and still largely uncharted branches of the eukaryotic tree.

The day is finally here!! On behalf of all the co-organizers the Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes website is open. comparativegenomics2026.com Invited speakers will be added to the website in the coming weeks. Watch this (well, that^) space!