Tessera
Folgen

Heather Hendrickson

@drhhnz.bsky.social

#Evolution, #Microbiology, and #Phages. Associate Professor, University of Canterbury, Christchurch NZ. Adaptable Phage Solutions Co-Science Lead.Views my own. |She| Her|. hendricksonlab.co.nz

220 Posts3331 Follower846 Folgt
Joanna Masel@joannamasel.bsky.social · last wk.

Our paper on how better amino acid substitution matrices trained on cleaned alignments improve gene tree inference, and on best practice for cleaning MSAs more broadly, is now out academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-.... New options in both IQTree and Muscle5. @phylowheeler.bsky.social

Improved gene tree inference from removing alignment errors both from focal genes and when training substitution models

Abstract. Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) is a key step in phylogenetic analysis and is prone to error. Unfortunately, algorithms that remove likely alig

academic.oup.com

Joanna Masel@joannamasel.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Sequence alignments are notoriously prone to error. Our latest preprint offers a new tool for filtering errors out, assesses it and other filtering tools, and recommends new best practice. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @phylowheeler.bsky.social 1/10

Nandita Garud@nanditagarud.bsky.social · last mo.

We are very excited to share our latest. We thought that soft sweeps would be the only type of sweep spreading across human gut microbiomes. Turns out many are hard! Reach @peterlaurin.bsky.social 's thread on why! And tomorrow at #SMBE2026 I will share this work and more!

Peter Laurin@peterlaurin.bsky.social · last mo.

Super excited to share new work with my advisor @nanditagarud.bsky.social! We re-examine the rapidity of adaptation in the human gut microbiome and begin to characterize the adaptive architecture of selective sweeps spreading across human guts. www.biorxiv.org/content/10... 1/n:

Heather Hendrickson@drhhnz.bsky.social · last mo.

We had an incredible two days in the #SCANZ26 meeting here at the University of Canterbury last week! We had Science Communicators from Australia and New Zealand. Lots of great project and interesting discussions about curiosity, equity, sustainability and kindness! Thanks all!

Speaker at Scanz smiling Shaun and Nicki give a workshop on kindness infrastructure. Speaker at ScanzMichael Edmonds speaks about his science survey at Scanz
Rike Stelkens@stelkens.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Please join us at this #EMBOEvoEco Workshop on 6-9 October 2026. It is hands down one of my (if not THE) favourite conferences with a real community feeling and it's great for networking! Also, the catering is excellent. :)

The Rokas Lab at Vanderbilt University@rokaslab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Want to gain mechanistic insights on major outstanding questions in #ecology and #evolution? Join us 6-9 October 2026 for the #EMBOEvoEco Workshop at @events.embl.org in beautiful Heidelberg, Germany Abstract submission deadline is June 30 - submit one now! www.embl.org/about/info/c...

Organizer, Keynote Speaker and Invited Speaker Lineup
Michael Baym@baym.lol · 4mo ago

Interesting new scam: it seems people are writing wikipedia entries on people with LLMs, getting them rejected, then emailing the subject trying to get them to pay to "help" get it published

Vaughn Cooper@vscooper.micropopbio.org · 4mo ago

Now out in AEM @asm.org! 🎉🧪 *High school student-isolated mutants 👉🏻 novel genetic causes of biofilm-associated adaptations *We learn how diversity arises quickly and is maintained *EvolvingSTEM enables scalable research in classrooms & promotes scientific literacy journals.asm.org/eprint/FBU9M...

Genetic diversification of Pseudomonas fluorescens maintained by multi-niche selection within biofilms | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bacterial biofilms dominate microbial life; however, their evolutionary genetics remain incompletely understood. Extensive replication of biofilm selection experiments by secondary school students can...

journals.asm.org

Vaughn Cooper@vscooper.micropopbio.org · last yr.

Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team. Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Simon Fisher@profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Project Hail Mary is a beautiful brilliant film. But molecular biologists be warned there's a deeply disturbing scene midway through when Ryan Gosling's scientist places two eppendorfs directly next to each other in an otherwise empty unbalanced microcentrifuge & sets it spinning with wild abandon.

Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net · 5mo ago

Email your senators to urge them not to confirm Jim O’Neill as Director of the National Science Foundation. He's not a scientist, has no relevant expertise, promoted vaccine misinformation, helped gut the CDC, and his Silicon Valley ties raise questions about protecting the public interest. (1/2🧵)

Image with text to email your senators to urge them not to confirm Jim O’Neill as Director of the National Science Foundation.
Heather Hendrickson@drhhnz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Are we there yet? 👩🏻‍🏫 👩‍🔬 💵 😦 Late last year my NZ University Women in Leadership Reunion led to a collaboration to investigate the gender and pay gaps in Universities in leadership. TLDR: We are not there YET but we are making a kind of progress (which is good). tinyurl.com/yjmj7rwx

More women are professors, but gender gaps continue to plague NZ universities

New Zealand universities are slowly closing the pay gap, but men are still more likely to fill senior leadership roles in the highest pay brackets.

tinyurl.com

Heather Hendrickson@drhhnz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

What an incredible talk! Carl is such a clear and critical thinker I wish we didn’t have to give him back to the US at the end of his trip! The room was packed (standing room only) for his seminar today!

Carl Bergstrom standing in front of his final slide at the university of canterbury. Carl motioning to a photo of snack foods during his talk. The foreground has several audience members.
Heather Hendrickson@drhhnz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Pleased to say that Carl Bergstrom (@carlbergstrom.com) will be speaking at the University of Canterbury on 13th Feb! He is hosted by @tepunahamatatini.bsky.social come see him at noon in Jack Erskine 441!

A poster announcing details of Carl’s talk at UC on Feb 13th. Title “ information foraging in a social media world”
Heather Hendrickson@drhhnz.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Carl is a legend. We are really lucky to have him swinging through. If you think you can make one of his seminars, you should make the time :) I should be able to tell you when the UC talk will be if you are in the area!! Details soon!

Te Pūnaha Matatini@tepunahamatatini.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Te Pūnaha Matatini is bringing acclaimed evolutionary biologist and science system researcher @carlbergstrom.com to New Zealand in February 2026 for a series of public engagements, including a keynote address at the Capital City Complex Systems Symposium → www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/posts/carl-b...

David Hood@thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 7mo ago

And for those who can't travel, I think it important to mention he is giving lectures at other centres- And for instance the Otago ones Arte being shared via Zoom (see the Otago events calendar www.otago.ac.nz/news/events for details) bsky.app/profile/carl...

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 7mo ago

2. NB these are rough dates, with time for travel and birding in between. Feb 10-11 University of Otago Feb 13 University of Canterbury Feb 17-19 University of Auckland, NetSciX Auckland Feb 24-25 CCCSS Wellington Feel free to reach out if you'd like to connect or talk about scheduling a seminar!

Cilla Wehi@cillaw.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I’m rapt that @tepunahamatatini.bsky.social is bringing Carl’s science and voice on important issues to NZ 🧪. Join us at the Capital City Complex Systems Symposium in late February in Wellington, for a friendly and exciting discussion - when hopefully the weather will be settled.

Te Pūnaha Matatini@tepunahamatatini.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Te Pūnaha Matatini is bringing acclaimed evolutionary biologist and science system researcher @carlbergstrom.com to New Zealand in February 2026 for a series of public engagements, including a keynote address at the Capital City Complex Systems Symposium → www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/posts/carl-b...

Richard Lenski@relenski.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Looking for something new to integrate into an #evolution or #microbiology course? Useful for lectures, labs, homework? Have a look at our STEPS program, which simulates bacterial evolution, including the #LTEE. Easy web-based interface & lab manual w/ exercises to help develop students' intuition.

Richard Lenski@relenski.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Excited to share new #program, STEPS, which can simulate #dynamics of the E. coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment (#LTEE) or other microbes in serial transfer regime. telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/s... STEPS developed by @devinmlake.bsky.social, Zachary Matson, Minako Izutsu, and me.