Beautiful cool(ish) morning after a weekend of rain so decided to tife longer route (9.3 mi) including the beautiful streets of Carrboro.

Today’s Connections has Drosophila genes and they included Mad! I’m guessing it’ll be the yellow category.

Carolyn started this as a whole-genome revisit of the classic 1996 papers on spontaneous nondisjunction from Hawley (Dros X) and Sherman (human 21) labs. She looked at a metacentric (Dros 2) and found that the rules are different - no obvious relationship between ndj and crossovers. Shape matters!

Genetics Society of America@genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Carolyn Turcotte and @jeffsekelsky.bsky.social employed whole-genome sequencing to study spontaneous meiotic nondisjunction of the metacentric chromosome 2 in #Drosophila, identifying chromosome-specific mechanisms of meiotic nondisjunction. 🪰 Learn more in #GENETICS: 🔗 buff.ly/LmC3qZU

Love coming in and seeing the lastest fly cross schemes (or sometimes cloning strategies) on the gigantic (11.5 ft x 4.5 ft; 3.5 m x 1.4 m) whiteboard outside the lab.

POSTDOC OPPORTUNITY!!! The Rutgers IRACDA program is phenomenal: 70% of postdoctoral fellows land faculty positions. Martha Soto (LinkedIn below) is the amazing director and leader of this program. Please apply or reach out if you have questions. www.linkedin.com/posts/martha...

INSPIRE is recruiting! Please share broadly with senior graduate students and beginning postdocs. INSPIRE, the NIH-funded Rutgers-IRACDA, offers postdoctoral training for individuals interested in… | ...

INSPIRE is recruiting! Please share broadly with senior graduate students and beginning postdocs. INSPIRE, the NIH-funded Rutgers-IRACDA, offers postdoctoral training for individuals interested in com...

linkedin.com

Triple-triple: 3rd consecutive year of three students graduating with Honors in Biology from their research in the lab! We had a celebratory dinner on Thursday, then the Biology graduation ceremony Sunday. Congrats to Gamil, Dasha, and Rawda, and to their mentors, Priscila and Mohamed!

Phew! This is most important for the people in my lab - particularly my lab manager of 27 years and my current students, including an unlabbed student I just took in. Still, my joy is tempered by the knowledge that so many others that should get funded will not.

So glad I renewed my passport a couple months ago!

Just paid off my car loan. Drove >12k miles in only 5 yrs (counting the 6 months I was not allowed to drive), so ~50 gallons gas/yr. Mileage commuting by bike in that time is comparable.

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evo of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ Jennifer Gerton from @stowersinstitute.bsky.social about her super cool @nature.com paper on #Robertsonian chromosomes + unpublished work! doi.org/10.1038/s415...

New preprint alert! I'm excited to share our latest preprint where we investigate the underlying developmental causes of the male bias in the pediatric brain tumor Group 3/4 medulloblastoma. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evo of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social had a great talk w/ @katiebillmyre.bsky.social from @universityofga.bsky.social about her 2019 PNAS paper on SC and recombination + cool unpublished work doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

interested in working on sex differences during development and in tumor initiation! come join our lab via the MSCA MasterClass

Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ)@dkfz.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Do you want to do your #postdoc in #cancerresearch with the most prestigious fellowship in Europe? Apply to DKFZ #MSCA MasterClasses by May 18. 26 Projects in cancer research including #cellandmolecularbiology #genomics #bioinformatics #immunology. @horizoneu.bsky.social 👉Apply here: t1p.de/nx6tu

Its that time of year…that’s the pine pollen in the air lit up by my bike light this am. Weather is beautiful for working outside but you can watch the pollen accumulate on surfaces (e.g, laptops) in real time.

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social geeked out about #BChromosomes w/ Patrick Ferree from @scrippscollege.bsky.social about his @plosbiology.org paper on female meiotic drag in Nasonia: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social , Corbin Jones & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking to Jeremy Searle from Cornell about his review on #Robertsonian translocations doi.org/10.1159/0005... & exciting unpublished work! Amazing cytogenetics.

Some friends and I wrote a review with @biologists.bsky.social !! Together with Esther Becker and Simone Mayer, we explore the state of the cerebellum organoid field and offer practical guidance on getting this model system started in your own lab. journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...

Generating cerebellar organoids from pluripotent stem cells

Summary: This Special Article provides a comprehensive overview of the methods, applications and considerations for the generation of cerebellar organoids.

journals.biologists.com

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social had a great chat w/ Kent Golic @uofubiology.bsky.social about his lab's #GENETICS paper on #Drosophila ring chromosomes: doi.org/10.1093/gene...

Congratulations to Dr. Carolyn Turcotte, who defended her PhD yesterday! Her most recent amazing accomplishment was getting four over-scheduled committee members (e.g., 2 dept chairs) to be able to meet a day after getting iced out of her originally schedule time.

Our @jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social had a great talk w/ Steve Perlman from U of Victoria @uvic.ca about his lab’s @pnas.org paper on male and female X chromosome drive in D. testacea doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

In personal good news, my new brain surgeon says the gliosis (white area on right) from my surgery in 2006 looks the same as it did on my last MRI in 2013. He'll keep me on the anti-seizure med I started in May (the one that made me mean 20 yrs ago) but reduce the daytime dosage.

In the category of good news amidst a sea of bad, the T32 that supports UNC's Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology was renewed! July 1 started our 51st year of continuous support from NIGMS that has funded students & driven changes that improve training & outcomes.

Dr. Nila Pazhayam, PhD! Nila authored a review and 2 research papers, was on T32, had an F31, mentored undergrads, and more. Fun fact: Since Nila did a straight-to-MS degree (no BS) before her PhD, if she were to apply for a job in India that requires a BS she would be deemed unqualified.

Congratulations to Nina Wozniak, Ilan Socolovsky_Hull, and Josh Ponder, who all earned Honors in Biology for research they did in the Sekelsky lab! (Also to Sasha Sagar; her degree is Neuroscience so a different venue.)

@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social Corbin Jones, & I give huge thanks to Frank McNally, Christoph Haag, Andy Kern, Bengt Hansson, @takashiakeralab.bsky.social & @scienceleah.bsky.social for being guests in our #Meiosis, Recombination, & Evolution of Sex class at UNC. A pic from our final session w/ students

ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM Implementation of Schedule F This is what a lot of us have been worried about. This allows for many civil service positions to replaced with political appointees. This could include NIH institute directors and even POs. BUT THERE IS A COMMENT PERIOD... 1/n

the word alert is in a purple circle

ALT: the word alert is in a purple circle

media.tenor.com

Congratulations T$ - well-deserved and long overdue!

Talia Hatkevich@taliahatkevichphd.bsky.social · last yr.

Despite it all, I finally received this today. Maybe there is hope. Hi BlueSky community!

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ @scienceleah.bsky.social about her lab's @plos.org Genetics paper on a unique chromosome segregation mechanism in holocentric moths. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ @takashiakeralab.bsky.social about his lab's @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social on meiotic cohesin errors & sterility in hybrid mice. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Congratulations to Nila Pazhayam for a successful defense of her PhD dissertation! Her research provided important insights into how crossovers are kept away from the centromere. doi.org/10.1093/gene... doi.org/10.1093/gene...