I am happy to share that my NWO Veni project was awarded 🍄🧬🔻! In this project, I will study how transposons shape genome folding, evolution, and adaptation in a fungal salamander pathogen. I am incredibly thankful for all the support and look forward to this next chapter #fungi #transposons #TEsky

Excited to share our new preprint led by Fred and me in collaboration with the archaeal community! We found that the molecular foundation of histone-based chromatin has pre-eukaryotic roots in Asgard archaea. (1/4) #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Emergence of histone-based chromatin complexity in Asgard archaea

The emergence of the eukaryotes coincided with the diversification of histone proteins and their post-translational modifications by enzymes that constitute the core of eukaryotic chromatin. Yet the e...

biorxiv.org

If the genome is not a blueprint, what is it? My attempt to unravel this particularly knotty question, in @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-huma...

Why the Human Genome’s Tangled Physicality May Confound AI | Quanta Magazine

Our genetic heritage is not a blueprint or an algorithm, as many biologists have imagined, but something else entirely.

quantamagazine.org

Excited to share our new preprint! 🧬❄️ by brilliant @mdreimann.bsky.social and great collaborators! Using cryo-ET&EM, we reveal archaeal chromatin in a near-native state: variable-beads-on-a-string fibers shaped by growth phase and histone composition #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

WORK: our Bionanoscience department at TU Delft is looking to hire an Assistant Professor in Biophysics of Living Systems. Apply! Deadline 30 July careers.tudelft.nl/job/Delft-As... RT=nice

Assistant Professor in Biophysics of Living Systems

Assistant Professor in Biophysics of Living Systems

careers.tudelft.nl

I'm looking for an enthusiastic student to join my team as a PhD candidate on archaeal genome evolution 🦠💻 Work in beautiful Utrecht, at @binfutrecht.bsky.social, an international group full of caring, amazing scientists, and with frequent cake breaks! www.uu.nl/en/organisat... Please share! 🙏

Check out the draft program for the Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes meeting! Want to attend? Are you a speaker? Don't wait! Registration is closes on May 4. comparativegenomics2026.com/program/ w/ @cstairs.bsky.social

"Chromatin organization in Asgard archaea: Histones, SMC complexes, and the archaeal roots of eukaryotic chromatin" by Remus Dame & colleagues (@damelab.bsky.social) "Understanding chromatin organization in Asgard archaea is key to understanding how eukaryotic chromatin evolved." shorturl.at/6bLvx

How would chromatin look and work in Asgard archaea? @damelab.bsky.social and I share our ideas in our Trends in Genetics review, out now at doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

We have just published a short note on archaeal phylogeny: complex mixture models support a deep placement of Methanonatronarchaeia within Euryarchaea and indicate that three recently described groups (Halorutilales, Afararchaeaceae, and Ordosarchaeia) are actually the same. shorturl.at/5GMpU

Phd Position alert 🚨 Join our project ASTRAfun (Adaptation and Starship Traffic in Root-Associated fungi), in which we will use computational models to unveil the hidden dynamics of fungal evolution. It’s not going to be just regular fun. It’s going to ASTRAfun. 🤓 www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

PhD Position in Computational Modelling of Fungal Evolution

How do giant mobile elements called ‘Starships’ reshape fungal plant pathogens? Help us computationally model their spread and impact in nature and agriculture!

uu.nl

🌞 Alles staat klaar voor de verkiezingen morgen. Woensdag is de keuze aan de kiesgerechtigde inwoners van Wageningen. Stemmen kan vanaf 7.30 tot 21:00 uur bij 21 stembureaus met stempas en identiteitsbewijs ⬇️ www.wageningen.nl/verkiezingen...

Just over ten years after the discovery of the first Asgard archaeal genomes, we revisit the rapid expansion of this remarkable archaeal lineage. From diverse genomes and metabolisms to eukaryotic signature proteins and the first cultured representatives. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea - Nature Reviews Microbiology

The Asgard archaea have become a cornerstone of archaeal research, particularly for studies aiming to unravel the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. This Review outlines the current state of th...

nature.com

🧵 1/10 New paper out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com from my postdoc at @mib-wur.bsky.social! 🎉 How eukaryote-like was the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes? Sequence searches alone can't tell us — so we used protein structure prediction to look deeper. 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling - Nature Microbiology

A structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome reveals hundreds of eukaryotic-like proteins that suggest a higher degree of cellular complexity in the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes.

nature.com

We krijgen opvallend veel reacties op deze podcast. We zijn daar blij mee want we vinden het een belangrijk probleem. Dank aan iedereen die reageert en de podcast deelt! Het zijn er te veel om allemaal te kunnen beantwoorden. @maartenschinkel.bsky.social

Marike Stellinga@marikestellinga.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Zijn we weer! Met een ontzettend belangrijk maar te weinig besproken probleem: de zorgelijke daling in reken- en leesvaardigheden van Nederlandse 15-jarigen. We spraken dé onderzoeker vd Oeso hierover. Wat is er in vredesnaam aan de hand? En wat kunnen we eraan doen? www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...

One of the biggest questions in biology is how complex cells evolved about 2 billion years ago. Here's my new story on how scientists are solving the mystery of eukaryotes like us. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qMbo22

Recently, a Hypothesis was posed in @jcellsci.bsky.social in which the root of eukaryotes was placed between kinetoplastids and all other eukaryotes. From this, it was implied that LECA did not have a kinetochore. We argue this is highly unlikely. A 🧵(1/12) Read our reply here: tinyurl.com/n87myhpr

The LECA had a conventional kinetochore and the kinetoplastid kinetochore is a derived feature – a critical evaluation of Akiyoshi, 2025

Summary:Akiyoshi, 2025 presented a hypothesis with implications for the early evolution of eukaryotes and eukaryotic cell division machinery. In this Correspondence, the authors conclude that this hyp...

tinyurl.com

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.

I am very pleased to share that our database of prokaryotic and viral histones, ProHistoneDB, is now available online at prohistonedb.org. Please also see the accompanying article in J Mol Biol: doi.org/10.1016/j.jm...

I have a postdoc position in metagenomic exploration available in my group. Candidates with documented experience in phylo & metagenomics and preferably with petabase-scale data mining and GLM workflows are encouraged to apply. Come join us! 🧬🦠💻 Please repost Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...

Postdoctoral researcher Phylogenomics and metagenomics

Are you just as excited as we are about the fascinating world of microorganisms? Do you want to contribute to exploring and genomically characterize novel prokaryotic lineages? Do you have a PhD degre...

wur.nl

Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺@ettema.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Come join us! Soon I will be advertising a postdoc vacancy in my group as part of my @erc.europa.eu AdG project 'DARK ROOTS'. Focus of the project will be on phylo- and metagenomic mining of novel prokaryotic lineages. I will soon post a link here - stay tuned, and please repost! #asgardarchaea

Microbial eukaryotes keep challenging assumptions about eukaryotic cell and genome biology. Our upcoming workshop explores the frontier of protist genomics and how it shapes cell biology, ecology and evolution. Please save the date! Talks, posters and ECR events Websites and details coming soon

Eukaryogenesis was a billion year spree, but the acquisition of mitochondria happened when the party was winding down www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes - Nature

Analysis of eukaryotic gene sequences using a relaxed molecular clock methodology indicate that eukaryotes emerged 3.0–2.25 billion years ago as a result of mitochondrial endosymbiosis with complex ar...

nature.com

Very nice documentary about the origins of complex life with my PhD advisor Berend Snel @binfutrecht.bsky.social!

Tegenlicht@vprotegenlicht.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Hoe is al het complexe leven op aarde eigenlijk ontstaan?

OK, somebody should say it: the term 'one-stop-shop' has no place in academic research. Due to their diverse and exploratory nature, there is no single solution for scientific projects - else this would be routine research. RT if you agree, or feel free to argue otherwise below.

michael scott from the office is wearing a suit and tie and making a funny face .

ALT: michael scott from the office is wearing a suit and tie and making a funny face .

media.tenor.com

Newbies in the lab! Very happy to announce @jongpad.bsky.social starting a PhD and @oggenfussursula.bsky.social starting a postdoc position with us @mib-wur.bsky.social. Excited to have you around!

Become my colleague @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social ! 2 Associate Professorships in the areas of - prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology - metabolism my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

We are looking for a 3-year postdoc to work with Daniel Probst, Justin van der Hooft and myself on an exciting project involving federated learning and integrative omics for discovery of new antibiotics from natural products. Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p... Please share!

We are looking for a student to continue our work on chromatin evolution: www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... The project with @seanamontgomery.bsky.social will focus on chromatin state readers across eukaryotes. More info: recruitment.crg.eu/content/jobs...

Please re-post: If you know (or are!) somebody who might fancy doing a PhD (Oct 2026 start) in my group @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social, working on chromatin evolution in prokaryotes (or other things we're interested in), please have a look at www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/supervisors-...

Supervisors and Projects

bioch.ox.ac.uk

Congrats to the team for releasing this preprint and tool! @stephkoe.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social @danieltamarit.bsky.social @ettema.bsky.social

Stephan Köstlbacher@stephkoe.bsky.social · last yr.

1. 🧵 New preprint out! WitChi: a fast, open-source Python tool to detect, quantify & prune compositional bias in MSAs. Lightweight, tree-free, scalable to 5k+ taxa... so we applied it to the GTDB archaea MSA. #ArchaeaSky #MEvoSky #MicroSky 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 💻 github.com/stephkoest/w...