New preprint: 338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders. Big congrats to @arf-mln.bsky.social, for getting this giant piece together. Big collaboration of @joanameier.bsky.social's and my groups. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.64898/202...

❄️🧬 Can we generate high-quality reference genomes without the cold chain? A new study suggests the answer is yes. DNA preserved at room temperature for up to one week produced chromosome-scale reference genomes. 📖 tinyurl.com/3zwtj9ka #Genomes @gigascience.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social

TRAINING: DNA barcoding and metabarcoding using ONTOLOGY™ biodiversitygenomics.eu/2026/07/09/d... Join us October 5-7 @nhm-london.bsky.social for a 3-day course on #ONTOLOGY a new platform for distributed #DNAbarcoding & #metabarcoding from our partners @cbg-uofg.bsky.social. @iboleurope.bsky.social

BGE+ NEW COURSE: DNA barcoding and metabarcoding using ONTOLOGY™ - Biodiversity Genomics Europe

ONTOLOGY is a new platform for distributed DNA barcoding and metabarcoding—is integrates freeze-dried ‘just-add-water’ PCR plates that complete indexing and amplification in one step, and software tha...

biodiversitygenomics.eu

Do you work with scRNAseq data in non-model organisms that have less-than-stellar gene annotations? ✨ 🧬 You might be interested in GeneExt, a nifty little tool by @zolotarg.bsky.social in @arnausebe.bsky.social's lab, published in #Bioinformatics earlier this year. #singlecell #transcriptomics

GeneExt: a gene model extension tool for enhanced single-cell RNA-seq analysis

AbstractMotivation. Incomplete gene models negatively impact single-cell gene expression quantification. This is particularly true in non-model species whe

academic.oup.com

really enjoyed being a small part of bringing together this analysis of hundreds of Darwin Tree of Life fly genomes. outstanding work by @juliagries.bsky.social, sam ebdon, and @kamilsjaron.bsky.social

KamilSJaron.bsky.social@kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A big preprint from my group! Muller Elements are considered to be conserved in flies. We tested it by reconstructing the ancestral dipteran karyotype using 340 chromosomal genomes and suprise suprise, they're not... Led by @juliagries.bsky.social and Sam Ebdon. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵👇

If you are interested in collecting specimens for chromosomal genomes and/or generating chromosomal reference genomes from specimens that were not cold-chain preserved, please read on and share this thread.

new reference genomes for Plasmodium ovale wallikeri and Plasmodium malariae (& Pf too) direct from blood taken from children carrying these parasites -- this was done with as little as 2 ng of DNA. all sorts of craziness going on in the subtelomeric regions ...

bioRxiv Genomics@biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social · 6mo ago

High quality chromosomal genome assemblies of three human Plasmodium species directly from natural infections https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.16.706136v1

Preprints of pandemic potential - new historical piece from me on the history of bioRxiv/medRxiv, their role in the pandemic, and the way forward. 1/n journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Don’t forget that the 1961 triplet code paper only became elegant when it was written! The experiments were all a bit of a mess... I suspect the same was true of the other classic papers!

A breakthrough from 60 years ago: “General nature of the genetic code for proteins” (1961)

In 1961, Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner, together with two Cambridge colleagues, published an article in Nature that used simple genetic experiments to demonstrate that the genetic code was almost ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Open Senior Bioinformatician position at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Tree of Life, to work on the Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative with @marakat.bsky.social and me. 📅 Apply by January 18 🔗 sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco... Please share with anyone who might be interested!

Join our Tree of Life Programme as a Group Leader in Biodiversity Genomics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Lead ambitious, large-scale genomics research to understand life’s diversity on Earth. 🔗 Learn more and apply: sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco... 📅 Closing date: 8 February 2026

🧐 Looking for a #PhD? University of Glasgow @glasgow.ac.uk @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk is offering two fully funded PhD positions within the new VectorGrid-Africa network!🦟 More details: www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl... 📆Application deadline: 12 January 2026.

Are you excited about pangenomics? If so, join us in Edinburgh on 8-9th June to discuss the latest methods & insights from using these approaches across biodiversity! More details here: royalsociety.org/science-even... Organised together with @henrylnorth.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social!

Pangenomics transforms evolutionary biology | Royal Society

This Theo Murphy meeting organised by Dr Joana Meier, Dr Henry North and Dr Charlotte Wright, will showcase cutting-edge pangenome tools, applied uses of pangenomes which are transforming health and a...

royalsociety.org

Tired of 3D7? Need real P. falciparum genomes from real infections? We’ve got you: 43 PacBio HiFi–assembled genomes from The Gambia, with full var/rifin/stevor repertoires in all their wild diversity. Data now public! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)

De novo assembly of complete Plasmodium falciparum isolate genomes using PacBio HiFi sequencing technology

Plasmodium falciparum possesses a highly structured genome with extensive sequence diversity concentrated in Variant Surface Antigen (VSA) families. These genes— var , rif , and stevor —play key roles...

biorxiv.org

a life changing opportunity made possible by the Nobel Prize funds awarded to John Sulston -- the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social runs the Sanger Prize scheme, open to an undergrad from any LMIC to spend 3 months here learning all about genomics. more details here www.sanger.ac.uk/about/study/...

The Sanger Prize

The Sanger Prize is an outreach competition aimed at undergraduate students who live and study in low or middle income countries

sanger.ac.uk

Wellcome Sanger Institute@sangerinstitute.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Have you heard of the Sanger Prize? It is a three-month undergrad placement at the Institute, and applications are open. Hear from our current Sanger Prize holder Beatriz Rodrigues Estevam, here ⤵️ https://sangerinstitute.blog/2025/11/20/unravelling-the-mysteries-of-the-worm-through-bioinformatics/

Open postdoc position at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Tree of Life to contribute to the Biodiversity Cell Atlas, with a focus on spatial transcriptomics. Apply by January 4 sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/Wellco... Please share with anyone who might be interested!

please share this postdoc job alert! come join the budding Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative as a postdoc or senior postdoc at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social working closely with @arnausebe.bsky.social and me to make progress on what we cover in this paper www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Biodiversity Cell Atlas: mapping the tree of life at cellular resolution - Nature

The Biodiversity Cell Atlas aims to create comprehensive single-cell molecular atlases across the eukaryotic tree of life, which will be phylogenetically informed, rely on high-quality genomes and use...

nature.com

a life changing opportunity made possible by the Nobel Prize funds awarded to John Sulston -- the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social runs the Sanger Prize scheme, open to an undergrad from any LMIC to spend 3 months here learning all about genomics. more details here www.sanger.ac.uk/about/study/...

The Sanger Prize

The Sanger Prize is an outreach competition aimed at undergraduate students who live and study in low or middle income countries

sanger.ac.uk

Wellcome Sanger Institute@sangerinstitute.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Have you heard of the Sanger Prize? It is a three-month undergrad placement at the Institute, and applications are open. Hear from our current Sanger Prize holder Beatriz Rodrigues Estevam, here ⤵️ https://sangerinstitute.blog/2025/11/20/unravelling-the-mysteries-of-the-worm-through-bioinformatics/

final week to apply for @sangerinstitute.bsky.social PhD programme (due Nov 27th) -- free to apply, open to anyone anywhere, and a superb training opportunity for students interested in genomic approaches applied to biodiversity, pathogens, vectors, and of course us pesky humans.

How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities? Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation. 🧵(1/n) @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515

Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito

Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...

science.org

#Microsporidia are #parasites of growing importance. @amjadkhalaf.bsky.social @mblaxter.bsky.social @marakat.bsky.social &co present 40 new genomes from #DarwinTreeofLife sequencing of their arthropod hosts, revealing insights into #tetraploidy & #reproduction @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48HsAQJ

new publication by @amjadkhalaf.bsky.social who mined arthropod reference genome data for hidden microsporidia reads and then did a whole lot of assembling and sleuthing! great job @amjadkhalaf.bsky.social !

Amjad Khalaf 🇵🇸@amjadkhalaf.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Really, really happy that our work on microsporidian genomes is now out in @plosbiology.org! A huge thank you to my coauthors, my supervisors @mblaxter.bsky.social & @marakat.bsky.social, the editors @roliroberts.bsky.social & Joseph Heitman, and the reviewers ❤️ plos.io/48HsAQJ

The fight against #malaria is at a crossroads. Together with colleagues worldwide, I’ve signed an Open Letter urging #IUCN members to keep the door open to responsible research and new tools that could help reverse stalled progress and save lives. Add your voice here scienceforbiodiversity.org

Science for Biodiversity

Synthetic biology: Hope for conservation requires keeping all options on the table.

scienceforbiodiversity.org

Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new... Mosquitoes that have been in the collection for nearly a hundred years are helping us in dealing with an even older but also current problem - malaria @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social

Genetic study of malaria-carrying mosquitoes tracks evolution of insecticide resistance | Natural History Museum

It crucially also reveals promising genetic targets for potential control.

nhm.ac.uk

One of the most dangerous malaria-carrying mosquitoes is rapidly evolving in response to control efforts, genetics has revealed. Findings could inform smarter tools to monitor for and fight malaria. 🦟 Read more here ⤵️ http://bit.ly/4pwQKDv

Genomic evolution of major malaria-transmitting mosquito species uncovered

Sequencing hundreds of Anopheles funestus mosquitoes provides new insights into the evolutionary patterns of this important human malaria-transmitting species.

bit.ly

Our paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus

Anopheles funestus s.s. is a major human malaria vector across Africa. To study its evolution, especially under vector control pressure, we sequenced 656 modern specimens (collected 2014 to 2018) and ...

doi.org

marilou boddé@mariloumercedes.bsky.social · 2y ago

Preprint is out! We investigated the genomic diversity and evolutionary history of Anopheles funestus mosquitoes, one of the main species transmitting human malaria across Africa. Here’s a visual summary. Art by @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social . 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How many chromosomes can an animal have? In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly

The genome of the Atlas blue butterfly contains ten times more chromosomes than most butterflies, and more than any other known diploid animal. Wright et al. show that this extraordinary karyotype is ...

tinyurl.com

🚀🧬🔥 Hot off the press — 2025! Don’t miss this must-read publication: bit.ly/4mJwFb7 This groundbreaking paper sets the stage for Earth BioGenome Project Phase II — where EBP is gearing up to scale genome sequencing 10× faster than ever before! 🌍✨

Malaria cases surge in Zimbabwe largely due to abrupt cut in USAID that affected mosquito net provision and surveillance measures. The Zimbabwean government trying to step up but can’t make up for the damage the sudden cessation. Climate change further increases mosquito burden too

Malaria ‘back with a vengeance’ in Zimbabwe as number of deaths from the disease triple

Withdrawal of USAID funds threatens decades of progress, say experts, with cuts to research and shortage of mosquito nets putting thousands at risk across the country

theguardian.com