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
Liz Cooney
@protistwtmostest.bsky.social
Postdoc in the Keeling Lab at UBC Dinoflagellate evol 🔬| protistology in general | (respectfully) watching birds | 🇺🇸 living in 🇨🇦
We are recruiting a postdoc to explore how corals evolved coloniality, novel cell types, and photosymbiosis using single-cell and genomic approaches. Based at Academia Sinica, Taipei. More: sgel.biodiv.tw
I am starting my lab at the University of Geneva next January! Incredibly excited to soon be joining the MOCEL department as an Asst. Professor. The lab will use evolutionary cell biology to study chromosomes, centromeres & speciation 🧬🔬🌱 Intrigued, want to join or collaborate? 🔗 helsenlab.org
Helsen lab | chromosome and centromere evolution
The Helsen lab at the University of Geneva explores how centromeres and chromosomes evolve, diversify, and function across eukaryotes. Discover our latest publications, research team, and open positio...
helsenlab.org
Apparently the "boring billion" was actually exciting! We provide molecular evidence of complex Mesoproterozoic eukaryotic communities. So happy to see this out 🥳 Thanks to @phoebefossil.bsky.social , Hélène Morlon & @fburki.bsky.social for a lovely collab! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Plastid endosymbiosis without gene transfer - dinoflagellates can do it #ProtistsOnSky #Kareniaceae #plastids
Recent plastid replacement in Karlodinium ballantinum (Kareniaceae, Dinoflagellata) challenges the paradigms of endosymbiotic gene transfer
Abstract. Plastids, the photosynthetic organelles of eukaryotes, arose via endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria by a eukaryotic host and were subsequently spread
academic.oup.com
DinoSphere seminar happening today in just over an hour! 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST. Speakers will be Leïla Jacquot (kleptoplasty) and Noodin Jacko (myzozoan plastid parallelism). Zoom link and details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w - come join us! @ehehenberger.bsky.social @manondemulder.bsky.social
DinoSphere - Online talks
Video credits: Liz Cooney
tinyurl.com
🚨 We're hiring! My new lab at EMBL Hamburg is looking for a Research Technician. I'm looking for someone excited by phages, metabolism, enzymes, structural biology and bacterial immunity—if you know the right person, please share this post!🧵⬇️ Apply here: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Research Technician (Osterman Group – Metabolism-driven immunity)
EMBL Hamburg / CSSB The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship life sciences organization, with more than 110 independent research groups across Heidelberg, Hamburg, Grenobl...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
Our new work @natecoevo.nature.com shows Karenia cristata produces brevetoxins and is the dominant player in the prolonged bloom & mass mortality event in Southern Australia. Glad to be part of this work with Shauna Murray & the whole team! rdcu.be/fse9r The Conversation: tinyurl.com/3rnyxrnj
A catastrophic marine mortality event caused by a complex algal bloom including the brevetoxin producer Karenia cristata
Nature Ecology & Evolution - Genomic characterization and toxicity assays identify Karenia cristata as a brevetoxin-producing species that is the dominant component of the prolonged microalgal...
rdcu.be
Genomic characterization and toxicity assays identify Karenia cristata as a brevetoxin-producing species that is the dominant component of the prolonged microalgal bloom causing mass marine mortality in South Australia 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New preprint: We studied the population dynamics of Arctic #phytoplankton and #mycoplankton and found evidence for chytrid-mediated diatom bloom termination. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Congrats @paulinethome.bsky.social #protists #protistsonsky #algae #diatoms #chytrids
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
🚨JOB ALERT🚨 We're seeking technicians and postdocs interested in working on decrypting plant-fungal communication as part of a "Fungalphabet" MURI team! (see RFP language below) Official job ads to follow, but please get in touch with me if this sounds like you or someone you know!
Spatial Proteomics Workshop for Protists! Join us 3–4 Sept 2026 at the Natural History Museum, London - exploring 'LOPIT' methods for mapping proteins to organelles, complexes & symbionts. Register by 10 Aug | Abstracts and Early Bird due 31 July 🔗 protistology.org.uk/autumn-meeting-2026 #protist
P-UK Autumn Meeting 2026 | Protistology UK
protistology.org.uk
Very excited that the preprint of the main paper of my PhD is now out! We show that Meringosphaera is the first centrohelid with permanent plastids: doi.org/10.64898/202... @zlatogursky.bsky.social, @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social, prof. Rachel A. Foster, and @fburki.bsky.social #protistsonsky
Single cell genomics and fluorescence microscopy suggest a permanent plastid in a marine centrohelid
Photosynthetic organelles (plastids), which originated via primary endosymbiosis between an Archaeplastida ancestor and cyanobacteria, have shaped the Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere and spread across ...
doi.org
New #ISEPpapers #PrePrint! A billion-year-old bacterial machinery replicates plastid DNA and supports kleptoplastidy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Protists #Algae #Microbes #Evolution #Bacteria
Sweet and fatty symbionts: Photosynthetic productivity and carbon storage boosted in microalgae within a host | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #protistsonsky
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
pnas.org
Meet Holdonia, a new member of the chrompodellid clade. Found clinging to a polychaete, this little guy reveals that similar patterns in plastid reduction have occurred independently across chrompodellid and related lineages. @rhizalyssa.bsky.social @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social tinyurl.com/2t25xb6z
The evolutionary transition from alga to parasite in the sister lineage of apicomplexans
The chrompodellids are a collection of photosynthetic “chromerids” and heterotrophic “colpodellids,” which are together the sister lineage to the apic…
tinyurl.com
The CNRS has opened a Junior Professor Chair (CPJ) call in Parasitology, and the Microbiologie Fondamentale et Pathogénicité (MFP, Bordeaux) laboratory is among the potential host institutions. More information: www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/... #Parasitology #Protozoology #ResearchJobs #CNRS
Junior Professor Chairs (CPJ) 2026 – CNRS Biology
CNRS Biology is recruiting researchers through its Junior Professor Chair (CPJ) program, subject to final approval by the French Ministry of Higher Ed
insb.cnrs.fr
It's happening tomorrow! Zoom link via: tinyurl.com/43uckr2w We look forward to seeing you there
DinoSphere - Online talks
Video credits: Liz Cooney
tinyurl.com
Our next DinoSphere seminar will be June 18th at 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST hosting Jana Pilátová and @gracezhong.bsky.social 🪱 Grace Zhong: Symbiont mobility in a dinoflagellate–acoel worm symbiosis 🪩 Jana Pilátová: Eyespots as photonic mirrors in Symbiodiniaceae More details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w!
My last pic of the organizers closing out the inaugural session of the #MicroSEA course, dedicated to hands on single cell methods with micro-eukaryotes. It was an honor and a pleasure to share. Bravo @johandecelle.bsky.social @mjamy.bsky.social @protistwtmostest.bsky.social and other organizers!
Me and my friend Cymbomonas, the mixotrophic green alga with 4 flagella. #MicroSEA course clay modeling activity 2026. #protistsonsky
Fantastic week of seaside "protisting" at the Microsea summer school in Roscoff. Very keen and inspiring participants. Thanks to the organizers for an amazing first edition. Only downside is that I lost (hopefully only temporarily) my computer to a coffee spill. #protistsonsky
I'm looking for a postdoc to work on diatom phylogenomics. Reach out by email with questions. Please share and repost! uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/UASYS/job/Fa...
Postdoctoral Fellow in Biological Sciences
Current University of Arkansas System employees, including student employees and graduate assistants, need to log in to Workday via MyApps.Microsoft.com, then access Find Jobs from the Workday search ...
uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
The first paper from #theLifeOfRetaria is out! doi.org/10.1002/bies... This was a very fun and enriching process, as it has been the last 2 years of our Seminar Series 🤩 #protistsonsky
We got our first common paper out #theLifeOfRetaria with @sandinmm.bsky.social , @raphaelmorard.bsky.social, @nicolecoots.bsky.social, @mattgr3co.bsky.social, Nicolaas Glock and Natalia Llopis-Monferrer - first product of our seminar series! check it out! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
it has been a real pleasure to co-run the Life of Retaria with such a lovely group of organizers 💕Happy two years of the Life of Retaria Seminar Series!!!! 🎉 it feels right that our paper should come out around the anniversary!
The first paper from #theLifeOfRetaria is out! doi.org/10.1002/bies... This was a very fun and enriching process, as it has been the last 2 years of our Seminar Series 🤩 #protistsonsky
We are looking for candidates to fill a PhD position in Grenoble, France. Please share with anyone interested in microbial symbioses! #dinoflagellate #symbiosis www.linkedin.com/posts/johan-...
PhD position available in the team (Cell and Plant Physiology Lab) in Grenoble, in close collaboration with Prof Patrick Keeling from Univ. of British Columbia (Canada), Liz Cooney (Photosymbiosis… | ...
PhD position available in the team (Cell and Plant Physiology Lab) in Grenoble, in close collaboration with Prof Patrick Keeling from Univ. of British Columbia (Canada), Liz Cooney (Photosymbiosis tea...
linkedin.com
Our next DinoSphere seminar will be June 18th at 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST hosting Jana Pilátová and @gracezhong.bsky.social 🪱 Grace Zhong: Symbiont mobility in a dinoflagellate–acoel worm symbiosis 🪩 Jana Pilátová: Eyespots as photonic mirrors in Symbiodiniaceae More details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w!
And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...
What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n
Interested in working on the evolution of photosynthetic endosymbioses? Come join us! I have 2 open positions in my new group @cemess.bsky.social in Vienna 3yr postdoc info: tinyurl.com/4emkjpn4 4yr PhD info: tinyurl.com/mtxmsjpy Apply by 1st June! Please share/repost #Protists #Symbiosis #PhD
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
GOOD NEWS! Our BRILLIANT Red-ALERT CDT (@redalertcdt.bsky.social) has funding for one more home studentship at the University of Bath so we're re-advertising this project! New deadline: May 18th Come explore protist and invertebrate diversity with us!
findaphd.com
If you're interested in biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems, there's just a few days to apply for our PhD project: Ecological Surveillance using High-Throughput Quantitative Imaging at @uniofbath.bsky.social . Deadline: January 16th! Apply: is.gd/svXBcr Image: www.planktoscope.org/how-it-works