Lydia Fong
@squarehare.bsky.social
PhD, UBC - She/Her Sex chromosomes in guppies are cool. My favourite things: The colour yellow and my dog and cats.
I am incredibly thrilled to announce that I will be starting as an Assistant Prof at Yale EEB in January 2027!! 🎉🎊 Stay tuned for student and postdoc openings, and please feel free to reach out to me if you are interested in eco-evo, range dynamics, species interactions, and global change! 🌐🌱🦠🧬
Come see my talk on guppy sex chromosome evolution at the Fish 3 session on Tuesday at #CSEE2026! Back-to-back with @joellelafond.bsky.social !
Judith Mank@judithmank.bsky.social · 3mo agoMankees are headed to #CSEE2026! Check out @squarehare.bsky.social's and @joellelafond.bsky.social's talks about Poecilia sex chromosomes, and @vdbijl.bsky.social's talk about evolutionary repeatability of male colour.
We're recruiting! We're looking for two graduate students to join us at UBC in Vancouver. Fully funded and open to global applicants, with flexible start-date. Topics include theory, bioinformatics, and microbiology. More details: asherleeks.com/apply #socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
If you are interested in knowing more: 👉 doi.org/10.1111/mec.70353 Also, a big shoutout to my coauthors who supported me through this project: Yuying Lin, @squarehare.bsky.social and @judithmank.bsky.social! I am also grateful to @fondsrechercheqc.bsky.social for supporting my research. 🧵6/6
Structural and Functional Divergence of the Poecilia picta Sex Chromosomes
Sex chromosome evolution has traditionally been viewed as a linear, time-dependent process. However, numerous comparative studies across diverse taxa have revealed that homomorphy can persist over lo...
doi.org
Very pleased to see this out. Our new Poecilia picta genome shows rapid Y degeneration in a young XY system — rapid gene loss and Helitron accumulation, plus compensatory gene traffic to autosomes. Led by @joellelafond.bsky.social with Yuying Lin & @squarehare.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/mec....
I’m excited to share my new paper! 🤩 We showed that maternal sucrose intake during pregnancy alone disrupts testosterone and allopregnanolone levels in critical regions of the fetal brain 🧠 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @kiransoma.bsky.social
Maternal Sucrose Intake during Pregnancy Alone Disrupts Testosterone and Allopregnanolone Levels in the Fetal Brain of Rats
Intake of added sugars, such as sucrose, is high globally. In rats, a maternal high-sucrose diet (HSD) from 10 wk before pregnancy to embryonic day (E…
sciencedirect.com
Now out! How important is social experience in male mating behavior? @corrallopeza.bsky.social found that experienced males were more likely to coerce non-receptive females, but did not change overall preference onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... w/ @vdbijl.bsky.social @idarolti.bsky.social
Team fish - we need your help! We are trying to build a database of all the fish chromosome-scale genomes where sex chromosomes have been identified. Have you build one or some? Do you know someone who has? Can you post the link in the comments? Please spread the word and repost! Thank you!
📢 NEW GENOME ALERT In #G3journal, @squarehare.bsky.social, @judithmank.bsky.social, and team generated a genome assembly of the Amazon guppy, Poecilia bifurca and showed how this species shares sex chromosomes with related species, albeit with substantial Y chromosome degeneration. buff.ly/lM7etkw
Just in time for her #eseb2025 poster on Thursday, @squarehare.bsky.social 's paper on the Poecilia bifurca sex chromosomes was published today academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...
academic.oup.com
Judith Mank@judithmank.bsky.social · 12mo agoLydia Fong’s poster is on Thursday, P03.077. Genome of the Amazon Guppy (Poecilia bifurca) reveals conservation of sex chromosomes and dosage compensation. The preprint for this is at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @squarehare.bsky.social #eseb2025 5/n
I’m really sorry to be missing #eseb2025, but for those sorting out their conference plan there are several lab talks and posters about what we are up to. Spoiler, they aren't all talking about guppies, or even fish! 1/n
Just out - Genome of the Amazon Guppy (Poecilia bifurca) reveals conservation of sex chromosomes and dosage compensation. By @squarehare.bsky.social, with @idarolti.bsky.social and others not yet on Bsky. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#HiSciSky My name is Lydia and I study sex chromosome evolution in guppies! Very excited to make my transition here! #academicsky #biology #evolution
