Julia Van Etten
@couchmicroscopy.bsky.social
Incoming assistant professor at University of Maryland, College Park • NSF PRFB postdoc • PhD from Bhattacharya lab @RutgersU • Passionate about algae / protists + genomics + evolutionary biology + microscopy • vanettenlab.org #NewPI
Opinions are my own.
Opinions are my own.
Pinned
I’m thrilled to announce that next summer I’ll be joining the University of Maryland Department of Biology as an assistant professor! The Van Etten lab will study how horizontal processes (DNA and gene transfer + organelle acquisition) drive and are driven by ecology and evolution. vanettenlab.org
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
November 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine
Multiple genetic codes developed during the evolution of eukaryotes and bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code is known for archaea. We used proteomics to confirm our prediction that certain archae...
www.science.org
November 23, 2025 at 7:22 PM
New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Nature research paper: Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup
go.nature.com/486YtjW
go.nature.com/486YtjW
Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup - Nature
The discovery of an unusual protist named Solarion arienae, which has a mitochondrial genome with some intriguing features, provides insight into the early radiation of eukaryotic groups.
go.nature.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Nature research paper: Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup
go.nature.com/486YtjW
go.nature.com/486YtjW
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy
Nature Communications - It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core...
rdcu.be
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Prashant Singh in the lab of Tina Iverson at Vanderbilt published this image of the bacterial 🦠flagellar motor, a detailed molecular model made possibly by CryoEM 🔬.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
November 17, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Prashant Singh in the lab of Tina Iverson at Vanderbilt published this image of the bacterial 🦠flagellar motor, a detailed molecular model made possibly by CryoEM 🔬.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.
“Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a
Primary Plastid in the Making”. This is cool as hell 😎
www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
Primary Plastid in the Making”. This is cool as hell 😎
www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
www.biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 1:30 AM
“Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a
Primary Plastid in the Making”. This is cool as hell 😎
www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
Primary Plastid in the Making”. This is cool as hell 😎
www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Getting Rosalind Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Getting Rosalind Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 7, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
A Novel Protistan Trait Database Reveals Functional Redundancy and Complementarity in Terrestrial Protists(Amoebozoa and Rhizaria)
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 9, 2025 at 9:57 AM
A Novel Protistan Trait Database Reveals Functional Redundancy and Complementarity in Terrestrial Protists(Amoebozoa and Rhizaria)
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
I just wrote the following sentence in a manuscript: “Using pulled Pasteur pipettes, micropipettes, and tools made from toothbrush bristles superglued onto colored pencils, individual cells were isolated and washed in 0.22um-filtered ambient water…”
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
November 6, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I just wrote the following sentence in a manuscript: “Using pulled Pasteur pipettes, micropipettes, and tools made from toothbrush bristles superglued onto colored pencils, individual cells were isolated and washed in 0.22um-filtered ambient water…”
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
I’m still disgusted that @jjinsing.bsky.social’s PRFB was terminated and that we’re learning about this important work in Lost Science instead of in an article that features positive outcomes of his work/our government’s investments in young scientists. Thanks for speaking out but what a nightmare.
"The project that was terminated was on this hummingbird, the white-necked jacobin....I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary." Researcher @jjinsing.bsky.social interviewed by @carlzimmer.com #birds #nature #science #fundscience #nonbinary 🧪
He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males
www.nytimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I’m still disgusted that @jjinsing.bsky.social’s PRFB was terminated and that we’re learning about this important work in Lost Science instead of in an article that features positive outcomes of his work/our government’s investments in young scientists. Thanks for speaking out but what a nightmare.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Exciting things coming soon...
October 30, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Exciting things coming soon...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Excited to share this perspective article out now! Come read about Streptocarpus and other great model systems!
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration
ABSTRACT. The ability of organisms to replace and regenerate anatomical structures following their loss or damage has piqued the curiosity of biologists for centuries. In addition to Development's ‘Mo...
journals.biologists.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Excited to share this perspective article out now! Come read about Streptocarpus and other great model systems!
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Python was awarded a funding grant, funding grant asked Python foundation to remove all diversity and inclusion initiatives they have.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Please read our statement, share it with your networks, and support us if you can. www.python.org/sponsors/app... psfmember.org/civicrm/cont...
October 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Python was awarded a funding grant, funding grant asked Python foundation to remove all diversity and inclusion initiatives they have.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
It’s a very exciting day at Rutgers today! The 100th anniversary of the Chrysler Herbarium! Thanks to @drgentian.bsky.social and Megan King for organizing, training so many students/botanists, and taking such good care of the collections! It’s been really fun to learn from you over the years!
October 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
It’s a very exciting day at Rutgers today! The 100th anniversary of the Chrysler Herbarium! Thanks to @drgentian.bsky.social and Megan King for organizing, training so many students/botanists, and taking such good care of the collections! It’s been really fun to learn from you over the years!
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Just another normal HHS week: CDC researchers cannot present work at an annual Infectious Disease conference in (checks notes) Atlanta. As a CDC researcher put it:
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
Government shutdown means many CDC experts are skipping a pivotal meeting on infectious disease
An annual conference about infectious diseases is seeing a dramatic attendance decline, in part because Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts can’t participate.
apnews.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Just another normal HHS week: CDC researchers cannot present work at an annual Infectious Disease conference in (checks notes) Atlanta. As a CDC researcher put it:
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
“As recognized for over a century, faculty should be able to engage as individual citizens in extramural speech. Faculty should exercise these rights responsibly and professionally, but when they fail to do so, it is not the role of the government or the university to sanction them.”
This is a remarkable piece. Conservative AND liberal legal scholars come out TOGETHER to condemn Trump’s compact for higher education. www.chronicle.com/article/our-...
Opinion | Our Politics Differ, But We Agree: Trump’s ‘Compact’ Violates Academic Freedom
Using federal funding to dictate who colleges admit and what faculty can say crosses a dangerous line.
www.chronicle.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“As recognized for over a century, faculty should be able to engage as individual citizens in extramural speech. Faculty should exercise these rights responsibly and professionally, but when they fail to do so, it is not the role of the government or the university to sanction them.”
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders. n.pr/42MPNgJ
In small towns and rural communities, young voters say they feel unseen by leaders
Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders.
n.pr
October 17, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders. n.pr/42MPNgJ
About 5 years ago @drgentian.bsky.social and I wrote two >10-page proposals to the Unicode consortium trying to create amoeba (protist) and dandelion emojis, citing the lack of biodiversity, accuracy, and difficulty to communicate about science topics without them. And…they were both REJECTED!
All botanists know how frustrating the lack of plant emoji diversity is (while mycologists make do with just two mushrooms 🍄🍄🟫). Mammola et al. quantified this disparity compared to biological diversity and built a phylogeny of animal emojis.
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
October 16, 2025 at 11:40 AM
About 5 years ago @drgentian.bsky.social and I wrote two >10-page proposals to the Unicode consortium trying to create amoeba (protist) and dandelion emojis, citing the lack of biodiversity, accuracy, and difficulty to communicate about science topics without them. And…they were both REJECTED!