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
Out now in Environmental Microbiome! 🧬
By re-analyzing microbialite sequencing data, we show that chromerid algae (the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexans) are consistent and widespread associates of microbialites across diverse marine and freshwater environments worldwide 🌎
By re-analyzing microbialite sequencing data, we show that chromerid algae (the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexans) are consistent and widespread associates of microbialites across diverse marine and freshwater environments worldwide 🌎
Modern microbialites harbor an undescribed diversity of chromerid algae - Environmental Microbiome
Background Chromerid algae are the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexan parasites. While chromerids have been central to understanding the evolutionary transition from free-living algae to...
link.springer.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Out now in Environmental Microbiome! 🧬
By re-analyzing microbialite sequencing data, we show that chromerid algae (the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexans) are consistent and widespread associates of microbialites across diverse marine and freshwater environments worldwide 🌎
By re-analyzing microbialite sequencing data, we show that chromerid algae (the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexans) are consistent and widespread associates of microbialites across diverse marine and freshwater environments worldwide 🌎
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Seeking scientist volunteers for the 2026 spring semester! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? Apply by 1/25. Please share widely. bit.ly/comicscollabspring2026
January 15, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Seeking scientist volunteers for the 2026 spring semester! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? Apply by 1/25. Please share widely. bit.ly/comicscollabspring2026
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
The microbial keystone concept is a very cool topic in microbiome ecology. This review summarises mechanisms, prediction methods and implications, with "keystoneness" being highly context/time dependent + new methods approaches suggested. Very nice read!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 11, 2026 at 4:25 PM
The microbial keystone concept is a very cool topic in microbiome ecology. This review summarises mechanisms, prediction methods and implications, with "keystoneness" being highly context/time dependent + new methods approaches suggested. Very nice read!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It was an honor this week to speak about DNA transfer in the Sex Across Origins symposium at @sicb.bsky.social! It was interesting to step out of the genomics world for a bit and think about non-meiotic recombinative processes like HGT as “Sex0” in the “sex by numbers” framework. #SICB2026
January 8, 2026 at 11:12 PM
It was an honor this week to speak about DNA transfer in the Sex Across Origins symposium at @sicb.bsky.social! It was interesting to step out of the genomics world for a bit and think about non-meiotic recombinative processes like HGT as “Sex0” in the “sex by numbers” framework. #SICB2026
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Now published in Nature Biotechnology:
go.nature.com/44P7nSm
If you missed it, the TL;DR is in my April thread below
go.nature.com/44P7nSm
If you missed it, the TL;DR is in my April thread below
January 6, 2026 at 9:38 AM
Now published in Nature Biotechnology:
go.nature.com/44P7nSm
If you missed it, the TL;DR is in my April thread below
go.nature.com/44P7nSm
If you missed it, the TL;DR is in my April thread below
Excited to be part of this symposium!
It’s happening!!
#SICB2026 Tomorrow, from 8AM to 3:30PM come to C120/121/122 for ✨Sex Across Origins: Questioning animal-centric assumptions and developing integrative frameworks.✨
Also! 3 fantastic complimentary sessions Tuesday in B113, with a special focus on education in the morning.
#SICB2026 Tomorrow, from 8AM to 3:30PM come to C120/121/122 for ✨Sex Across Origins: Questioning animal-centric assumptions and developing integrative frameworks.✨
Also! 3 fantastic complimentary sessions Tuesday in B113, with a special focus on education in the morning.
January 5, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Excited to be part of this symposium!
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
I overlapped with Brenna for several years at Stony Brook before we both moved. She does brilliant work and this is devastating to read and makes me even further ashamed of our scientific establishment.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/s...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/s...
She Wanted to Improve Genetic Medicine
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:50 PM
I overlapped with Brenna for several years at Stony Brook before we both moved. She does brilliant work and this is devastating to read and makes me even further ashamed of our scientific establishment.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/s...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/s...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Large-scale analysis of bacterial genomes reveals thousands of lytic phages | Nature Microbiology https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02203-4
Large-scale analysis of bacterial genomes reveals thousands of lytic phages - Nature Microbiology
Diverse genomes of lytic phages are found in bacterial assemblies, challenging assumptions about the nature of the lytic lifestyle.
www.nature.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Large-scale analysis of bacterial genomes reveals thousands of lytic phages | Nature Microbiology https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02203-4
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains
December 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
December 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
A new amoeba species called Incendiamoeba cascadensis that lives & reproduces at the highest temperature ever described for a eukaryote, earning the title of “fire amoeba”. asm.org/podcasts/tin... A big welcome to Tiny Living Beings (@couchmicroscopy.bsky.social) as the newest ASM Podcast partner!
Introducing the Fire Amoeba - with Angela Oliverio and Beryl Rappaport
A new amoeba species called Incendiamoeba cascadensis that lives and reproduces at the highest temperature ever described for a eukaryote, earning the title of “fire amoeba”.
asm.org
December 23, 2025 at 10:30 PM
A new amoeba species called Incendiamoeba cascadensis that lives & reproduces at the highest temperature ever described for a eukaryote, earning the title of “fire amoeba”. asm.org/podcasts/tin... A big welcome to Tiny Living Beings (@couchmicroscopy.bsky.social) as the newest ASM Podcast partner!
🚨 Surprise podcast episode alert! 🚨
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
Introducing the Fire Amoeba
open.spotify.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:01 PM
🚨 Surprise podcast episode alert! 🚨
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
Update: they responded to my colleague and said it wasn’t AI but they actually manually pull titles from conference abstracts and use them word for word as proposed titles for other people’s work. Even worse! I’m furious! Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should take this up w the journal?
I had an experience today with a journal that I know to be considered “legit” that was probably using AI to solicit an article from someone I knew and in doing so, plagiarized my work word for word. 1/
December 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Update: they responded to my colleague and said it wasn’t AI but they actually manually pull titles from conference abstracts and use them word for word as proposed titles for other people’s work. Even worse! I’m furious! Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should take this up w the journal?
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
We recently investigated how much and when tintinnid ciliates produce shell material during the cell cycle to construct a new shell (lorica) after division: tinyurl.com/49usp8xw
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
December 16, 2025 at 8:12 AM
We recently investigated how much and when tintinnid ciliates produce shell material during the cell cycle to construct a new shell (lorica) after division: tinyurl.com/49usp8xw
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
I had an experience today with a journal that I know to be considered “legit” that was probably using AI to solicit an article from someone I knew and in doing so, plagiarized my work word for word. 1/
December 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I had an experience today with a journal that I know to be considered “legit” that was probably using AI to solicit an article from someone I knew and in doing so, plagiarized my work word for word. 1/
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
🧵 NSF is reducing external review requirements and eliminating routine expert panels, citing staff shortages that this administration implemented. This change expands program officer authority. But the solution to flawed accountability isn't less public accountability.
NSF plans to streamline merit review to heal self-inflicted staffing wound www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists
Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities
www.science.org
December 16, 2025 at 12:33 AM
🧵 NSF is reducing external review requirements and eliminating routine expert panels, citing staff shortages that this administration implemented. This change expands program officer authority. But the solution to flawed accountability isn't less public accountability.
There is an entire Wikipedia page for the “Obama tan suit controversy” but the current president just posted this and we’ll all forget it by tomorrow when he posts something even worse or attacks another Venezuelan ship. I’m short circuiting trying to understand how this has become acceptable.
December 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
There is an entire Wikipedia page for the “Obama tan suit controversy” but the current president just posted this and we’ll all forget it by tomorrow when he posts something even worse or attacks another Venezuelan ship. I’m short circuiting trying to understand how this has become acceptable.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
I wrote in @statnews.com about the emotional toll anti-vaccine rhetoric is taking on clinicians — and how it’s straining our relationships with patients.
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
Rise of anti-science rhetoric has fundamentally changed the relationship between doctors and patients
“The rise of anti-science and anti-vaccine rhetoric has fundamentally changed the relationship between clinicians and patients.”
www.statnews.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:09 AM
I wrote in @statnews.com about the emotional toll anti-vaccine rhetoric is taking on clinicians — and how it’s straining our relationships with patients.
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid Proterozoic https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693929v1
December 15, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid Proterozoic https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693929v1
This dinosaur menorah has been going strong for at least 30 years.
December 15, 2025 at 2:42 AM
This dinosaur menorah has been going strong for at least 30 years.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
December 11, 2025 at 11:16 AM
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Protist–bacteria partnerships are more common in wastewater treatment plants than we thought. In this ISME communications paper, we uncovered widespread denitrifying endosymbionts inside ciliates, their global distribution, and their temporal dynamics across WWTPs.🦠
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
Occurrence and temporal dynamics of denitrifying protist endosymbionts in the wastewater microbiome
Abstract. Effective wastewater treatment is of critical importance for preserving public health and protecting natural environments. Key processes in waste
academic.oup.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Protist–bacteria partnerships are more common in wastewater treatment plants than we thought. In this ISME communications paper, we uncovered widespread denitrifying endosymbionts inside ciliates, their global distribution, and their temporal dynamics across WWTPs.🦠
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...