David Enard
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denard.bsky.social
David Enard
@denard.bsky.social
Evolutionary Biologist. Ancient epidemics. Genomic adaptation.
Great news for anyone using ARGs in non-model species:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
February 17, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Happy to share our last study on how age, biological sex and genetics affect not only the extent of antibody responses against viruses but also the specific viral epitopes recognised. Thanks to Axel Olin @EtiennePatin @LabExMI @institutpasteur @cdf1530 @CNRS

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Demographic and genetic factors shape the epitope specificity of the human antibody repertoire against viruses - Nature Immunology
Patin and colleagues present a mineable Resource database for identifying demographic and genetic factors that impact antiviral antibody repertoires in humans.
www.nature.com
February 16, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by David Enard
I am seeking a postdoc to join my group at UCLA -- ideally the candidate would have some experience in either population genetics or microbes/microbiome (computational background needed). We have a range of projects and are happy to tailer to your interests. Please dm/email me if interested.
February 12, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Counting publications is such a poor proxy for scientific productivity. Counting discoveries, with a bonus for discoveries that were not anticipated, and important insights is a much better proxy. I am wondering if there are standardized, systematic ways of quantifying this.
February 9, 2026 at 2:16 PM
That looks great! To avoid errors due to starting with spotty gene annotations (gene loss vs. not annotated), I would suggest re-annotating every genome used with TOGA2 from the Hiller lab:
github.com/hillerlab/TO...
Many annotations out there are not optimal and TOGA2 has great power and accuracy.
January 30, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Calling all OrthoFinder users!

We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.

GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...

(1/10)
www.biorxiv.org
January 29, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by David Enard
📣 *Abstract submission by January 31st*

"Host adaptations to viral infections” International Meeting
May 10th-13th 2026
@cnrs.fr Station Biologique Roscoff, Brittany, France

Register & Join us +amazing international speakers!
#CNRS @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social #IRP

www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/evenement...
Rapid host adaptations in response to viral infections
Viruses threaten all living organisms leading to molecular conflicts which have shaped hosts over evolutionary timescales. This meeting seeks to gather scientists from diverse disciplines including genomics, population genetics, innate immunology, virology, and beyond, to explore the evolution, diversity, molecular basis, and dynamics of these conflicts.
www.insb.cnrs.fr
January 26, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by David Enard
PEQG! My favorite conference ever*. Single session, fantastic talks, great discussions. Only once every 2 years. And in the best conference location too! Abstract deadline coming up Feb 5!

*Disclosure: I am required to say it's the best conference because it is and I told my mom I wouldn't lie.
Homepage - 2026 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference
Visit our website to learn more.
genetics-gsa.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:37 PM
This is shaping up to be a great workshop. There is still time to register before the deadline! Please RT! #evolution #viruses #pathogens
Registration deadline is fast approaching for the "Host adaptations to viral infections” Meeting May 10th-13th, 2026, at the CNRS Station Biologique de Roscoff, Brittany, France! JOIN US and the many amazing speakers! JOIN US!

sites.google.com/berkeley.edu...
January 23, 2026 at 3:25 PM
I forgot using tags again: #evolution #genomics #machinelearning #CNNs
1/5) After months scratching our heads (Is this why I am bald?) when analyzing the performance of CNNs to find sweeps in real genomes, postdoc Jesus Murga Moreno figured out that training with simulations with recombination that closely reflects the distribution of recombination in the real genome
January 22, 2026 at 1:05 PM
1/5) After months scratching our heads (Is this why I am bald?) when analyzing the performance of CNNs to find sweeps in real genomes, postdoc Jesus Murga Moreno figured out that training with simulations with recombination that closely reflects the distribution of recombination in the real genome
January 22, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Very interesting alternative to maximum likelihood to reconstruct ancestral sequences.
January 22, 2026 at 1:59 AM
Interesting to think about in the context of mass extinctions. Is there evidence of very large but phenotypically homogenous species having greater extinction probability?
3/7
Amphioxus are fascinating chordates: despite an extremely simple and conserved phenotype—even between deeply diverged species—they harbor some of the highest levels of genomic diversity ever reported in metazoans. How can such phenotypic stability coexist with extreme genomic diversity?
January 20, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by David Enard
New preprint! and my first single-author paper, so bear with me.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Malaria population genetic studies have found some puzzling patterns: Ne estimates spanning orders of magnitude, genome-wide negative Tajima's D, and over a quarter of genes with πN/πS >1

1/n
Rare variation in malaria parasites biases population-genetic inference
Understanding how pathogens evolve is fundamental to disease control and is a basic question in evolutionary biology, yet pathogens with complex life cycles violate assumptions of classic evolutionary...
www.biorxiv.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Registration deadline is fast approaching for the "Host adaptations to viral infections” Meeting May 10th-13th, 2026, at the CNRS Station Biologique de Roscoff, Brittany, France! JOIN US and the many amazing speakers! JOIN US!

sites.google.com/berkeley.edu...
January 14, 2026 at 4:50 AM
Reposted by David Enard
Just sharing new tool written by Vincent Ranwez to view and manipulate sequences and alignments directly in your terminal
github.com/ranwez-searc...
Pretty convenient!
GitHub - ranwez-search/SeqTUI: A fast terminal-based viewer and command-line toolkit for molecular sequences (DNA, AA). View, translate, convert (to FASTA), and combine sequences aligned or not — all ...
A fast terminal-based viewer and command-line toolkit for molecular sequences (DNA, AA). View, translate, convert (to FASTA), and combine sequences aligned or not — all from the terminal. - ranwez-...
github.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:42 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament challenges!

Among the 9 challenges, we had five winners: @alwaysrong.bsky.social, @adaigle.bsky.social, @andrewhvaughn.bsky.social, @thymelicus.bsky.social, @rgollnisch.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Final version of paper with @smishra677.bsky.social now published in a wonderful issue of GENETICS!

academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
January 8, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Excited about our new preprint showing bidirectional adaptive introgression between invasive and native crop pests over ecological timescales www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The collision of two genomes threatens global food security
Human activity alters selection pressures and species' ranges, creating opportunities for hybridisation through secondary contact. Ancient hybridization has enabled adaptive radiation, but its role in...
www.biorxiv.org
December 26, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by David Enard
This headline is wrong and misleading, and the brief text below it is not much better. Whatever might constitute a full explanation of the differences between sapiens and other hominins, we remain confident that 'genes' will be central to it.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Genes don’t explain what made humans different
Tiny genetic variations between humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans might not be all they were cracked up to be.
www.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Check the latest preprint from the lab, #Virus, #evolution, #VirusEvolution, armchair #virology
1/3) PhD student Mary Reed Weston analyzed virus-driven human adaptation across the viral replication cycle based on ~8,000 annotated proviral and antiviral effects manually curated from the virology literature. The steps of entry and release clearly stand out:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 19, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The number of RTs for this preprint that took an absolutely massive amount of work and conceptual effort is interesting to say the least. Probably time to try other avenues of dissemination.
1/3) PhD student Mary Reed Weston analyzed virus-driven human adaptation across the viral replication cycle based on ~8,000 annotated proviral and antiviral effects manually curated from the virology literature. The steps of entry and release clearly stand out:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 19, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by David Enard
Stuck in the cell: trapping viruses in infected cells was a frequent adaptation strategy in human hosts https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693836v1
December 15, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by David Enard
🦇 Two PhD positions available on our new ARC Discovery Grant: "From Diversity to Disease: Viral Ecology, Evolution and Persistence in Bats"

The project will investigate how viral diversity evolves and persists, with a particular focus on recently discovered henipaviruses in Australian flying foxes.
December 16, 2025 at 1:44 AM