Gavin Douglas
@gmdouglas.bsky.social
Bacterial ecology and evolution | Data analysis | Science publishing
Assistant Prof at University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada
https://douglaslab.ca
Assistant Prof at University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada
https://douglaslab.ca
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
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 Gavin Douglas
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 Gavin Douglas
My department at UT Austin is looking to hire an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology, broadly defined. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.
apply.interfolio.com/177547
apply.interfolio.com/177547
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
My department at UT Austin is looking to hire an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology, broadly defined. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.
apply.interfolio.com/177547
apply.interfolio.com/177547
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
New diamond open access journal Replication Research welcomes reports of replication of previous works. #academicchatter
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/index.php/replicationresearch/index
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/index.php/replicationresearch/index
Replication Research
Replication Research is a diamond open-access and researcher-led journal that publishes reproductions, replications, and conceptual articles on repetitive research
www.uni-muenster.de
November 12, 2025 at 9:54 AM
New diamond open access journal Replication Research welcomes reports of replication of previous works. #academicchatter
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/index.php/replicationresearch/index
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/index.php/replicationresearch/index
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Proud of the latest edition of my free intro biostats book.
gitrepo: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
book: ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/
Not complete but at a good point to take a break, and I think its quite usable
dm me with comments , ideas etc
gitrepo: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
book: ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/
Not complete but at a good point to take a break, and I think its quite usable
dm me with comments , ideas etc
Applied Biostatistics
ybrandvain.github.io
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Proud of the latest edition of my free intro biostats book.
gitrepo: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
book: ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/
Not complete but at a good point to take a break, and I think its quite usable
dm me with comments , ideas etc
gitrepo: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
book: ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/
Not complete but at a good point to take a break, and I think its quite usable
dm me with comments , ideas etc
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Too many authors use a scientific paper's Discussion to thoroughly shred their own work. That, and two more common mistakes in writing Discussions:
What your Discussion section isn’t
Today, the next instalment in a short series inspired by bad papers I’ve read (some of them, I have to admit, my own). I’ve let myself rant about what a Methods sections shouldn’t be, and what a Re…
scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com
October 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Too many authors use a scientific paper's Discussion to thoroughly shred their own work. That, and two more common mistakes in writing Discussions:
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
I'm super bummed to be missing #ESEB2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social due to a cancelled flight! Here's a quick overview of my talk "Gene- and genome-focused perspectives on microbial pangenomes" slated to be part of The Evolution of Microbial Pangenomes -- which I recommend you attend tomorrow (Fri) !
1/n
1/n
August 21, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I'm super bummed to be missing #ESEB2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social due to a cancelled flight! Here's a quick overview of my talk "Gene- and genome-focused perspectives on microbial pangenomes" slated to be part of The Evolution of Microbial Pangenomes -- which I recommend you attend tomorrow (Fri) !
1/n
1/n
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
In case you missed it, check out my latest #substack on life, entropy, and the arrow of time.
Trying to get a bit more poetic with this one. If this isn't your thing, stay tuned next week, for another prose post.
gibbological.substack.com/p/on-life-en...
Trying to get a bit more poetic with this one. If this isn't your thing, stay tuned next week, for another prose post.
gibbological.substack.com/p/on-life-en...
On life, entropy, and the heat death of the universe
a poem
gibbological.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 4:18 PM
In case you missed it, check out my latest #substack on life, entropy, and the arrow of time.
Trying to get a bit more poetic with this one. If this isn't your thing, stay tuned next week, for another prose post.
gibbological.substack.com/p/on-life-en...
Trying to get a bit more poetic with this one. If this isn't your thing, stay tuned next week, for another prose post.
gibbological.substack.com/p/on-life-en...
Obligatory new job swag and selfie. Excited to start as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada!
Come work with me! douglaslab.ca
Come work with me! douglaslab.ca
July 3, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Obligatory new job swag and selfie. Excited to start as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada!
Come work with me! douglaslab.ca
Come work with me! douglaslab.ca
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Lopezguerra & Douglas recommend the high-quality Xylocopa violacea reference genome by Nash et al., 2024, Heredity, the first annotated pseudo-chromosomal assembly for any Xylocopa bee! 🐝 A crucial step for pollinator research, conservation, and even cancer therapy studies #ERGA tinyurl.com/vwknzu2b
A high-quality genome assembly for carpenter bees
We present a reference genome assembly from an individual male Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea, Linnaeus 1758). The assembly is 1.02 gigabases in span. 48% of the assembly is scaffolded into…
tinyurl.com
June 5, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Lopezguerra & Douglas recommend the high-quality Xylocopa violacea reference genome by Nash et al., 2024, Heredity, the first annotated pseudo-chromosomal assembly for any Xylocopa bee! 🐝 A crucial step for pollinator research, conservation, and even cancer therapy studies #ERGA tinyurl.com/vwknzu2b
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
At PCI Genomics, we are pleased to have recommended all ERGA manuscripts and publications to date, helping to bring together this vital body of work at the heart of European biodiversity genomics.
🔗 genomics.peercommunityin.org
#ERGA #Genomics #Biodiversity #PCIGenomics #OpenScience
🔗 genomics.peercommunityin.org
#ERGA #Genomics #Biodiversity #PCIGenomics #OpenScience
June 5, 2025 at 8:01 AM
At PCI Genomics, we are pleased to have recommended all ERGA manuscripts and publications to date, helping to bring together this vital body of work at the heart of European biodiversity genomics.
🔗 genomics.peercommunityin.org
#ERGA #Genomics #Biodiversity #PCIGenomics #OpenScience
🔗 genomics.peercommunityin.org
#ERGA #Genomics #Biodiversity #PCIGenomics #OpenScience
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Nancy Moran Contact
web.biosci.utexas.edu
June 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Howard's: evolution of microbial genes, genomes and communities. Can be experimental or computational. If interested, contact Howard Ochman, [email protected]
Homepage: web.biosci.utexas.edu/ochman/index...
Homepage: web.biosci.utexas.edu/ochman/index...
Ochman Lab: HOME
web.biosci.utexas.edu
June 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Howard's: evolution of microbial genes, genomes and communities. Can be experimental or computational. If interested, contact Howard Ochman, [email protected]
Homepage: web.biosci.utexas.edu/ochman/index...
Homepage: web.biosci.utexas.edu/ochman/index...
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
We just published our first paper in the Peer Community Journal - diamond open access, no APCs!
Awesome experience, with less than a week from submission after receommendation by #pcigenomics.
Highly recommended!
#molpalmuc
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
@peercommunityin.bsky.social
Awesome experience, with less than a week from submission after receommendation by #pcigenomics.
Highly recommended!
#molpalmuc
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
@peercommunityin.bsky.social
Genomic changes are varied across congeneric species pairs of animals
peercommunityjournal.org
May 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM
We just published our first paper in the Peer Community Journal - diamond open access, no APCs!
Awesome experience, with less than a week from submission after receommendation by #pcigenomics.
Highly recommended!
#molpalmuc
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
@peercommunityin.bsky.social
Awesome experience, with less than a week from submission after receommendation by #pcigenomics.
Highly recommended!
#molpalmuc
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
@peercommunityin.bsky.social
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Come join us at @mcgill.ca as an assistant professor in virus-host interactions! Please share widely.
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...
Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Microbiology & Immunology, (C2-240724)
Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ...
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
April 24, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Come join us at @mcgill.ca as an assistant professor in virus-host interactions! Please share widely.
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...
New preprint (and brief🧵)! “Co-occurrence drives horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among marine prokaryotes”. doi.org/10.1101/2025...
March 31, 2025 at 10:31 PM
New preprint (and brief🧵)! “Co-occurrence drives horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among marine prokaryotes”. doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt
A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry - Nature
The root of the eukaryote Tree of Life is estimated from a new, larger dataset of mitochondrial proteins including all known eukaryotic supergroups, showing it lies between two multi-supergroup assemb...
doi.org
March 14, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Big news: we are setting up a new non-profit organization to run bioRxiv and medRxiv. It's called openRxiv [no it's not a new preprint server; it's dedicated organization to oversee the servers] openrxiv.org 1/n
Homepage - openRxiv
openRxiv is an independent non-profit, the new organizational home for bioRxiv and medRxiv, enabling researchers to instantly share groundbreaking findings with the global scientific community.
openrxiv.org
March 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Big news: we are setting up a new non-profit organization to run bioRxiv and medRxiv. It's called openRxiv [no it's not a new preprint server; it's dedicated organization to oversee the servers] openrxiv.org 1/n
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
I am a little late, but I am very happy to see this work published. Congrats to @ellistorrance.bsky.social for all the hard work on her last chapter!
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
Homologous recombination shapes the architecture and evolution of bacterial genomes
Abstract. Homologous recombination is a key evolutionary force that varies considerably across bacterial species. However, how the landscape of homologous
doi.org
January 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I am a little late, but I am very happy to see this work published. Congrats to @ellistorrance.bsky.social for all the hard work on her last chapter!
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
📑 New PCI Genomics recommendation, by Nicolas Pollet: https://buff.ly/40lxBsq
On the work of Sallé et al. (2024) Spatio-temporal diversity and genetic architecture of pyrantel resistance in Cylicocyclus nassatus, the most abundant horse parasite https://buff.ly/4jCCiqK
On the work of Sallé et al. (2024) Spatio-temporal diversity and genetic architecture of pyrantel resistance in Cylicocyclus nassatus, the most abundant horse parasite https://buff.ly/4jCCiqK
The genomic foundations of adaptation: evaluating the mountain h...
Fekete et al. (2024) generated a chromosome-level reference genome assembly for the mountain hare (Lepus timidus). This represents a significant advancement in genomic research for non-model…
buff.ly
January 23, 2025 at 9:00 AM
📑 New PCI Genomics recommendation, by Nicolas Pollet: https://buff.ly/40lxBsq
On the work of Sallé et al. (2024) Spatio-temporal diversity and genetic architecture of pyrantel resistance in Cylicocyclus nassatus, the most abundant horse parasite https://buff.ly/4jCCiqK
On the work of Sallé et al. (2024) Spatio-temporal diversity and genetic architecture of pyrantel resistance in Cylicocyclus nassatus, the most abundant horse parasite https://buff.ly/4jCCiqK
I am looking for graduate students interested in investigating bacterial genome evolution, esp. pangenomes and intergenic regions, and the relative importance of genetic drift! https://buff.ly/3UPVcQ9
January 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I am looking for graduate students interested in investigating bacterial genome evolution, esp. pangenomes and intergenic regions, and the relative importance of genetic drift! https://buff.ly/3UPVcQ9
What are folks favourite *free* tools for finding potential reviewers for manuscripts? I have used JANE (https://buff.ly/2XdHUyw) previously, which is great, but I'm wondering if there are other open tools to try too.
January 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
What are folks favourite *free* tools for finding potential reviewers for manuscripts? I have used JANE (https://buff.ly/2XdHUyw) previously, which is great, but I'm wondering if there are other open tools to try too.
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
This looks interesting:
SCARAP: scalable cross-species comparative genomics of prokaryotes academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
SCARAP: scalable cross-species comparative genomics of prokaryotes academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
SCARAP: scalable cross-species comparative genomics of prokaryotes
AbstractMotivation. Much of prokaryotic comparative genomics currently relies on two critical computational tasks: pangenome inference and core genome infe
academic.oup.com
December 15, 2024 at 10:55 AM
This looks interesting:
SCARAP: scalable cross-species comparative genomics of prokaryotes academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
SCARAP: scalable cross-species comparative genomics of prokaryotes academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
14. There are huge benefits to converting your current journal clubs into preprint review clubs.
*Share usable feedback and improve science
*Help ECRs build a public track record
*Actual training
op-ed: buff.ly/3zjLltQ
You could post the reviews to @prereview.bsky.social too!
#PreprintAdvent
*Share usable feedback and improve science
*Help ECRs build a public track record
*Actual training
op-ed: buff.ly/3zjLltQ
You could post the reviews to @prereview.bsky.social too!
#PreprintAdvent
Journal clubs 2.0: An update for the 21st century
Do you run a journal club? The non-profit, scientist-driven ASAPbio (Accelerating Science and Publication in Biology) promotes transparency and innovation in life science communication, and they are offering funding to organise preprint review clubs. Find out about their other activities, too.
buff.ly
December 14, 2024 at 1:00 PM
14. There are huge benefits to converting your current journal clubs into preprint review clubs.
*Share usable feedback and improve science
*Help ECRs build a public track record
*Actual training
op-ed: buff.ly/3zjLltQ
You could post the reviews to @prereview.bsky.social too!
#PreprintAdvent
*Share usable feedback and improve science
*Help ECRs build a public track record
*Actual training
op-ed: buff.ly/3zjLltQ
You could post the reviews to @prereview.bsky.social too!
#PreprintAdvent
Reposted by Gavin Douglas
Reminder for newcomers that bioRxiv has Bluesky accounts in every subject category - great way to keep up (please re-skeet) connect.biorxiv.org/news/2023/09...
bioRxiv expands on Mastodon and Bluesky
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
connect.biorxiv.org
November 10, 2024 at 1:40 PM
Reminder for newcomers that bioRxiv has Bluesky accounts in every subject category - great way to keep up (please re-skeet) connect.biorxiv.org/news/2023/09...