Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Peter Mulhair @petermulhair.bsky.social · 15d

Last chance to join us next month for the #Biodiversity25 conference.

A fantastic set of speakers, mix of talks & focused workshops, and the chance to meet others in the field of biodiversity genomics 🧬

In-person registration closes next Monday 29th September!

Registration 🔗: bit.ly/4j3vAZ9

Understanding Life: Using Largescale Biodiversity Reference Genomes — 20251027

Understanding life: Using largescale biodiversity reference genomes

bit.ly

4 5

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Aug 12

Aww. The thought generates happy feelings in the Liverpool symbiont community!

1 2

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Jul 30

Well it is different, but was inspired by Margaret's paper. Symbionts were always going to be easier, as they often have active mechanisms for infecting the germ line.

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Jul 30

John Jaenike did follow up for mites moving spiroplasma symbionts, which made the same shift (will group-》mel). It worked and he did get heritable transmission in recipient mel at a low rate. Which was very cool.

1 3

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Jul 27

As an editor, I found them occasionally counter productive- a reviewer would write a thing (e.g fine but iterative) but not write this in the review - so as an editor made decisions harder to justify. Save misconduct, if you want it part of the review process, write it direct to authors.

1 3

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Michael Gerth @mgerth.bsky.social · Jul 23

Two fully funded #PhD positions on insect #Symbiosis available in our lab: Spiroplasma in Neotropical Arthropods (tinyurl.com/spiroplasma) & Psyllid symbionts (tinyurl.com/psyllids).
Please contact me for any questions & share widely #symbiosky #academicjobs

tinyurl.com

9 7

Reposted by Greg Hurst

NIHR HPRU in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections @hpruezi.bsky.social · Jun 9

We are offering an exciting opportunity for a clinical trainee to undertake a PhD in an area relating to outbreak prone infectious disease of public health importance or zoonoses: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNJ811/h...

HPRU Clinical Fellow at University of Liverpool

Apply now for the HPRU Clinical Fellow role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

www.jobs.ac.uk

2 8

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Nancy Moran @nancy-moran.bsky.social · May 29

Looking for a postdoc on bacterial-insect symbiosis, combining evolution and molecular mechanisms? I'll have one open in my lab starting Sept 2025. If interested contact me (or find me at the GRC on Animal-microbe symbiosis if you'll be there). #SymbioSky

36 34

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Lucas Waltzer @lucaswaltzer.bsky.social · Jun 3

#drosophila @flybase.bsky.social request emergency funding:
"As it stands, by the end of July, 2025, there will be no future updates to FlyBase, and in the worst case scenario access to the website will also be lost" => please donate!

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

Drosophila Genetic Database

The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk

3 100 81

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · May 20

Rickettsia in the form of Ca Tisiphia is in amoebae and inverts. More widely, rickettsiales are everywhere really (inverts and lots of microeuks).

2

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · May 12

The Rickettsia is about double 'normal' size. In the plot below, blue lines are insertion sequences locations. Over half the genome. I still find it remarkable this bacterium is able to grow and replicate!

1

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · May 12

Did the chicken pox vaccination privately when F1 was 10 and hadn't caught it. It is pretty unpleasant as a disease in adults.... (I got it at 17 yeuch)

1 2

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · May 12

Symbiont genomes are generally small, losing content. However, mobile element proliferation occasionally drives genome expansion. Is this a chance thing? Emily observed coinfecting symbionts with greatly enlarged genomes (via distinct mobile elements) implying an underlying driver of expansion. 2/2

2 1

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · May 12

New preprint ex @bolinabug.bsky.social (+ @daisukekageyama.bsky.social & @scottishwormboy.bsky.social) on the pronounced secondary expansion of Spiroplasma and Rickettsia genomes in lacewings doi.org/10.1101/2025... #symbiosky 1/2

Concerted genome expansion of heritable symbionts in an insect host

Maternally transmitted symbionts represent important components of arthropod biology, acting as both beneficial partners and as reproductive parasites. Their strict vertical transmission greatly reduc...

doi.org

1 16 17

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · May 5

Your salamanders (and their algae) featured in my year 1 intro to ecology lecture on symbiosis!

1 4

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · May 2

Rachel Drysdale and I prepared a biographical memoir for Michael Ashburner, now published at:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Michael Ashburner. 23 May 1942—7 July 2023: 23 May 1942 — 7 July 2023: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society: Vol 0, No 0

Michael Ashburner had an extraordinary career. From his early passion for natural history, through his education and subsequent career at the University of Cambridge, Michael’s intellectual energy and boundless curiosity generated a prodigious output ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

4 12

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Ewa Chrostek @ewachrostek.bsky.social · Apr 30

Our New Paper is out! Great work by Mashaneh Ahrar and the team - thank you all, especially @makaefer.bsky.social and Greg Hurst (is he on Bsky???)! TBC :)

Marie Held @makaefer.bsky.social · Apr 28

New publication ( @greghurst.bsky.social @ewachrostek.bsky.social ) out using one of the @cci-liv.bsky.social microscopes and image analysis expertise: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
@livuni-livsrf.bsky.social @livuniresearch.bsky.social @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social

Development of Antisense Tools to Study Bodo saltans and Its Intracellular Symbiont

Obligate symbioses present challenges for functional genetic analysis. This study shows that antisense inhibition cannot be used to investigate gene functions in the aquatic symbiosis between Bodo sa...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

2 5 9

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Lena Riabinina @lenariab.bsky.social · Feb 28

Please spread the word - 2 new PhD positions, one fully funded and one self-funded, with us at Durham and @clarahowcroft.bsky.social at Northumbria Uni! We are looking for people with interdisciplinary experience (biology, computer vision, engineering) and interest to work across disciplines.

InsectNeuroLab @insectneurolab.bsky.social · Feb 28

Please re-post: We have 2 new PhD positions on insect behaviour. We are looking for people with interests and expertise in development of behavioural assays, working with insects, computer vision, image processing and data analysis, and previous research experience. Please email us to discuss! 🦟💻🐝

3 6

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Peter Mulhair @petermulhair.bsky.social · Apr 22

Delighted to have been awarded a BBSRC Fellowship to look at the genetics of how insects have adapted to living in freshwater habitats 🧬🦋🪰🪲🌊

Extremely grateful to all who have supported me over the years and excited to be at Liverpool with some great colleagues!

www.ukri.org/news/9-milli...

£9 million investment fuels groundbreaking bioscience research

From unlocking the secrets of animal movement to tackling antimicrobial resistance, UK’s brightest bioscience minds are pushing the boundaries of innovation.

www.ukri.org

5 4 36

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Apr 16

You could try the continuous plankton recording project, who have been archiving material for a long time. www.cprsurvey.org/services/int...

CPR Survey | International Sample Archive

International Sample Archive

www.cprsurvey.org

1

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Apr 10

Many FTSE companies are UK registered but international in activity, so impacted well beyond just UK-US tariffs.

1 1

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Apr 9

@haraipapilio.bsky.social paper on evolution of Wolbachia MK mechanism through prophage acquisition in molina butterflies - avoiding suppression by the host. Now out! #symbiosky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... With @daisukekageyama.bsky.social @bolinabug.bsky.social and others

Evolution of Wolbachia male-killing mechanism within a host species

Male-killing bacterial symbionts, prevalent in arthropods, skew population sex ratios by selectively killing male progeny, profoundly impacting ecolog…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 34 45

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Mar 14

#symbiosky

Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · Mar 12

Hi Nancy, you can find symbiosis posts on the #Symbiosky feed/tag. Great to see you here!

1 1

Reposted by Greg Hurst

Aisling Brady @aislingbrady.bsky.social · Mar 7

Happy to contribute to this piece in recognition of #InternationalWomensDay

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · Mar 7

How to keep more women in research.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, four female researchers (incl. @kimholzmann.bsky.social, @aislingbrady.bsky.social and @mbigoni.bsky.social) discuss the barriers and opportunities they have experienced.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-worl...

How to keep more women in research - Research Professional News

Ahead of International Women’s Day, four female researchers discuss barriers and opportunities they have experienced

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

2 5