José Aguilar-Rodríguez
@jaguilarrod.bsky.social
Evolutionary systems/cell biologist. EMBO and SNSF Postdoctoral Fellow with Dmitri Petrov and Dan Jarosz at Stanford. PhD with Andreas Wagner at the University of Zurich. Studying how molecular and cellular systems shape, and are shaped by, evolution.
Pinned
Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation
The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...
www.biorxiv.org
One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
Thrilled to finally share the magnum opus of my PhD that focuses on the genetic basis of evolutionary change! Specifically, we know we can map the genetic basis of a trait, but can we tell which genes will underlie the trait shift when it evolves? doi.org/10.1101/2025...
High-resolution mapping of a rapidly evolving complex trait reveals genotype-phenotype stability and an unpredictable genetic architecture of adaptation
The extent to which adaptation can be predicted, particularly for traits with complex genetic bases, is unknown. Here, we leveraged a model complex trait, model species, and high-powered longitudinal ...
doi.org
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Thrilled to finally share the magnum opus of my PhD that focuses on the genetic basis of evolutionary change! Specifically, we know we can map the genetic basis of a trait, but can we tell which genes will underlie the trait shift when it evolves? doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
Super excited that the bulk of my PhD work is now preprinted! Here we used whole-community competition, or coalescence, experiments to quantify selection acting on genetically diverged strains within larger communities. (1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Super excited that the bulk of my PhD work is now preprinted! Here we used whole-community competition, or coalescence, experiments to quantify selection acting on genetically diverged strains within larger communities. (1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
We have an open PhD position (application deadline 9 January 2026) in "Theory of fitness landscapes" at @unibe.ch 🤓⛰️📊👩💻🎓: banklab.github.io/positions/
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
October 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM
We have an open PhD position (application deadline 9 January 2026) in "Theory of fitness landscapes" at @unibe.ch 🤓⛰️📊👩💻🎓: banklab.github.io/positions/
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Please share widely!
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
50 years ago, King & Wilson published a foundational paper that underlies the cis-regulatory paradigm (CRP) of #DevoEvo #EvoDevo, i.e., that *almost* all morphological evolution is driven by mutations in regulatory elements, rather than proteins, and it all arose from simple misunderstanding 🧪 🧵
October 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
New paper with my (amazing) friend and mentor @jrpenades.bsky.social
Really looking forward to see what plasmid aficionados think of this one!!
With @asantoslopez.bsky.social @wfigueroac3.bsky.social Akshay Sabins and others
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Really looking forward to see what plasmid aficionados think of this one!!
With @asantoslopez.bsky.social @wfigueroac3.bsky.social Akshay Sabins and others
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Non-conjugative plasmids limit their mobility to persist in nature
Sabnis et al. explain why non-conjugative plasmids move at a low rate in nature. While
increased mobility can easily evolve by incorporating phage DNA into plasmids, this
is disadvantageous because it...
www.cell.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:12 PM
New paper with my (amazing) friend and mentor @jrpenades.bsky.social
Really looking forward to see what plasmid aficionados think of this one!!
With @asantoslopez.bsky.social @wfigueroac3.bsky.social Akshay Sabins and others
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Really looking forward to see what plasmid aficionados think of this one!!
With @asantoslopez.bsky.social @wfigueroac3.bsky.social Akshay Sabins and others
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
¡Enhorabuena, crack!
October 24, 2025 at 5:36 PM
¡Enhorabuena, crack!
Thank so much, Dani!!! 😊
October 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Thank so much, Dani!!! 😊
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
This is a beautiful study. Congrats Jose and all authors!
One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation
The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...
www.biorxiv.org
October 24, 2025 at 10:49 AM
This is a beautiful study. Congrats Jose and all authors!
Thank you so much, Raquel! 😊 That means a lot! I’m really happy you found it accessible and interesting!
October 24, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Thank you so much, Raquel! 😊 That means a lot! I’m really happy you found it accessible and interesting!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
Check out @jaguilarrod.bsky.social and @petrovadmitri.bsky.social thought provoking work! If like me, you feel this work may be out of your comfort zone, make sure to read Jose's bluetorial, clearly explained! Congratulations!
One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation
The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...
www.biorxiv.org
October 23, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Check out @jaguilarrod.bsky.social and @petrovadmitri.bsky.social thought provoking work! If like me, you feel this work may be out of your comfort zone, make sure to read Jose's bluetorial, clearly explained! Congratulations!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
My lab is seeking two PhD candidates to investigate the function and regulation of endogenous retroviruses in the early stages of human development 🦠👩🔬. Apply through the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) program: www.molgen.mpg.de/IMPRS/applic.... www.molgen.mpg.de/5094682/Fuey...
[2026] – Endogenous retroviruses in human embryogenesis
www.molgen.mpg.de
October 23, 2025 at 8:31 PM
My lab is seeking two PhD candidates to investigate the function and regulation of endogenous retroviruses in the early stages of human development 🦠👩🔬. Apply through the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) program: www.molgen.mpg.de/IMPRS/applic.... www.molgen.mpg.de/5094682/Fuey...
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
Terrific work! 👏👏
October 23, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Terrific work! 👏👏
Thank you so much, Cedric! 😊 Thrilled to hear that!
October 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Thank you so much, Cedric! 😊 Thrilled to hear that!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
Wow! Very impressive work 🤯
October 23, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Wow! Very impressive work 🤯
Thanks a lot, Dvir!
October 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Thanks a lot, Dvir!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
1/5
🦖 Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990) turns 35 in November. In a new preprint, I argue that it was a prescient meditation on evolutionary genetics, complexity, & control. I also examine analogous efforts of today (e.g. “de-extinction.")
Select points below:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
🦖 Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990) turns 35 in November. In a new preprint, I argue that it was a prescient meditation on evolutionary genetics, complexity, & control. I also examine analogous efforts of today (e.g. “de-extinction.")
Select points below:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
October 14, 2025 at 12:49 PM
1/5
🦖 Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990) turns 35 in November. In a new preprint, I argue that it was a prescient meditation on evolutionary genetics, complexity, & control. I also examine analogous efforts of today (e.g. “de-extinction.")
Select points below:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
🦖 Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990) turns 35 in November. In a new preprint, I argue that it was a prescient meditation on evolutionary genetics, complexity, & control. I also examine analogous efforts of today (e.g. “de-extinction.")
Select points below:
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
A fun little side project I've been working on with @stepadenisov.bsky.social , Mato Lagator, and Andreas Wagner: "Strong promoters are mutationally robust". Briefly...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Strong promoters are mutationally robust
Mutational robustness is the persistence of a phenotype upon mutation. It facilitates molecular evolution and has been characterized in a variety of biological systems, but studies of prokaryotic prom...
www.biorxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 8:02 AM
A fun little side project I've been working on with @stepadenisov.bsky.social , Mato Lagator, and Andreas Wagner: "Strong promoters are mutationally robust". Briefly...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thank you so much! Haha yes, I still remember how tough it was at the bench in the beginning; definitely a humbling experience. I look forward to hearing what you think once you’ve had a chance to read it!
October 23, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Thank you so much! Haha yes, I still remember how tough it was at the bench in the beginning; definitely a humbling experience. I look forward to hearing what you think once you’ve had a chance to read it!
Gracias! Me encantaría!
October 22, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Gracias! Me encantaría!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
I am incredibly proud to share that my work has officially been published in Cell! @cp-cell.bsky.social
This work was a product of years of dedication and countless hours of research in the labs of Joanna Wysocka and Dan Jarosz labs @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
This work was a product of years of dedication and countless hours of research in the labs of Joanna Wysocka and Dan Jarosz labs @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
DNA binding and mitotic phosphorylation protect polyglutamine proteins from assembly formation
DNA binding and phosphorylation protect FOXP2, a transcription factor with the longest
polyQ track in the proteome, from aggregation during interphase and mitosis. Harnessing
these native solubility-p...
www.cell.com
April 21, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I am incredibly proud to share that my work has officially been published in Cell! @cp-cell.bsky.social
This work was a product of years of dedication and countless hours of research in the labs of Joanna Wysocka and Dan Jarosz labs @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
This work was a product of years of dedication and countless hours of research in the labs of Joanna Wysocka and Dan Jarosz labs @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Congratulations, Raquel! Amazing work!
October 22, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Congratulations, Raquel! Amazing work!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
Today in @nature.com, we present our work leveraging functional genomics and human blastoids to uncover a human-specific mechanism in preimplantation development driven by the endogenous retrovirus HERVK.
Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD
Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD
A human-specific regulatory mechanism revealed in a pre-implantation model
Nature - Genetic manipulation of blastoids reveals the role of recently emerged transposable elements and genes in human development.
rdcu.be
October 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Today in @nature.com, we present our work leveraging functional genomics and human blastoids to uncover a human-specific mechanism in preimplantation development driven by the endogenous retrovirus HERVK.
Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD
Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
This paper is SO COOL! Congrats, and thanks for sharing!
October 22, 2025 at 6:44 PM
This paper is SO COOL! Congrats, and thanks for sharing!
Reposted by José Aguilar-Rodríguez
I’m excited to announce the launch of my lab at EPFL in Jan 2026 🎉. We’ll combine evolution & synthetic biology to study and (re)engineer bacterial communication.
I’m recruiting PhD students to start in the first semester of 2026.
Apply via EPFL PhD programs by Nov 1
drive.google.com/file/d/1cm-t...
I’m recruiting PhD students to start in the first semester of 2026.
Apply via EPFL PhD programs by Nov 1
drive.google.com/file/d/1cm-t...
October 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I’m excited to announce the launch of my lab at EPFL in Jan 2026 🎉. We’ll combine evolution & synthetic biology to study and (re)engineer bacterial communication.
I’m recruiting PhD students to start in the first semester of 2026.
Apply via EPFL PhD programs by Nov 1
drive.google.com/file/d/1cm-t...
I’m recruiting PhD students to start in the first semester of 2026.
Apply via EPFL PhD programs by Nov 1
drive.google.com/file/d/1cm-t...
Thank you! That means a lot and I’m happy you found it interesting. We put a lot of care into it.
October 22, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Thank you! That means a lot and I’m happy you found it interesting. We put a lot of care into it.