Varsha Mathur
@varshamathur.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist | MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow @univienna | Previously EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow, JRF Brasenose College, Oxford Biology | protists/parasites/organelles 🔬🧬
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
So proud to watch Jana turn a side quest into an entire research programme. Couldn’t imagine a more well-deserved outcome. 😍
The mighty yeast reveals what we believe are general principles of centromere evolution!
Behind the curtain: communities.springernature.com/posts/counti...
#MEvoSky 🧪🌎
The mighty yeast reveals what we believe are general principles of centromere evolution!
Behind the curtain: communities.springernature.com/posts/counti...
#MEvoSky 🧪🌎
November 27, 2025 at 9:21 AM
So proud to watch Jana turn a side quest into an entire research programme. Couldn’t imagine a more well-deserved outcome. 😍
The mighty yeast reveals what we believe are general principles of centromere evolution!
Behind the curtain: communities.springernature.com/posts/counti...
#MEvoSky 🧪🌎
The mighty yeast reveals what we believe are general principles of centromere evolution!
Behind the curtain: communities.springernature.com/posts/counti...
#MEvoSky 🧪🌎
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code
Great new review by Julius Lukes & colleagues 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Great new review by Julius Lukes & colleagues 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 26, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code
Great new review by Julius Lukes & colleagues 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Great new review by Julius Lukes & colleagues 👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Models and co-culture experiments assess four mechanisms of phytoplankton–bacteria interactions www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
Models and co-culture experiments assess four mechanisms of phytoplankton–bacteria interactions - Nature Microbiology
Mathematical representations of overflow metabolism, mixotrophy, exoenzymes and reactive oxygen species detoxification recapitulate dynamics in co-cultures of Prochlorococcus and eight heterotrophic b...
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Models and co-culture experiments assess four mechanisms of phytoplankton–bacteria interactions www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Rubisco is slow across the tree of life www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs
Rubisco is slow across the tree of life | PNAS
Rubisco is the main gateway through which inorganic carbon enters the biosphere, catalyzing
the vast majority of carbon fixation on Earth. This piv...
www.pnas.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Rubisco is slow across the tree of life www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
now i've seen everything... 😱
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive
Cellular structure self-organizes through an interplay between internal mechanisms and external cues. The single-celled suctorian P. collini builds a trap structure to capture large prey using microtubule feeding tentacles, creating feedback between cell morphology and prey availability.
November 19, 2025 at 1:46 PM
now i've seen everything... 😱
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky
November 19, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage
Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration
in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single
eukaryotic group. Guest e...
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
It is a collaboration between my lab (Uppsala U) and the labs of @dudinlab.bsky.social (Geneva U) and @filiphusnik.bsky.social (OIST). More info and how to apply here:
uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
PhD student in systematic biology
The Department of Organismal Biology teaches and explores the evolution, development and function on the organismal level. For more information see Department of Organismal Biology - Uppsala Universit
uu.varbi.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:50 AM
It is a collaboration between my lab (Uppsala U) and the labs of @dudinlab.bsky.social (Geneva U) and @filiphusnik.bsky.social (OIST). More info and how to apply here:
uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Wound healing is a hallmark feature of all life, including single cells. In a new preprint, Ambika Nadkarni @biochembika.bsky.social investigates a new dimension in cellular wound healing: how cells recover AFTER the wound has been closed
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Wound healing is a hallmark feature of all life, including single cells. In a new preprint, Ambika Nadkarni @biochembika.bsky.social investigates a new dimension in cellular wound healing: how cells recover AFTER the wound has been closed
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 7, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
If someone told you: "I'm doing a study featuring lichen, drones and #dinosaur bones" What would you say?
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Remote sensing of lichens with drones for detecting dinosaur bones
Brian Pickles and colleagues show that exposed dinosaur bones can be remote sensed
with drones by virtue of colored lichens growing on them.
www.cell.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:06 AM
If someone told you: "I'm doing a study featuring lichen, drones and #dinosaur bones" What would you say?
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
November 2, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
October 31, 2025 at 2:42 PM
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
This Halloween, we have a spooky evolutionary story for you.
The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇
The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇
October 31, 2025 at 10:19 AM
This Halloween, we have a spooky evolutionary story for you.
The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇
The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇
Had a fun two weeks in Heidelberg visiting in the @floravincent.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social labs! Expanding diatoms and their evil little parasites was peak Halloween vibes 🎃 @embl.org #ExM #diatoms
October 31, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Had a fun two weeks in Heidelberg visiting in the @floravincent.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social labs! Expanding diatoms and their evil little parasites was peak Halloween vibes 🎃 @embl.org #ExM #diatoms
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
So happy to see my first first-author paper published! 🎈
A short thread on how Ectocarpus and its TE secrets have kept me busy lately:
rdcu.be/eITQH
A short thread on how Ectocarpus and its TE secrets have kept me busy lately:
rdcu.be/eITQH
Characterization of the transposable element landscape shaping the Ectocarpus genome | Genome Biology
rdcu.be
October 1, 2025 at 8:12 AM
So happy to see my first first-author paper published! 🎈
A short thread on how Ectocarpus and its TE secrets have kept me busy lately:
rdcu.be/eITQH
A short thread on how Ectocarpus and its TE secrets have kept me busy lately:
rdcu.be/eITQH
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Excited to introduce Auxenochlorella as a new algal reference organism for fundamental plant science and bioengineering. A paper in two parts: a genetic toolkit for site-specific genomic manipulation, paired with the most unusual genome I’ve ever worked on
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
Targeted genetic manipulation and yeast-like evolutionary genomics in the green alga Auxenochlorella
Auxenochlorella, green algae shaped by evolutionary forces acting on vegetative diploids, are amenable to discovery research and bioengineering via efficie
academic.oup.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Excited to introduce Auxenochlorella as a new algal reference organism for fundamental plant science and bioengineering. A paper in two parts: a genetic toolkit for site-specific genomic manipulation, paired with the most unusual genome I’ve ever worked on
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Please join us next week for the second iteration of the DinoSphere Seminars! This time our two speakers will talk about host-associated dinoflagellates and any challenges they might have encountered when working with them. All current and future friends of dinoflagellates welcome!
#ProtistsOnSky
#ProtistsOnSky
We’re back with the next DinoSphere Online Seminar!
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
October 29, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Please join us next week for the second iteration of the DinoSphere Seminars! This time our two speakers will talk about host-associated dinoflagellates and any challenges they might have encountered when working with them. All current and future friends of dinoflagellates welcome!
#ProtistsOnSky
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
October 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Our collaboration with @mbonhivers.bsky.social is now out in @plosbiology.org! 🎉Using U-ExM, we mapped the formation of the flagellar pocket collar in T. brucei. Huge thanks to everyone involved — one step closer to #PhDone!
#ExM #oneringtorulethemall #Bilbo1 #trypanosoma #protistsonsky
#ExM #oneringtorulethemall #Bilbo1 #trypanosoma #protistsonsky
The flagellar pocket collar (FPC) is a cytoskeletal structure essential for nutrient uptake & immune evasion in #Trypanosome. @mbonhivers.bsky.social &co use U-ExM to provide novel insights into FPC biogenesis, and reveal 2 unknown cytoskeletal structures @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4n3bWi6
October 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Our collaboration with @mbonhivers.bsky.social is now out in @plosbiology.org! 🎉Using U-ExM, we mapped the formation of the flagellar pocket collar in T. brucei. Huge thanks to everyone involved — one step closer to #PhDone!
#ExM #oneringtorulethemall #Bilbo1 #trypanosoma #protistsonsky
#ExM #oneringtorulethemall #Bilbo1 #trypanosoma #protistsonsky
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Pre-print alert 🚨
We answer a longstanding question in the field. Do immune cells cause cerebral malaria?
The answer is YES!!!! And independently of P. falciparum accumulation in the brain.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
We answer a longstanding question in the field. Do immune cells cause cerebral malaria?
The answer is YES!!!! And independently of P. falciparum accumulation in the brain.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Innate immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum disrupt the blood-brain barrier
Plasmodium falciparum accumulation at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a hallmark of cerebral malaria, a life-threatening complication. Conversely, the contribution of the immune response to vascular ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Pre-print alert 🚨
We answer a longstanding question in the field. Do immune cells cause cerebral malaria?
The answer is YES!!!! And independently of P. falciparum accumulation in the brain.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
We answer a longstanding question in the field. Do immune cells cause cerebral malaria?
The answer is YES!!!! And independently of P. falciparum accumulation in the brain.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
Declining ocean greenness and phytoplankton blooms in low to mid-latitudes under a warming climate www.science.org/doi/full/10.... #jcampubs 🌊
Declining ocean greenness and phytoplankton blooms in low to mid-latitudes under a warming climate
Chlorophyll a is declining in low- to mid-latitude oceans, indicating reduced ocean productivity and fewer phytoplankton blooms.
www.science.org
October 21, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Declining ocean greenness and phytoplankton blooms in low to mid-latitudes under a warming climate www.science.org/doi/full/10.... #jcampubs 🌊
Reposted by Varsha Mathur
We have recently shown the large potential of organellar genome-resolved metagenomics by assembling 100s of new marine plastid MAGs (ptMAGs), including revealing the new deep-branching algal group leptophytes: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life
Marine algae support the entire ocean ecosystem and greatly impact planetary biology. The availability of algae in culture poorly represents their large environmental diversity, and we still have a li...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:33 AM
We have recently shown the large potential of organellar genome-resolved metagenomics by assembling 100s of new marine plastid MAGs (ptMAGs), including revealing the new deep-branching algal group leptophytes: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...