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Reposted by Aimee McKinnon

Claudia Lange @claudiala777.bsky.social · 6d

✨ ✨ ✨ #PhD POSITION ✨ ✨ ✨
Insect microbiomes and their role in biocontrol: a journey from field collection to invasive weed management. @aimeeemac.bsky.social @cescomartons.bsky.social

Scholarship: $37,000 (tax free) (2025/26 rate) up to three and a half years.
Based at AgriBio, the Centre for AgriBiosciences, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Successful applicants must meet the La Trobe University entry requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Check your eligibility here: https://www]atrobe.edu.au/study/apply/research/doctor
For enquiries and to apply, please forward a covering letter, your curriculum vitae (please include evidence of research writing) and academic transcripts to: Kendra Whiteman Higher Education Manager Agriculture Victoria Research kendra.whiteman@agriculture.vic.gov.au
Closing date for applications: until filled
Title: Insect microbiomes and their role in biocontrol: a journey from field collection to invasive weed management
PhD Project Aims
• Explore the microbiome composition of biocontrol insect/s and host plants collected from the field in their native range
• Understand the impact of lab quarantine protocols, mass rearing, and release under conditions on insect microbiome and fecundity
• Develop methods to preserve or supplement beneficial microbes to cultured insects
The successful candidate will be supervised by A/Prof Paul Cunningham, Dr Aimee McKinnon and Dr Francesco Martoni and Dr Raelene Kwong. With potential opportunities to travel internationally and collaborate with experts at the Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand, this PhD will shape the future of biocontrol programs in Australia and internationally.

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Reposted by Aimee McKinnon

Phie Jacobs @phiejacobs.bsky.social · May 7

It was a privilege to help tell the stories of U.S. scientists whose lives have been upended during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration in this recent piece for @science.org

U.S. scientists’ lives and careers are being upended. Here are five of their stories

As the second Trump administration sends U.S. science into upheaval, countless researchers are fighting for their futures

www.science.org

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Apr 15

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Apr 15

Cool! That looks really similar to the epizootic outbreaks of Beauveria that I find on lissid beetles down here in Vic, also under eucalyptus bark - it shows how the fungi can form sort of plaques, when sheltered like that!

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Apr 15

Aye they're hefty. The huhu grubs are edible too, they reportedly taste like peanut butter. I wonder what zombie fungi claims them too

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Dr Manu Saunders @manusaunders.bsky.social · Mar 25

Beyond the clickbaity headline...a good science story on the complexities of ecology and why scientific debates over HOW we measure insect decline are important, with some comments from me 🌏🧪 #scicomm www.sciencefocus.com/comment/inse...

A massive insect study may have made a huge mistake

The debate surrounding biodiversity loss highlights the fact that science is always a work in progress

www.sciencefocus.com

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Reposted by Aimee McKinnon

Seth Bordenstein @symbionticism.bsky.social · Mar 23

📣 🪰 We're hiring a new Assistant/Associate Professor of *Public Health Entomology* at Penn State. Research areas are broad, covering pest management, pesticide resistance, epidemiology, and interactions of arthropods with microbial pathogens and symbionts.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Assistant/Associate Professor of Public Health Entomology

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Allison Hansen @hansenlab.bsky.social · Feb 26

New study from my lab and former grad Dr. Kwak shows Liberibacter psyllaurous, a dual insect symbiont and plant pathogen, boosts psyllid fitness by providing essential nutrients like arginine. A rare case of nutritional benefits from non-obligate symbionts #symbiosis journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

A dual insect symbiont and plant pathogen improves insect host fitness under arginine limitation | mBio

Unlike obligate symbionts that are permanently associated with their hosts, facultative symbionts rarely show direct nutritional contributions, especially under nutrient-limited conditions. This study...

journals.asm.org

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Mar 2

We have a few fantastic #entomology PhD opportunities available in our team at Agriculture Victoria, in association with La Trobe University, Australia 🇦🇺 😄

Australian Entomological Society @austentsoc.bsky.social · Feb 28

Interested in doing a PhD on insects? La Trobe has some opportunities available:

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Mar 1

An applied #entomology #job in North Carolina is advertised currently: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/214...

Associate Professor, Charles G. Wright Distinguished Scholar OR Charles G. Wright Distinguished Professor of Structural Entomology

The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University invites applications for the Charles G. Wright Distinguished Profess...

jobs.ncsu.edu

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 24

Very cool paper! Thanks for sharing. I asked whether the mechanism was verified because it's always been a bit fuzzy/theoretical with endophytic EPF, but I'm not so familiar with Ophiocordyceps! This is certainly getting close to solving it

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Reposted by Aimee McKinnon

Frank Ashwood @frankashwood.bsky.social · Feb 24

Introducing New Zealand's latest Bug of the Year- the magnificent Ngāokeoke / Velvet Worm!

NZ has two genera: one lays eggs (Ooperipatellus, 1st photo) and another gives live birth (Peripatoides, 2nd). They also deposit sperm which burrow through their partner's skin, but that's another story! 🧪

A photograph of a velvet worm - an orange and purple-patterned invertebrate composed of many soft segments and tiny spined legs. The velvet worm has long, segmented antenna and a pair of organs on its head which squirt glue for prey capture.

A photograph of a velvet worm - an Blue and yellow-patterned invertebrate composed of many soft segments and tiny spined legs. The velvet worm has long, segmented antenna and a pair of organs on its head which squirt glue for prey capture.

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 24

How do you know it passively transmits to insects through the endophytic phase? As in, by what mechanism?

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 21

Hi Timothée, I'd like to be added please, my orcid: orcid.org/0000-0002-45...

ORCID

orcid.org

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 21

Amazing photos!! Welcome Francesco to #bugsky

Francesco Martoni @cescomartons.bsky.social · Feb 21

First day on here!

How do I get added to ento and science starter packs?

I offer a beautiful psyllid (Creiis longipennis) emerging from its lerp and nymph, I guess 😍

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 21

please add @cescomartons.bsky.social 🙏, an ento-nerd, new to bluesky!!

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 15

Dam this is so rubbish!!! Sorry to hear. I have no doubt you'll find your feet somewhere soon, and so your great research will surely continue 🥲

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 14

His Google Scholar is interesting to read through, you can see him having an epiphany, over time, on what gets citations - and he credits publishing polarising material, and then see him adopt it as a method to gain power/influence, esp during covid

Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 10

Amphipsalta zelandica, New Zealand's chorus #cicada, is gorgeous. It's funny how when you return to your home country, you realise that the cicada sounds are unique and, therefore, #nostalgic #bugsky

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 10

A beautiful mycosed #moth too

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 10

Also, on the hiking track, here is a magnificent New Zealand Huhu beetle, likely infected with #Beauveria sp., though still early stage infection - there appears to be conidiophores on the left antenna 😍

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Feb 10

Cordyceps sinclairii is an #entomopathogenic fungus that infects #cicada nymphs in soil, I found a few of these while hiking in Abel Tasman NP in New Zealand, and just had to dig one up, to see the host! It's like digging up a tiny potato 🥔 #fungi

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Reposted by Aimee McKinnon

Earthling Cards @earthlingcards.bsky.social · Feb 3

So who wants to see some #zombie #fungi? I cleared some camphor saplings and lantana vine over weekend. The amount of #entomopathogenic fungi I found was getting really annoying. Ugh put down tools, get out camera, take photo for the wonderful bluesky people, pick back up tools. Repeat #fungifriends

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Reposted by Aimee McKinnon

Brian Lovett @lovettbr.bsky.social · Jan 17

Thrilled to share this paper with whomever has taken refuge on this platform. 🎊 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Transmission of transgenic mosquito-killing fungi during copulation - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Transmission of transgenic mosquito-killing fungi during copulation

www.nature.com

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Aimee McKinnon @aimeeemac.bsky.social · Jan 17

Brilliant 👏, we should chat sometime about translating these ideas to tephritid fruit flies 😄

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