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Reposted by Jeremias N Brand 🪱

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 14d

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

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Reposted by Jeremias N Brand 🪱

Maren Wellenreuther @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social · Sep 5

Size matters—but maybe not how we thought. Most chromosomal inversions are just a few hundred bp. Ignoring these “small players” could mean we’ve misunderstood how genomes evolve -out in TREE authors.elsevier.com/a/1ljL1cZ3X3...

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 26

I'm currently in a sea of moving cartons getting ready to move on from Göttingen back to Switzerland.
Super excited, but it's also frustrating that science requires moving so often...
Also why do I have so much stuff? 😬

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 25

Keep on fighting! 💪

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EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Aug 22

Lund University is seeking a postdoc/researcher for an ERC project on gene expression in hybrid Italian sparrows. One-year position with potential extension. Apply here: https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:833332/ #postdoc

Researcher in hybridization induced changes to gene expression

lu.varbi.com

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 23

On my way home from #ESEB25 it was inspiring to see that evolutionary biology research is alive and well! So many new ideas and insights. Thank you to @tonigabaldon.bsky.social @sesbe-org.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social and all the volunteers for making this possible!

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 23

Congratulations! I enjoyed reading the preprint and look forward to read the final product.

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Yi-Jyun Luo @yjluo.bsky.social · Aug 18

Delighted to share the peer-reviewed version of our study led by @tomlewin.bsky.social now out in Genome Biology @bmc.springernature.com! We analyzed 64 chromosome-level genomes across 15 animal phyla and found that extensive genome rearrangements are the norm in bilaterians.
doi.org/10.1186/s130...

Conservation of bilaterian genome structure is the exception, not the rule - Genome Biology

Species from diverse animal lineages have conserved groups of orthologous genes together on the same chromosome for over half a billion years since the last common ancestor of bilaterians. Although no...

doi.org

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 22

What model of glasses is this? Might be nice to look at worms too!

Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 21

Amazing evolutionary biology outreach at the Fiestas de Gràcia in Barcelona.
@rawwiberg.bsky.social explained that not everything we assume about sex is a given and that we can learn a lot from the exceptions.
#ESEB25

A narrow street decorated for a festival with large, colorful papier-mâché sea creatures hanging overhead, including several Nautilus figures with striped shells. Bright fabric shades in purple, black, and green are strung above, while additional decorations such as flowers and lizards adorn the sides. Apartment balconies and building facades line the street.

A man wearing a headset microphone is giving an outdoor science talk, pointing at a large screen showing an image of the flatworm Macrostomum lignano. The slide text reads "Separate sexes are not a given," with labels pointing to "Testes producing sperm" and "Ovaries producing eggs." Festival decorations, including colorful paper flowers and geometric designs, hang in the background, and people are gathered to watch.

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Henry North @henrylnorth.bsky.social · Aug 20

Surely one of the all-time best conference outreach activities: an evolution-inspired decorated street for Les Festes de Gràcia #ESEB2025

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 16

In preparation for #ESEB25 I visited the sampling site in Barcelona where the workhorse strain of the planarian research community originates. I’ve spent the last 5 years trying to understand how asexuality evolved in Schmidtea mediterranea—see my talk in session S28.02 to hear all the results!

A stone fountain in a lush garden, featuring a cascading water staircase flowing down multiple steps. The water runs through a stone channel into a spout, then falls into a small circular basin at the base. The structure is framed by greenery, with tall trees and dense bushes surrounding the scene. Fallen leaves and twigs cover the dirt ground in front of the fountain.

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Aug 16

Surely it will also do the formatting. Probably much harder for it to take over the fun parts... At least I hope so...

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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · Jul 10

BEHOLD! One of Earth's greatest lineages of life: the lil wiggle arm guys, Meteora.

These single-celled critters, originally found in deep-sea sediments, are SO DIFFERENT from other lifeforms on Earth that they're likely in their own kingdom (as in, the Animal Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom etc). 🧪🌿

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Jun 20

Flatworms do it too. I think it could be a relaxation of selection on synteny conservation.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A comparative analysis of planarian genomes reveals regulatory conservation in the face of rapid structural divergence - Nature Communications

Planarians are model systems for stem cells and regeneration. This study provides new genome assemblies of the model species S. mediterranea and 3 relatives and uses comparative genomics of planarians...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Jeremias N Brand 🪱

Christian Rellstab @christian-rellstab.bsky.social · Jun 2

Find here my announcement for a 2-year post-doc position in ecological genomics of white oaks in the framework of the Horizon project OptFORESTS. I am looking for somebody with strong skills in bioinformatics, landscape genomics, forest genomics, GWAS, and population genetic simulations.

Post-Doc in Ecological Genomics 80-100% (f/m/d)

The Research Unit Biodiversity and Conservation Biology studies the diversity of life in its various forms, from genetic diversity to the diversity of species and ecosystems as well as their interacti...

apply.refline.ch

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Reposted by Jeremias N Brand 🪱

Kelley Harris @kelleyharris.bsky.social · May 21

. @pnas.org just published the final version of our manuscript on how generation time and effective population size interact to shape vertebrate germline mutation rates, led by Luke Zhu and Annabel Beichman: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · May 13

That's true and exciting. But the main article they talk about was done in a mouse model. Phase I trials are of course good but are focused on safety.

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · May 13

Really cool. But this is in mice... So could be decades until this reaches the clinic.

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Richard Merrill @dickmerrill.bsky.social · Apr 22

Really excited that our DFG grant on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size variation in *Heliconius* has been funded :) In the next weeks, I will post an advert for a PhD, but if you know of good students, please suggest they get in touch. Please repost.

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Apr 8

I think it's difficult because in the original book the illustrators are not credited.

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Apr 8

Elizabeth Gould did them:
animalbytescambridge.wordpress.com/2020/11/26/t...

The Galapagos Finches and John Gould

Galapagos finches ©University of Cambridge + Chris Green Visitor Engagement Volunteer Michael Clegg writes: Coming to the museum with a background in art history, there were a lot of Latin species …

animalbytescambridge.wordpress.com

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Chris Laumer @tendersombrero.bsky.social · Apr 1

It's official - I'm organizing a field taxonomy workshop on freshwater and limno-terrestrial meiofauna! 27 August-11 Sept, in the Lake District. We have 13 experts covering all major taxa, advanced microscopy, DNA taxonomy, sci-com, publishing. RT! Send your best!

www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...

Field workshop on the taxonomy and natural history of freshwater and limno-terrestrial meiofauna | Natural History Museum

www.nhm.ac.uk

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Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Mar 28

For details, see my website:
jeremias-brand.github.io

Brand Group

Welcome to the Brand Group. We are an Ambizione research group at the University of Basel. We collaborate with the Salzburger Lab for field work in Zambia and Tanzania. Flatworms are our model systems...

jeremias-brand.github.io

Jeremias N Brand 🪱 @brandgefahr.bsky.social · Mar 28

🌍 4 year, fully funded PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Basel! 🌿
Explore flatworm speciation in the African Great Lakes!

✔️ Fieldwork in Zambia & Tanzania
✔️ Training in phylogenetics, molecular ecology, evolutionary biology & stable isotope analysis

📅 Deadline: May 31, 2025

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