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Dominik Melville

@ecoevodom.bsky.social

420 followers 1.2K following 63 posts

Wildlife microbiology, disease ecology, immunology 🦇🦠 wannabe chef 🥨 married to a Scot 🌈

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Apr 3

Did you know coronavirus infections impact the gut microbial community of #bats? But the effect differs between viruses. Published in @ismepublications.bsky.social - Big team effort: @alice-risely.bsky.social @cdrosten.bsky.social @vmcorman.bsky.social et al. academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...

Hibecovirus (genus Betacoronavirus) infection linked to gut microbial dysbiosis in bats

Abstract. Little is known about how zoonotic virus infections manifest in wildlife reservoirs. However, a common health consequence of enteric virus infect

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Dominik Melville

Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 2d

Why should scientists write op-eds? It's tempting to say the facts ought to speak for themselves. But the facts are largely whispering among themselves in the scientific literature. They need us to give them a voice. How? Advice in my latest @natchem.nature.com Thesis rdcu.be/eJlGL #chemsky 1/3

Opinionated science

Nature Chemistry - When the facts can’t speak for themselves, scientists can give them a voice, argues Michelle Francl.

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Dominik Melville

Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 2d

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was just announced:
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

This seems like a good opportunity for me to explain a bit about peripheral immune tolerance and where the prizewinners' work comes in 🧵

6 October 2025

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to:

Mary E. Brunkow
Institute for Systems Biology,
Seattle, USA

Fred Ramsdell
Sonoma Biotherapeutics,
San Francisco, USA

Shimon Sakaguchi
Osaka University,
Osaka, Japan

“for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance”

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · 2d

The extent to which closely related hosts share similar gut microbiota fascinates me. Work that truely stands out to me comes from @bperezlamarque.bsky.social and colleagues using process-based modelling over correlative approaches - a 'must' read #mevosky academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Phylogenetic Comparative Approach Reveals Evolutionary Conservatism, Ancestral Composition, and Integration of Vertebrate Gut Microbiota

Abstract. How host-associated microbial communities evolve as their hosts diversify remains equivocal: how conserved is their composition? What was the com

academic.oup.com

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · 8d

Today I was reviewer 2 - I am sorry

Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · 17d

I am designing my own webpage at the moment - What’s your favourite webpage by fellow scientist and why? Reply with link.

Reposted by Dominik Melville

Patrick McCann @pjmccann3.bsky.social · 19d

Former staffers of Climate.gov are launching a new site: www.climate.us

🧪

Climate.us

independent, nonprofit, and immune to politics

www.climate.us

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · 19d

Amazing longterm data set in #dolphins linking #MHC heterozygosity to fitness @omanlik.bsky.social - www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

MHC diversity confers transgenerational fitness advantage in wild dolphins

Darwin ascribed fitness to individuals with a “better chance of surviving and propagating their kind”1. Subsequently, the search for the genetic basis of fitness focused on traits of the generation th...

www.researchsquare.com

Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · 21d

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Twenty years of tuberculosis-driven selection shaped the evolution of the meerkat major histocompatibility complex - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Immune genetic and disease surveillance of a wild meerkat population over 20 years shows that tuberculosis imposes strong pathogen-mediated balancing selection on the meerkats’ major histocompatibilit...

www.nature.com

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · 21d

What made our recent work on #meerkats stand out? - here is an expert summary from the @uniulm.bsky.social press office www.uni-ulm.de/en/nawi/facu... #climatechange #tuberculosis picture credit: Evelin Pandiamakkal - get in touch if you have ideas for other questions to test with this rich dataset

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Reposted by Dominik Melville

Microbiome Virtual International Forum @microbiomevif.bsky.social · 27d

NEXT #MVIF EVENTS:
October 2025: Peter Turnbaugh
November 2025: Deepa Agashe @deepaagashe.bsky.social
December 2025: Katherine Lemon @kathlemon.bsky.social
January 2026: Sara Mitri @saramitri.bsky.social y.social‬
February 2026: Simon Roux @simrouxvirus.bsky.social

Future events

All future events of the Microbiome Virtual International Forum

www.microbiome-vif.org

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Sep 8

Interesting new work on bird microbiomes challenging the notion of a lacking signal of phylosymbiosis - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Host filtering and biogeography structure island bird gut microbiomes

Gut microbiomes are central to host ecology and evolution, yet the mechanisms driv-ing their diversification remain elusive, partly because host evolution and biogeography are often confounded. The re...

www.biorxiv.org

Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Sep 8

I don’t have a solution to this, but just wanted to let you know that I am in exactly the same place right now - you are not alone

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Reposted by Dominik Melville

Pam McElwee @pammcelwee.bsky.social · Aug 25

Comment out now in Nature Reviews Biodiversity where we argue that blocking renewable energy, esp wind and solar, for biodi reasons is unnecessary - we can manage any tradeoffs. And unchecked climate change is far, far worse! Don't let biodi become political football www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The trade-offs between needed renewable energy transitions and biodiversity can be overcome - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

The expansion of renewable energy is urgently needed to reduce carbon emissions, but it can entail some trade-offs with biodiversity. Here, we argue that synergistic implementation strategies are poss...

www.nature.com

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 26

Luke, you were a great asset! Your work on mapping our alleles to a published meerkat genome gave the work more accuracy and credibility, and talking about the findings to you help to clarify the story, for sure.

Reposted by Dominik Melville

Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · Aug 25

Immune genetic and disease surveillance of a wild meerkat population over 20 years shows that tuberculosis imposes strong pathogen-mediated balancing selection on major histocompatibility complex and identifies underlying mechanisms

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Twenty years of tuberculosis-driven selection shaped the evolution of the meerkat major histocompatibility complex - Nature Ecology & Evolution

www.nature.com

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 25

New, fantastic work by Nadine Müller-Klein, whose dedication to understanding pathogen-mediated balancing selection drove this effort forward! Great team effort all around -Image credit: Evi Zehntner #meerkats #MHC www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 22

What an intriguing idea, #ESEB!
Another way to save CO2 emissions is to offer exclusively vegetarian and vegan food (like The British Ecological Society in their annual meetings) - system change is possible, @eseb.bsky.social

I would be super keen to help organise the meeting in Munich.

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Reposted by Dominik Melville

Toni Gabaldón @tonigabaldon.bsky.social · Aug 21

Casi 2.000 científicos en Barcelona para debatir sobre el origen de la vida

#eseb2025

www.elnacional.cat/es/sociedad/...

Casi 2.000 científicos en Barcelona para debatir sobre el origen de la vida

El CCIB acoge el congreso científico más relevante en el ámbito de la biología evolutiva

www.elnacional.cat

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Reposted by Dominik Melville

Ian Henderson @hendersonlab.bsky.social · Aug 19

Dear Bluesky, some good news to brighten your day! We are recruiting for the Director of the Centre for Population and Disease Genomics!! I would be grateful if you could share across your networks! uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/uqcareers/jo...

Director, Centre for Population and Disease Genomics

Centre for Population & Disease Genomics - Institute for Molecular Bioscience Join a university ranked in the world’s top 50 Full-time, fixed-term position for up to 5 years at Academic Level E Ba...

uq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 19

You like #bats and #sugar! Grab your favourite sugary drink and say hi to Jasmin P2.021

Reposted by Dominik Melville

Ora Hazak @hazaklab.bsky.social · Aug 18

An open W2 Professorship position in Molecular Crop Improvement at my Institute @uni-muenster.de! Excellent scientific environment and great conditions for Plant Research 🔬🍅🫛🥒🌽🍓🍎🥔- now open for applications !

Plant Energy Biology Lab @schwarzlanderlab.bsky.social · Aug 18

Your research brings together fundamental plant biology & applied research to enhance crop traits? 🌱🌾🎓🏭

Join us as professor in 'Molecular Crop Improvement' @uni-muenster.de & @fraunhofer.bsky.social

Please PM if you got questions.

stellen.uni-muenster.de/jobposting/d...

Professorship (W2-level) in “Molecular Crop Improvement”

stellen.uni-muenster.de

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Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 18

Thanks Jasmin. Happy to chat all things bats

Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 18

Linyung Sun reporting on changes in the #microbiome of butterflies over the last 30 years with climate only explaining a small fraction of variation #ESEB25

Dominik Melville @ecoevodom.bsky.social · Aug 17

Do you want to see some odd looking mammalian gut #microbiomes? Learn about phylosymbiosis in #bats at 3.15pm Monday the 18th in symposium S07! @eseb2025.bsky.social

Reposted by Dominik Melville

Melissah Rowe @melissahrowe.bsky.social · Aug 16

Interested in host-associated microbiomes? Attending @eseb2025.bsky.social? Then come check out Symposium S07 on Monday August 18th and hear all about how microbiomes contribute to adaptation. Gut microbiomes, climate change, thermal physiology, behaviour, invasion biology, blood-feeding, and more!

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