Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Holly Moeller @mixotrophe.bsky.social · 5d

🚨GRFP DEADLINE ALERT!🚨 I missed this in my original solicitation read-through, so FYI 📣LETTERS ARE DUE BEFORE PROPOSALS📣 this year!

"Reference letters are due Friday, November 7 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)."

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Holly Moeller @mixotrophe.bsky.social · 7d

📣We're Hiring!📣 Come join us as a marine micro lab tech in sunny Santa Barbara! A great position for a 2-year post-bacc or starting point for a long-term technician position. Apply by 9 October for full consideration, and please share widely! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucsb/EMP...

An error has occurred.

careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu

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Joel Sharbrough @jsharbro.bsky.social · 15d

We do this as well, I co-teach the evolution section. Note that it's quarters, not semesters, so a bit shorter of a syllabus.

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Dan Sloan @sloanevolab.bsky.social · Sep 8

The Department of Biology at Colorado State University is hiring an Assistant Professor in the area of plant-microbe interactions! Please spread the word!

jobs.colostate.edu/postings/165...

Assistant Professor Plant-Microbe Interactions

We seek a creative, collaborative, and visionary plant biologist to establish an internationally recognized research program at the forefront of plant-microbe interactions aimed at understanding how t...

jobs.colostate.edu

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Joel Sharbrough @jsharbro.bsky.social · Sep 4

Oxidative phosphorylation! Photosynthesis! If you want nuclear-nuclear epistasis, centromeric proteins, the latter has insane rates of evolution, potentially underlying speciation

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Wide Hybridization Group @widehybridization.bsky.social · Sep 2

We’re excited to share our new work on how plants restore cytonuclear balance after whole-genome duplication. Using Arabidopsis auto- and allopolyploids, we uncover distinct, organelle-specific strategies in chloroplasts and mitochondria across generations.
doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

Restoring cytonuclear harmony: Distinct strategies in Arabidopsis auto‐ and allopolyploids

Whole-genome duplication (WGD) disrupts cytonuclear balance by doubling nuclear content, requiring compensatory responses from organelles. In Arabidopsis auto- and allopolyploids, we found dynamic, o...

doi.org

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Justin Conover @conjustover.bsky.social · Sep 2

New Preprint! This one led by Sam Gibbon, an outstanding undergrad I've worked with for the past year. We take a look at whether segregation patterns in tetraploids (disomic v polysomic) affects mut-sel dynamics. We found some surprising results, and some subtleties: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Bistable Mutation-Selection Equilibria and Violations of Fisher's Theorem in Tetraploids: Insights from Nonlinear Dynamics

Polyploidy and whole genome duplication (WGD) are widespread biological phenomena with substantial cellular, meiotic, and genetic effects. Despite their prevalence and significance across the tree of ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Stephen I Wright @stepheniwright.bsky.social · Aug 27

Please share broadly: I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to work on a collaborative project on the temporal population genomics of invasive Capeweed (using contemporary and herbarium genomics), with ‪‪@shaky-dingo.bsky.social‬ and colleagues

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Maddy Seale @maddyseale.bsky.social · Aug 22

My pick for In Other Journals this week:
MSH1 suppresses organelle mutation - an investigation of how many plants maintain very low mitochondrial mutation rates

My summary here:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Paper here: doi.org/10.1371/jour...
@sloanevolab.bsky.social
#PlantScience

In Other Journals

Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

www.science.org

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Emily Josephs @emjo.bsky.social · Aug 21

MSU Plant Bio is hiring a new herbarium director! Our herbarium is a wonderful resource on campus and I'm excited to have the opportunity to make it even better by bringing in a new director. Details here: plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Jesús Martínez-Gómez @jesusgm.bsky.social · Jul 25

A little belated but I've started a faculty position at Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology department at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social. I'm absolutely stoked! I'll be recruiting at all levels and will be at #Botany2025

Reach out!

www.martinezgomezlab.com

Martinez-Gomez Lab

Plant Evo-Devo

www.martinezgomezlab.com

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Shelly Gaynor @shellygaynor.bsky.social · Jul 23

Almost ready for #Botany2025 - come see the first project of my postdoc with @blackrim.bsky.social on Tuesday at 1:45pm in Mesquite B.

Title slide for Detecting whole genome duplication in the present and the past with Michelle Gaynor, Keyi Feng, Doug Soltis, Pam Soltis, and Stephen Smith.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Jul 22

NSF staff release their appeal—slightly different format than the declarations of dissent from EPA/NIH/NASA; a more formal petition to Congress to redress attacks on the agency and its employees. 149 signatories (48 named)
democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/do...

Petition for Action
As provided under the Lloyd-La Follette Act (5 U.S.C. 7211), the signatories respectfully petition the
Committee to:
1. Ensure that NSF employees are shielded from politically motivated firings and protected
under merit-based personnel systems.
2. End illegal impoundments of monies appropriated to NSF.
3. Defend the agency from further interference in its peer review process.
4. Demand transparency from OMB, DOGE, and NSF leadership regarding internal employment
policies and future agency relocations.
5. Reaffirm NSF’s scientific independence and support for world-class research that advances
national prosperity and security.
NSF employees are committed to serving the American people through research, education, and
innovation. But they cannot do so under fear, censorship, and institutional sabotage. Without immediate
oversight and corrective action from Congress, one of our nation’s greatest engines for scientific and
technological advancement faces irreversible long-term damage. Put simply, America will forfeit its
scientific leadership position to China and other rival nations.

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Emily Josephs @emjo.bsky.social · Jul 22

Hey #Botany2025 folks -- Asia Hightower @puffballove.bsky.social will be talking about leaf shape G x E x Development in Capsella bursa-pastoris. Tuesday Jul 29 at 9:15 in Mesquite B!!

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Jul 16

youtu.be/Vkv0vI6jCnM?...

Letter from NAS Members to the Honorable Senators and Representatives of the United States

YouTube video by Biochemistry Channel

youtu.be

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Laurie Belcher @lauriebelch.bsky.social · Jul 16

OrthoFinder just dropped a major update

It’s faster, more accurate, and ready for thousands of genomes

Let’s break it down (1/10)

github.com/OrthoFinder/...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Joel Sharbrough @jsharbro.bsky.social · Jul 15

Even just a little bit of outcrossing is capable of resetting the ratchet. Hill-Robertson Effect on the other hand...

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Dan Sloan @sloanevolab.bsky.social · Jul 14

Please share! Our lab is recruiting a PhD student to join us starting fall 2026. Our group is broadly interested in plant molecular evolution and comparative genomics. More info about our lab and grad programs at Colorado St. is available on our lab website.

sites.google.com/site/danielb...

Sloan Lab

Welcome! Our research focuses on the evolutionary process at the molecular level. In particular, we investigate how a mixture of natural selection and non-adaptive forces create and maintain the amazi...

sites.google.com

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Shelly Gaynor @shellygaynor.bsky.social · Jul 14

Anyone planning to recruit future postdocs at #Botany2025?

I'm on the market for a faculty position, but I know a great future-postdoc who wants to network!

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Dan Sloan @sloanevolab.bsky.social · Jul 11

Keep contacting your congressional representatives and senators! Let them know this is the right decision.

nature.com/articles/d41...

US senators poised to reject Trump’s proposed massive science cuts

Committee gives first hint that policymakers might preserve, rather than slash, funding for US National Science Foundation and other agencies.

nature.com

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Joel Sharbrough @jsharbro.bsky.social · Jul 8

Please RT!

I'm hiring a postdoc to work in my new lab at UCSB (!) on an NSF-funded project investigating the phenotypic consequences of WGD for photosynthesis and respiration.

Check out the full posting here:
recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02986

And more info about the lab here:
sharbroughlab.com

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Erin Sauer @sauerscientist.bsky.social · Jul 7

I'm recruiting a 2-yr postdoc to start in October or November of 2025! I'm looking for applicants interested in exploring amphibian disease ecology as it relates to climate change. Strong quantitative skills preferred, interviews start late July. More info: erinsauer.com

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Dorota Paczesniak @dorotdesigns.bsky.social · Jun 28

#SciArt #Artshare I’m a scientific illustrator with genetics and evolution background open to commissions of infographics, illustrations, scientific figures, …

A fragment of an infographic about genetic markers, showing a close-up of a plant cell with nucleus, mitochondria and chloroplasts. A DNA strand is unraveling from a chromosome

A vector drawing of Siberian larch (Larix archangelica, syn. Larix sibirica) tree silhouette and branch fragment with seed cones

A large infographic entitled „Genetic variation in improved forests” with sections about tree breeding in Finland, propagation (seed orchards and vegetative propagation) and forest regeneration. Made in collaboration with the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and the University of Helsinki

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Joel Sharbrough @jsharbro.bsky.social · Jun 3

Anyone have the full list of Universities/Colleges?

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Reposted by Joel Sharbrough

Flo Camus @fcamus.bsky.social · May 28

Thrilled to share our latest preprint! 🎉🔥

We analysed >23k mtDNA genomes & found 18 variants shaped by climate—linked to thermogenesis, metabolism & disease.

Led by PhD student Finley Grover-Thomas, and in collab with: @aidaandres.bsky.social @lucyvandorp.bsky.social @proffballoux.bsky.social

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · May 28

Climate associated natural selection in the human mitochondrial genome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.23.655374v1

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