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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · 2h

I love how there is a point in every kid's life where in their daily quest for sugar they realize they ain't got time for no Teddy Grahams

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · 6d

Makin moves over here

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · 21d

no I will not be navigating to your electronic calendar to schedule a meeting with you. You can just tell me when you are available 🤣

unless you are like a dean or a provost, then I get it. But another professor? Cmon

Reposted by Marc Tollis

E. Yağmur Erten @yagmurerten.bsky.social · 22d

New paper out! 🤩 "Shrinking to bird size with dinosaur-level cancer defences: Evolution of cancer suppression over macroevolutionary time" with @kokkonut.bsky.social and @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1371/jour... A short thread:

Shrinking to bird size with dinosaur-level cancer defences: Evolution of cancer suppression over macroevolutionary time

Author summary Humans are not the only species suffering from cancer, yet cancer does not impact all life equally. Body size is relevant because maintaining a large number of cells in a tumour-free st...

doi.org

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 7

Check out our awesome review of squamates, covering fossils, phylogenetics, and genomics!

Tiago Simões @trsimoes.bsky.social · Sep 7

Happy to share the advance version of our big AREES review on squamate origin and early evolution: From Fossils to Genomes with my two amazing colleagues, Frank Burbrink and @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Origin and Early Evolution of Squamates and Their Kin: From Fossils to Genomes | Annual Reviews

Squamates (lizards, including snakes) are the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates on Earth today and have an evolutionary history dating back to at least the Middle Triassic (ca. 242 Mya). D...

www.annualreviews.org

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 5

bsky.app/profile/marc...

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 5

New lab preprint! Vahid Fard looked across mammals and found that species with more recently active LINE and SINE retrotransposons in their genomes also get more cancer, supporting a model where genome instability promotes neoplasia and malignancy

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Have a read, hope you enjoy! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Recent Non-LTR Retrotransposon Activity Predicts Cancer Prevalence in Mammals

Non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons (nLTRs), including long and short interspersed nuclear elements (L1 and SINEs), are the most abundant and active mobile elements in mammals. NLTRs play critic...

www.biorxiv.org

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 5

This suggests that LINE movement in the genome promotes tumor growth, but once SINEs, which depend on LINE enzymatic machinery, get moving, that’s what causes trouble (i.e. malignant cancers)

a close up of a man 's face with a gmail.com email address

ALT: a close up of a man 's face with a gmail.com email address

media.tenor.com

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Interestingly, he found that across mammals LINE activity predicts neoplasia prevalence, but when you add SINEs to the mix, it predicts malignancy

a group of men in monkey costumes with the caption you and me baby aint nothin but mammals

ALT: a group of men in monkey costumes with the caption you and me baby aint nothin but mammals

media.tenor.com

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Sep 5

New lab preprint! Vahid Fard looked across mammals and found that species with more recently active LINE and SINE retrotransposons in their genomes also get more cancer, supporting a model where genome instability promotes neoplasia and malignancy

1 1 4

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Aug 28

never forget what they stole from you

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Aug 15

Yeah I’ll be skipping my usual conference not because it overlaps with the first week of classes (it always does) but rather the Knicks are coming to town that weekend

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Aug 12

#PopGen #PopulationGenomics #PopulationGenetics

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Aug 12

For a project, we needed a tool that will batch download phylogeographic DNA samples (like mtDNA and nucDNA) for lots of species, which have just been sitting on NCBI since the PCR and Sanger-sequencing era (ca. 2003-2015) and can still be hella useful, so I wrote one. It aligns the sequences, too 👍

GitHub - marctollis/macrogenetics: Fetching and alignment of population-level sampling for DNA genetic markers from NCBI

Fetching and alignment of population-level sampling for DNA genetic markers from NCBI - marctollis/macrogenetics

github.com

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Aug 12

For a project, we needed a tool that will batch download phylogeographic DNA samples (like mtDNA and nucDNA) for lots of species, which have just been sitting on NCBI since the PCR and Sanger-sequencing era (ca. 2003-2015) and can still be hella useful, so I wrote one. It aligns the sequences, too 👍

GitHub - marctollis/macrogenetics: Fetching and alignment of population-level sampling for DNA genetic markers from NCBI

Fetching and alignment of population-level sampling for DNA genetic markers from NCBI - marctollis/macrogenetics

github.com

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · May 10

We are still doing the negotiated F&A.

Yeah my summer plan was to put in a grant by August but I’m changing course to focus on beefing up the preliminary work, and push it into the fall.

Provided there is an NSF DEB by then.

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · May 10

Has anybody been consulted on the NSF “shakeup”? Should PIs not bother submitting proposals at this point? I mean odds for funding were always low but are we just throwing effort into the wind now?

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Mar 22

Sophie came to NAU from Ireland to work on this project one fall, to follow up on on a study we published in 2020 (also in MBE). It couldn't have gone better, and the new paper is a welcome contribution to the cancer evolution literature. oup2-idp.sams-sigma.com/authorize?au...

The Evolution of Human Cancer Gene Duplications across Mammals

Abstract. Cancer is caused by genetic alterations that affect cellular fitness, and multicellular organisms have evolved mechanisms to suppress cancer such

oup2-idp.sams-sigma.com

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Mar 22

Sophie Matthews’s lovely paper on gene copy number and cancer prevalence across mammals has been published in Molecular Biology and Evolution @official-smbe.bsky.social, check it out! academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Variable gene copy number in cancer-related pathways is associated with cancer prevalence across mammals

Abstract. Cancer is a disease of multicellularity, observed across the tree of life. In principle, animals with larger body sizes and longer lifespans shou

academic.oup.com

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Jan 24

Morale is pretty low among scientists given the new regime. Funding scenarios are up in the air, many MDs and PhDs are unsure of their status. But don’t despair! Put the energy into your students. Teach like a MFer, light the fire, they will be ready when the smoke clears.

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Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Jan 16

Haha Gen X has no complaints, just “whatever”

erika @yeeeerika.bsky.social · Jan 13

i don't want to hear your most boomer complaint. what's your most millennial complaint?

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Jan 16

Fellow parents: amirite, it’s one thing to step on a lego but it’s even more infuriating to step on a cheerio

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Dec 23

Here mt Xmas playlist ive been building for more than 10 years. Enjoy! open.spotify.com/playlist/0Qn...

Xmas mix

Playlist · Marc Tollis · 187 items · 11 saves

open.spotify.com

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Dec 20

I don’t know why (well, money). Superman (1978) is a perfect movie and still holds up

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Dec 18

the only time I want someone to be over-bubbly and friendly in an email is when they have to respond to my dumb question. Please be nice!

Marc Tollis @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social · Dec 18

It doesn’t get easier. They stay difficult, except are huge, mobile, and extremely talkative (until they become teenagers and stop talking for a little while)

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