Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Emiliano @emitruc.bsky.social · 5d

Happy to share the latest publication from our labs on the Apennine brown bear, a relict population not far from Rome, Italy. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2504409122
Thanks to great co-auths, we moved beyond our "genomic" comfort zone incl. cellular experiments and molecular dynamics simulations.

A fixed mutation in the respiratory complex I impairs mitochondrial bioenergetics in the endangered Apennine brown bear | PNAS

Effective conservation genomics of endangered species requires realistic understanding of the fitness consequences caused by the accumulation of de...

www.pnas.org

2 3 5

Reposted by Mick Westbury

ICP2026 Stockholm @palaeogenomics.bsky.social · 7d

🦴🧬🦴🧬🦴

Abstract submission is now open for the 1st International Conference on Palaeogenomics!

June 23–26 2026, in Stockholm.

Join researchers from across the field for 4 days and >100 talks (+ poster sessions)!

Submit abstracts here 👉
icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/abstracts/

Deadline: Nov 30th

1 22 31

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos @dortizba.bsky.social · 7d

Excited to share our new paper in
@GeneticsGSA
! We developed "Retriever," a novel method that enables high-quality genotype imputation in non-model organisms. 🧬 Congratulations to Charles on his first PhD paper!

Paper: doi.org/10.1093/gene...

A thread 🧵👇

Chimeric Reference Panels for Genomic Imputation

Abstract. Despite transformative advances in genomic technologies, missing data remains a fundamental constraint that limits the full potential of genomic

doi.org

1 15 25

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Torsten Günther @trstngnthr.bsky.social · 21d

I have funding for a 2-year dry-lab postdoc to join our team @humanevouu.bsky.social 🧪 (Deadline Oct 21st)

The project will utilize modern and #aDNA data from humans and sheep to study environmental adaptation (including method development and simulations).

Please share!
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Postdoctoral position in Population Genomics - Uppsala University

Postdoctoral position in Population Genomics, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University

www.uu.se

1 32 27

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · 26d

☠️🧬 2-yr Postdoc in in Genomic Simulations and Extinction Risk Modelling!
Let's figure out the Genomic signs of Extinction @DTU in Denmark.

Start: Feb 2026 (flexible)
Application deadline: 24 Oct 2025

For details click here: tinyurl.com/BioExtPD

Reposts appreciated 😁

13 17

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · 29d

🦣🍖🧬 Fully funded 3-yr PhD in palaeogenomics & bioinformatics! Help me push non-model palaeogenomes beyond their limits @DTU in Denmark.

Start: Feb 2026 (flexible)
Application deadline: 24 Oct 2025

For details click here: tinyurl.com/BioExtPhD

Reposts appreciated 😁

2 54 52

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · Sep 7

Thanks

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · Sep 6

Thanks

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · Sep 6

Cheers Love

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · Sep 6

Thank you

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thanks!

Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · Sep 5

Excited to share that I’ve started as Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark! 🧑‍🎓

I also received an a NNF Emerging Investigator grant to use genomics + machine learning to study extinction.

👉 PhD & Postdoc positions coming soon — follow for updates!
Reposts appreciated 🙏

6 26 120

Reposted by Mick Westbury

bioRxiv Bioinfo @biorxiv-bioinfo.bsky.social · Aug 23

GhostParser: A highly scalable phylogenomic approach for the identification of ghost introgression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.21.671585v1

5 8

Reposted by Mick Westbury

bioRxiv Bioinfo @biorxiv-bioinfo.bsky.social · Aug 2

Phyling: phylogenetic inference from annotated genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.30.666921v1

1 3

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Laura Bertola @lauradbertola.bsky.social · Jul 5

Accounting for population structure and data quality in demographic inference with linkage disequilibrium methods
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Accounting for population structure and data quality in demographic inference with linkage disequilibrium methods - Nature Communications

Accurate estimation of effective population size is critical for understanding population history but is often confounded by structure and data quality. Here, the authors show that GONE2 and currentNe...

www.nature.com

2 2

Reposted by Mick Westbury

David Nogués Bravo @noguesbravo.bsky.social · Jun 30

Would you like to come to work with us here at @Macroecology ? The Center is opening six new positions!

macroecology.ku.dk/people/posit...

Open Positions

Positions and vacancies at the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate

macroecology.ku.dk

17 5

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Emiliano @emitruc.bsky.social · Jun 27

So happy to see our work published in MBE after a helpful and constructive journey with Editors and Reviewers!! #wildpopulation #nonmodels #E-Ranticorrelation #evolutionaryresearch #Aptenodytes #largepenguins

2 9 16

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Stu Butchart @stubutchart.bsky.social · Jun 25

New paper reviewing the world's 10,443 Critically Endangered species: their status, distribution threats and the actions needed for their recovery
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The status, threats and conservation of Critically Endangered species - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

Species classified as Critically Endangered are at greatest risk of extinction, and their preservation and recovery are crucial to meeting global biodiversity aims. This Review assesses the geographic...

www.nature.com

23 36

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Leo Speidel @leospeidel.bsky.social · Jun 25

Postdoc position in my group in Tokyo!
Please get in touch if you are interested.

And happy to discuss projects - these would range from developing new methods to analysis of new genomes that we are now sequencing in the lab.

Job Ad: www.riken.jp/en/careers/r...
Lab page: speidellab.github.io

Seeking a few Postdoctoral Researchers at Mathematical Genomics RIKEN ECL Research Unit (25-695)

www.riken.jp

23 16

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Morgan McCarthy @marinemolecol.bsky.social · Jun 21

Interested in range-wide grey seal population structure and demographic history? See our new open access study! It was a fantastic international collaboration and special thanks to @tangeolsen.bsky.social and Kristina Cammen 🧬🦭.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#MarineMammals #PopGen #consgen

2 7 16

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Anna Brüniche-Olsen @annabruniche.bsky.social · Jun 20

A Guide for Developing Demo-Genetic Models to Simulate Genetic Rescue 🧬 #popgen #consgen onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A Guide for Developing Demo‐Genetic Models to Simulate Genetic Rescue

Genetic rescue is a conservation management strategy that reduces the negative effects of genetic drift and inbreeding in small and isolated populations. However, such populations might already be vu...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

2 6

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Nicola @heckeberg.bsky.social · Jun 20

So nice to be a small part of this extensive reference book on deer!
🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌

#mammals #deer #RuminantsRule

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Deer of the World

This book is the first reference work ever published on the systematics, ecology, conservation status and management of all the world's deer species.

link.springer.com

4 8

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Anders Bergström @anders-bergstrom.bsky.social · Jun 13

A 4-year postdoc position in population genomics is available in my group at the University of East Anglia, to work on a project sequencing a thousand fox genomes across rural and urban environments in the UK.

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15...

Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) in University of East Anglia | UEA

View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Biological Sciences Senior Research A...

vacancies.uea.ac.uk

25 33

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Charlie Huveneers @charlie-huveneers.bsky.social · Jun 9

New Science paper: 15,845 tracked individuals across 121 species to identify spatial conservation targets www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

led by @anammsequeira.bsky.social

10 17

Reposted by Mick Westbury

Javier Santoyo @jsantoyo.bsky.social · May 31

SHARK: web server for alignment-free homology assessment for intrinsically disordered and unalignable protein regions. #ProteinHomology #WebServer #Bioinformatics #Genomics 🧬 🖥️ @narjournal.bsky.social‬
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...

SHARK: web server for alignment-free homology assessment for intrinsically disordered and unalignable protein regions

Abstract. Whereas alignment has been fundamental to sequence-based assessments of protein homology, it is ineffective for intrinsically disordered regions

academic.oup.com

2 3