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Regina Fairbanks

@reginafairbanks.bsky.social

210 followers 260 following 44 posts

Ph.D. Candidate working on maize. Chaotically interdisciplinary, but generally in the realm of pop gen, plants, and people. From Delco & Philly (go birds! 🦅), PhD in progress at UC Davis 🐄

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · Jun 18

Pleased to share that my first, first-author publication was published yesterday in @pnas.org ! We (me + @jrossibarra.bsky.social) did a little bit of detective work to better understand the age and origin of a mutation that played a key role in maize domestication. doi.org/10.1073/pnas... (1/n)

Scattered teosinte kernels in their fruitcases, which are triangular in shape and a mottled brown in color

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · 5d

Blessed with the marimekko plane for my flight to Helsinki 🇫🇮

A plane with flowers near its tail sits under a blue sky at a busy airport

Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Joe Brennan @biologyjoe87.bsky.social · 6d

Excited to share a new pre-print in collaboration with @sebastianschreiber.bsky.social, "Using Modern Coexistence Theory to understand community disassembly"! We set out to understand how techniques used to study coexistence can be extended to understand community disassembly. (1/X)

Using modern coexistence theory to understand community disassembly

Community disassembly examines how species extinction alters ecological communities. Sometimes, the extinction of one species can trigger the loss of others, known as secondary extinction. These secon...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Dr. Arun Sethuraman @arunsethuraman.bsky.social · 8d

Do check out our new manuscript, now out in G3 on modelling theoretical expectations of ghost introgression in sampled genomes. Just in time for Halloween! 🎃 👻

Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 8d

New in #G3journal: @arunsethuraman.bsky.social et al. describe biases in summary statistics, such as genetic differentiation, diversity, Tajima’s D, and estimates of theta, migration rates, and divergence for understanding genomic signatures from extinct ghost populations. buff.ly/7fGnPXj

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 9d

These researchers are still looking for lice from a few more mammals, if you happen to have any that meet this description. NGL I really need to know more about aardvark lice.

Kayce Bell @kaycebell.bsky.social · 15d

Hi! We need lice for our diversity and adaptation project. Specifically, we need lice from zebras, camelids (camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, guanacos) & aardvarks. If you or someone you know might have lice, I'm happy to discuss our inclusive collaboration plans!
sites.google.com/nhm.org/anop...

Mammals & Lice

We are interested in understanding what drives host-parasite relationships. We are using the Anoplura (sucking lice) parasite and mammalian host system to generate a comprehensive sucking louse phylog...

sites.google.com

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Plant Editors @planteditors.bsky.social · 9d

Heads up, #EarlyCareer #PlantScience researchers!

The Plant Journal @theplantjournal.bsky.social · 9d

📢Announcement!
The call for 𝐓𝐏𝐉 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 is now open! 🌟
It is designed to offer support and mentorship to researchers transitioning from post-doctoral scientists to principal investigators

Info: 👉http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/TPJ-fellowships
& in 🧵

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Natalia Jagielska @nataliajagielska.bsky.social · 12d

And that's how you integrate digital elements into an exhibition. Part of the temporary "China's Dinosaur World" at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, China. Closing this November.

Video source: Shanghai Let's Meet

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 21d

Genome-wide selection on transposable elements in maize https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.16.676665v1

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 22d

🚨 Cool educational item alert 🚨

We teamed up with Philly Nature Illustrator, Meg Lemieur @megstampede.bsky.social to create a 12 month wall calendar all about animals!

The calendar includes lessons we can learn from animals & how we can help them.

Pre-order here!
www.etsy.com/listing/4366...

the front cover for a calendar with a salamander standing on a mushroom. in big bubble letters it says 2026 love notes from nature calendar created by Meg Lemieur and Sarah McAnulty phd

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · 22d

That feels like cheating!

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · 23d

It's no "Murder in Mesopotamia", but I do have my own mystery. Who sent me this?!

Book titled "Oldest Cuisine in the World" on top of USPS shipping box on a kitchen counter

Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Dr. Headbutt 🌈🧪 @nicoleackermans.com · 23d

Archeology friends, are you aware of rock art depicting headbutting sheep in Asia or Africa?
I have examples in Europe and N. America but want to add more globally.
(I'll also take any other headbutting references including other forms of art and other species if you have em).
Please share! 🏺 🧪

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · 25d

One may go missing when I eventually leave the lab...

Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 26d

In which I beg archaeologists to sign up for the fall semester of Skype a Scientist, because we're getting buried in requests for your area of expertise.

Sign up here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 26d

I run @skypeascientist.bsky.social which matches scientists w/classrooms, libraries, etc for Q&As.

We match First Lego League teams too. This tends to wipe out one category of scientist bc so many teams sign up for the same category (this year, archaeologists). We're almost out of archaeologists.

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 27d

BHL's future is uncertain, but hopeful. Securing its future requires new partners & sustained investment. For more information, follow along here & on the #BHLblog: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/transition. Help us safeguard the world’s collective biodiversity knowledge. #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌱 🌏

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 28d

Hua Yang from UM on ploidy and genome balance in maize in this morning's #Zeavolution. We still have a couple open slots this Fall. Reply or DM if you'd like to join!

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · Sep 8

"It's not just a phaseolus, mom!" or something like this

Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · Aug 27

Genomics hivemind: I want to genotype a bunch of diverse, heterozygous diploids with a messy genome (🌽 -- who'd have guessed?) but I care about phase. Computational phasing doesn't really cut it, so wondering what the cheapest alternatives are -- nanopore to 10-20X? Linked shortreads?

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Jay @duniagamemaster.bsky.social · Aug 25

It's Minnesota State Fair time! It's time for Minnesotan folk art! Here, for example, is Saturn Devouring His Corn, in the seed art category!

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Lars Brudvig @lars-brudvig.bsky.social · Aug 22

Michigan State University is hiring a new Director of our herbarium!

This is an open rank, tenure-stream faculty position, with research focus in plant or fungal systematics, ecology, and/or evolution

Please consider applying and help spread the word!

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · Aug 20

Seeking science journalists: @quantamagazine.bsky.social is hiring a physics editor!

A rare opportunity to join this great team and lead coverage of this foundational vertical. Please reach out with any questions and share widely

simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/simons...

Physics Editor, Quanta Magazine

POSITION SUMMARY Quanta is seeking an editor to contribute to the magazine’s award-winning physics coverage. This editor will be tasked with finding the most exciting developments in the world of the ...

simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · Aug 20

Will certainly be using this!!!

Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

James Kitchens @kitchensjn.bsky.social · Aug 19

Excited to share our new preprint for the tskit_arg_visualizer Python package! ARGs can sometimes feel like a black box, so
@yanwong.bsky.social and I have been developing a method to programmatically drawing these graphs.

🔗 arxiv.org/abs/2508.03958

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tskit_arg_visualizer: interactive plotting of ancestral recombination graphs

Summary: Ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs) are a complete representation of the genetic relationships between recombining lineages and are of central importance in population genetics. Recent brea...

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Aug 19

Calling all natural history/museum collections folxs

The theme of the @systbiol.bsky.social breakout meeting in Baton Rouge is 'The Importance of Natural History Collections'

The LSU Museum of Natural Science will host some events. Hope to see you there, Jan 9-11, 2026.

ssb2026.github.io

2026 SSB Breakout Meeting

ssb2026.github.io

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Reposted by Regina Fairbanks

Craig Johnson @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social · Aug 20

for the record, that's about 20x the number of coal miners in the US

Sean Blinn 🇺🇦 @themuseumguy.bsky.social · Aug 20

Here is the truth about museums:

Museums are among the most trusted institutions in American society. Especially history museums.

Museums support over 700,000 jobs in the US.

Museums generate $50 billion in economic activity in the US every year.

Just the facts. That’s what we do. #museum

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · Aug 20

I got the bean app... just in time to help me focus on a manuscript.

Animated bean named Phaseolus sits in his room with limited decor. From the Focus Friends with Hank Green app