Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sergey Kryazhimskiy @skryazhi.bsky.social · 10h

Dear colleagues!

@davidmccandlish.bsky.social and I are serving as guest editors for the new special issue of GENETICS on fitness landscapes:

doi.org/10.1093/gene...

Submissions are due on March 18, 2026. Please spread the word! And reach out if you have questions.

The Fitness Landscape: A Call for Papers

Ruth Isaacson; The Fitness Landscape: A Call for Papers, Genetics, , iyaf206, https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf206

doi.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 21h

This looks to be a fundamental theoretical advance by @jpodwyer.bsky.social et al. Using linkage disequlibrium-based Ne to back out σ² and then predict fluctuation sizes from a single temporal snapshot is a real advance for broad application 🧪🌐https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu6396

Genomic demography predicts community dynamics in a temperate montane forest

Species population sizes fluctuate over time, and these temporal dynamics play a key role in governing the maintenance of biodiversity. Although modeling approaches have been developed to characterize...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Erik Bakkeren @erikbakkeren.bsky.social · 1d

Note it in your calendars! Aug 3-5, 2026. Excited to bring back MEEHubs to a hub near you (Switzerland, USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Ukraine, or virtual only)‼️

MEEhubs @meehubs.bsky.social · 1d

We’re back! ✨ The next #MeeHubs26 is coming with 7 hubs across the globe and incredible lineups at each. Can’t wait to share more soon! meehubs.org

Home

meehubs.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 1d

"Fascist regimes have classic, telltale traits, like vilifying immigrants, adopting patriotic symbolism of their nation’s glorious past, and embracing a narrow definition of masculinity and family values. But just because we also do all of those things does not make us fascists."

We Are Not Fascists, and If You Call Us Fascists, We Will Arrest You

President Trump had another successful week of what is already the greatest presidency of all time, and yet, the woke leftist mob continues to deli...

buff.ly

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Ben Allen @evodynamics.bsky.social · 1d

Looking forward to this! A non-Elsevier alternative to Theoretical Population Biology / Journal of Theoretical Biology

Stanford University Press @stanfordpress.bsky.social · 7d

Population Biology Modeling & Theory (PBMT) is a peer-reviewed journal reporting advances in modeling and theory within population biology. Its scope spans demography, ecology, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, population genetics, and phylogenetics. PBMT will be online soon.

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Kirk Lohmueller @klohmueller.bsky.social · 21d

In the midst of the darkness, I am pleased to announce that UCLA will be hosting the upcoming Southern California Evolutionary Genetics (SCalE) conference on November 1! Registration & abstract submission is here: www.scalemeeting.org/home Deadline is October 13! Hope to see you at UCLA!

Home

The SCalE Meeting is a free, one day regional academic meeting focused on evolutionary genetics and genomics. This year's SCalE Meeting is hosted by UCLA, sponsored by the Institute for Quantitative ...

www.scalemeeting.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Gina Baucom @gbaucom.bsky.social · 3d

Tom Waits !!

FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER | Official Teaser Trailer | Coming Soon

YouTube video by MUBI

youtu.be

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Sergey Kryazhimskiy @skryazhi.bsky.social · 3d

Will get to them in the next decade for sure!

Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 3d

LOL true

Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Arseny Khakhalin @khakhalin.bsky.social · 6d

I increasingly feel that LLMs will democratize tech for one simple but weird reason

Look.

LLMs make startups of 1-2 people possible, as if you know exactly what you want, you can now build and iterate faster

But the opposite is also true! In large organizations the friction is getting higher!!
1/

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 8d

I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool

Graph showing total R35+R01 awards issued by NIGMS from 2020 to 2025. R01 in black showing a steep decline. R35 showing an increase. Total awards in 2025 slightly up from 2024 but these years are lower than 2020-2023

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Tami Lieberman @contaminatedsci.bsky.social · 8d

Precisely calling mutations across hundreds of bacterial isolates has been hard, requiring manual filtering and expertise.

Until now, using AccuSNV.

Herui Liao trained an ML model based on our previous meticulously called SNVs.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

High-accuracy SNV calling for bacterial isolates using deep learning with AccuSNV

Accurate detection of mutations within bacterial species is critical for fundamental studies of microbial evolution, reconstructing transmission events, and identifying antimicrobial resistance mutati...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Megan Behringer @megbehri.bsky.social · 9d

Our lab is hiring!!
We are looking for a research assistant who will be involved with our experimental evolution studies on how stress affects population dynamics in E. coli.
Great opportunity for recent grads!
E-mail for more info and apply here:
ecsr.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

SeppeKuehnLab @seppekuehnlab.bsky.social · 11d

Schmidt AI + Science. Amazing fellowship opportunity at UChicago! apply.interfolio.com/173322

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 12d

Since there is some discussion that NIH institutes should not simply use paylines to determine which grants to fund, I thought I would share some old data.

These are plots of funding probability fas a function of percentile score for 9 institutes.

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Graphs of funding curves for nine NIH institutes from fiscal year 2012.

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 12d

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What if NIH had been 40% smaller?

Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

www.science.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 13d

NEW: Nature trained AI to predict which NIH grants from 2014 would have been cut if the Trump admin had its way back then — and what science would have been lost to history.

"The results show the damage that cuts in funding can do to research, and the unpredictable nature of the research process."

Nature @nature.com · 13d

We used machine-learning tools in an attempt to recreate the method for cutting funding, and then applied it to past US NIH grants to reveal the broad-reaching consequences

go.nature.com/4pBArFH

What research might be lost after the NIH’s cuts? Nature trained a bot to find out

We used machine-learning tools in an attempt to recreate the method for cutting funding, and then applied it to past US National Institutes of Health grants to reveal the broad-reaching consequences of such action.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Ted Price @tedpricethepainguy.bsky.social · 12d

I think this is a fascinating and creative way to think about budget cuts to NIH and what they would mean for all of our health: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What if NIH had been 40% smaller?

Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

www.science.org

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Martina Dal Bello @martinadalbello.bsky.social · 13d

Feel free to contact me for info about this open position and the project! Fully funded through @hfspo.bsky.social and in collaboration with @jacrickets.bsky.social and Shawn McGlynn

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 14d

Postdoc opportunity in Dal Bello Lab at Yale EEB (starting Dec 2025). Focus is on microbial ecology and learning mechanisms. Apply via email to Martina with CV. More info: https://www.dalbellolab.com/ #postdoc

dal bello lab

www.dalbellolab.com

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Craig MacLean @craigmaclean.bsky.social · 13d

New ERC funded computational postdoc position in my lab! We are looking for someone who will study the genomics of bacterial evolution using samples from experimental evolution and clinical trials. Lots of opportunities for interesting and fun collaboration!
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Job Details

my.corehr.com

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Jhelam N. Deshpande @djhelam1.bsky.social · 13d

I was recently invited by a cool student initiative from IISER in India @fishersfishes.bsky.social (fishersfishes.github.io) to talk about networks. I conveyed to undergraduates my ideas for how ecology, evolution and their interplay should be understood in light of biological system properties.

Jhelam Deshpande - Ecology, Evolution and Networks

YouTube video by Fishers Fishes

youtu.be

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Sergey Kryazhimskiy @skryazhi.bsky.social · 17d

But hey, at least they are consistent!

Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Chris Adami @chrisadami.bsky.social · 17d

Can confirm.

Nicholas Weaver @ncweaver.skerry-tech.com · 18d

Why is this horrible for Universities?

Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.

This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"

Gergely Orosz @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com · 18d

Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.

One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Nikolai Slavov @slavov-n.bsky.social · 17d

America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Nikolai Slavov @slavov-n.bsky.social · 18d

What limits scientific creativity and originality ?

This article thoughtfully discusses many intertwined challenges, including:

Cultural Shift

Daily Grind

Less Is More

Their arguments generally resonate, except for one:

🧵

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Reposted by Sergey Kryazhimskiy

Chris Adami @chrisadami.bsky.social · 18d

This is really interesting! Mutations that affect a protein's foldability do not seem to impact org fitness if the protein is not important for function. But there *are* effects from mutations on those proteins (just not related to foldability). What are they due to??
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Collateral fitness effects of mutation are not commonly caused by protein misfolding

Mutations in coding sequences are often assumed to harm cells by destabilizing proteins and creating toxic misfolded species. Here we directly test how fitness scales with predicted folding stability....

www.biorxiv.org

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