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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · 1d

Bram van Dijk @bramvandijk.bsky.social (@utrechtuniversity.bsky.social): How mobile genes reshape the microbial arms race
#NIME2025

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · 1d

Aileen Berasategui @berasymbionts.bsky.social (VU) on Origin and evolution of a defensive symbiosis in tortoise beetle

Chelymorpha alternans beetle => today, focusing on pupation

see their @currentbiology.bsky.social paper (with @hassansalem.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/current-biol...

#NIME2025

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

IFBC_2025 @ifbc-2025.bsky.social · Jul 12

🎤 Meet the speakers of 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟯: Fungal Crosstalk with Hosts & Predatory Interactions at #IFBC2025! 🍄🌱🪱🧬

⏳ The registration & abstract submission deadline is fast approaching! 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀: 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟱

📍 Chania, Greece | 📅 Sept 27–30

🔗 ifbc2025.maich.gr

#fungalbiology #Conference #Greece

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Nick Talbot @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social · 9d

Great sessions at #IFBC25 on fungal manipulation of ant behaviour (Charissa de Bekker) and nematode behaviour (@fungi_worms and Reinhard Fischer) -highlighting the complex cellular eukaryotic processes that fungal effectors can perturb -remarkable insights from effector biology

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · 7d

On my way back from the International Fungal Biology 🍄🍄‍🟫Conference in Chania, Crete. I’m exhausted. But what an amazing 4 days of science, friends, and Greek hospitality it was. And in such a beautiful conference venue too! Wish all conferences could be in Crete 🤩☀️🌴🐈🐈‍⬛

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · 15d

That’s the plan! Would be so lovely to catch up. How long has it been? 4 years at least? Can’t wait to hear what you’ve been up to, and to meet your students

Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · 15d

You can leave that to @williamycete.bsky.social

Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · 15d

Which fungal 🍄 molecules cause zombie 🧟‍♀️ ant 🐜 behaviors? @williamycete.bsky.social has begun to answer this question! He found a peptide that binds to scramblase and affects important odor-dependent behaviors in ants. Spoiler: worms 🪱 played a key role in this research 🧐 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The First of Us: Ophiocordyceps use a novel scramblase-binding peptide to manipulate zombie ants

Parasite-adaptive manipulation of behavior is a widespread natural phenomenon. While Ophiocordyceps zombie fungi are well-known for hijacking ant behavior to increase their fitness, functionally chara...

doi.org

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · 23d

The wind has been crazy today!

Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Vicencio Oostra @climate-adaptation.bsky.social · Aug 23

Goodbye #eseb2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social see you next time!

Perhaps what stuck most was powerful talk on resilience and survival by Palestinian researcher, play director, and ESEB EUEA awardee May Shehady. Let's not forget, let's not look away. 🇵🇸

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

Thanks so much for including my talk in your wonderful art!!

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

❤️❤️❤️

Tilly S Scott @tillysscott.bsky.social · Aug 21

We started today with a wonderful talk on how cordyceps fungus generates zombie ants. Then on to modelling, egg laying timing & brood number, white clover in rural and urban environments, young active SINEs in Italian sparrow, TE content in ferns
🧵1/2

#eseb2025 #eseb #sciart

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

Phew! What a rush presenting for the big, scientifically diverse #ESEB2025 crowd this morning. Thankful for this amazing opportunity to show off the interdisciplinary work my research team and our collaborators have been doing to better understand parasite manipulation of behavior. #zombieants 🧟‍♀️ 🐜 🍄

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Ashleigh Griffin @asgriffin.bsky.social · Aug 21

Brilliant plenary today from Carrisa de Bekker @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at @eseb.bsky.social conference. On her work funded by @erc.europa.eu CoG. Great example of inter-disciplinary collaboration to solve a mystery..

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

katja heuer @k4tj4.bsky.social · Aug 21

Fantastic keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at #ESEB2025 taking us on a journey through zombie-making strategies of Ophiocordyceps fungi to hijack ant behaviour, with lots of amazing new data, behaviour, functional genetic essays..
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Amanda Bretman @amandabretman.bsky.social · Aug 21

How do fungi manipulate ant behaviour? A beautiful story unfolding through multiple elegant approaches from @zombieantdoc.bsky.social in today’s plenary #eseb2025

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · Aug 21

#ESEB2025 Excellent Keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social on how parasites affect host behavior using fungus- 🐜 as a model. Nice combination of multi-omic approaches with functional genetic assays and quantitative behavioral assays to pinpoint host pathways that are affected during fungal infection

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Ben Auxier @benauxier.bsky.social · Aug 21

@zombieantdoc.bsky.social spreading the biology of zombie ant fungus in the ESEB plenary. Showing mechanisms of how fungi hijack ant behaviour to help their own dispersal.

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 19

Such interesting results!

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 19

This is amazing! ❤️

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 19

Nice! Will save this for on the plane back home!

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 15

Thanks for taking the time to make these and for adding me @flodebarre.bsky.social

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Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)

Flo Débarre @flodebarre.bsky.social · Aug 14

Folks going to #ESEB2025 : To help people connect on Bluesky, I've started making starter packs. Here is a first one with the names that were available when I started.

Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Aug 1

Parasites 🦠🪱🍄‍🟫 that hijack insects 🐜🪰🐛and induce “zombie behaviors” 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️ often affect the host’s daily rhythms. But how do they do it? In this npj bts publication @joanadopp.bsky.social and I propose that they co-opt host circadian plasticity 🧠⌚️

We hope you’ll enjoy the read!

rdcu.be/eyPz0

Insect circadian plasticity as a proposed target for the expression of parasite extended phenotypes

npj Biological Timing and Sleep - Insect circadian plasticity as a proposed target for the expression of parasite extended phenotypes

rdcu.be

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Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her) @zombieantdoc.bsky.social · Jul 29

Excited to have joined the Editorial Board of @plosbiology.org a few months ago, the #PLOS flagship journal in the Life Sciences.

As an editor, I aim to contribute to their support of equitable #OpenScience and reaching global audiences to help advance science faster.

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