Jeffrey Townsend

Recursive splicing—a mechanism of intron removal with an unexplored role in the largest genomes - Journal of Molecular Evolution Intron splicing is a critical step that pre-mRNA transcripts undergo to become mature mRNAs. Although long thought to occur in a single step, introns are now also known to be removed by a multi-step p...

New review on recursive splicing—a clever way to handle massive introns in giant genomes. Offers fresh insight into how gene expression adapts in species like salamanders.

Don’t miss it!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development Under BARDA WASHINGTON, DC—AUGUST 5, 2025—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), including the cancellation and de-scoping of various contracts and solicitations. The decision follows a comprehensive review of mRNA-related investments initiated during the COVID-19 public health emergency. “We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”

Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

The image presents a comparison between individual cells and groups of cells, focusing on structures such as crypts and metastases.

In this #Essay, @cmaley.bsky.social @jeffreytownsend.bsky.social @lucielaplane.bsky.social @plutynski.bsky.social &co examine how evolutionary selection operates across levels, highlighting how this understanding can be used to improve #cancer prevention and treatment 🧪 plos.io/47epeUq

Yale Researchers Develop Novel Antibody-RNA Therapy for Resistant Cancers A modified antibody-RNA therapy gets by the defenses of hard-to-reach and hard-to-treat cancers.

www.yalecancercenter.org/news-article...

The image presents a comparison between individual cells and groups of cells, focusing on structures such as crypts and metastases.

In this #Essay, @cmaley.bsky.social @jeffreytownsend.bsky.social @lucielaplane.bsky.social @plutynski.bsky.social &co examine how evolutionary selection operates across levels, highlighting how this understanding can be used to improve #cancer prevention and treatment 2/9
plos.io/47epeUq

🔍 Measuring how fast expression evolves opens a path to understanding how organisms evolve—not just what evolves.
This is just the beginning: from single genes to networks, expression clocks can help decode the tempo of evolution.

doi.org/10.1093/molb...

#MolecularEvolution #GeneExpression #MBE

Some functions are flexible, others are locked down.
Metabolic pathways—like carbon and sulfur metabolism—evolve fast in gene expression.

But core cellular processes like splicing and proteasome function?

They evolve slowly, constrained by essential roles in development.

doi.org/10.1093/molb...

🧪 Next: do fast-changing genes evolve more in protein sequence?

Expression change is positively correlated w/

• amino-acid divergence

• synonymous (dS) & nonsynonymous (dN) divergence

• dN/dS ratio

📈 Evolution in expression and sequence go hand-in-hand—pointing to shared selective pressures

🧪 We estimated how long it takes for expression variation to accumulate between sexual development stages (b, e) and asexual spore germination stages (c, f): from ~7 Myr (fastest genes) to ~900 Myr (slowest), most between ~400–900 Myr—a vast heterogeneity in gene expression evolution.

🧪To study how gene expression evolves, we tracked homologous developmental stages of 9 species of Sordariomycetes, including asexual spore germination and sexual development.

Each stage is conserved morphologically—enabling comparison of gene expression shifts across species and time.

A clock and DNA

🧪 How fast does gene expression evolve?
A new molecular clock for expression evolution: this study tracked ~4,000 genes across 9 species of fungi . Some genes' expression barely changes in 900M yrs, others shift in just 7M.

doi.org/10.1093/molb...

And THAT's why generation time is less important than people think, when calculating the genetic clock.

Which we need to do when working out the split date e.g. between the human and chimp lineages.

Also, although meiosis makes more mutations, massive mitosis in males produces most mutations.

How may theoretical ecology & evolutionary theory push microbiology forward?
At Environmental Microbiology, I am commissioning a series of Perspectives exploring that question. Excited to share them in the 🧵 below
The series is open, so do get in touch if you'd like to propose a new contribution!

🏛️ 🍃 National Science Foundation (NSF) Terminated Grants May be Restored
🧪
Amendment under Revision by US Senate Appropriations Committee

The Pulse of Life: YSPH Study Reveals How Gene Expression Evolves Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have discovered the evolutionary rhythm of gene expression, showing that changes happen at strikingly varied

How fast does gene expression evolve? 🧬

A new molecular clock for expression evolution: this study tracked ~4,000 genes across 9 species of fungi 🍄. Some genes' expression barely changes in 900M yrs, others shift in just 7M.

Find out which do which—

ysph.yale.edu/news-article...

🧪

Change trackers: New consortium to catalog DNA mutations across human lifetime In a multi-institution project, scientists will track genetic mutations occurring across the lifetime of 150 healthy individuals with the aim of understanding how they affect development, aging, and d...

Mutations don't just happen between generations.

news.yale.edu/2025/07/02/c...

🤦

Only historians of science should be allowed within 15 meters of that word.

Top-Shelf, Proactive, Fired-Up Resisters

@jeannettejaybird.bsky.social
@mrsdeborahlynn.bsky.social
@j1j2.bsky.social
@alphwilliams.bsky.social
@hollychessman.bsky.social
@raykwong.bsky.social
@edengk.bsky.social
@girlwithapoll.bsky.social
@bluthrunthru.bsky.social
@katiewhittemore22.bsky.social

Oh man, what a self-own. A govt lawyer brought up DEI in passing, Judge Young was Not Happy:

"If putting these words together, DEI, is somehow offensive... does that mean our policy is homogeneity, inequity, and exclusion?

Are you going to stand there and tell me that's now the policy of the NIH?"

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

USAID’s funding of HIV testing, prevention and treatment reduced AIDS deaths by 65% - that’s 25.5 million people.
If the cuts hold, 14 million people will die from causes that USAIDS funding could have prevented.
A new Lancet report makes for grim reading.

Dear #RussellVought and #MarkRubio. You have no shame. You don't care. But history has its eyes on you. And we will continue to fight your bloodthirsty reign.

PLOS Biology Associate Editor- FTC UK-Remote

The @plosbiology.org team is growing!

If you have a background in plant mol cell bio, a keen interest in sustainability and planetary health & are looking to move away from the bench, this may be for you!

Please spread the word

1yr FTC, remote in the UK
job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/plos/jobs/46...

Rates of Evolution of Developmental Changes in Gene Expression in Sordariomycetes Abstract. The phenotype of an organism is shaped by gene expression within developing tissues. This shaping relates the evolution of gene expression to phe

Wang, @jeffreytownsend.bsky.social et al. analyzed gene expression across developmental stages in nine Sordariomycetes fungi. Rates of gene expression evolution varied by stage, correlated with dN/dS, and were lowest in conserved pathways.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf131

#evobio #molbio #fungi

YouTube video by Bernie Sanders This is the worst piece of legislation in modern American history.

youtu.be/8xmxl0R3Xw0

Plot showing skewed distribution toward comp science and applied physics

The 500 additional GRFPs NSF awarded were not very evenly distributed across fields, it seems.
www.science.org/content/arti...

I know we are bombing Iran now, but I wasn't done being mad about this

RFK Jr. says his new vaccine panel has a GW University professor. The school says he doesn't work there Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said one of his picks for a crucial vaccine advisory panel is a professor at George Washington University. But News4 found the doctor hasn’t w...

RFK Jr. says his new vaccine panel has a GW University professor. The school says he doesn't work there

www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/r...

No Kings New Haven