Geraldine Butler

Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres - Nature Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with re...

Our paper is now out in Nature:

“Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres”

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres.

1/14

Last year, we made the decision to step away from X.

The Royal Irish Academy is committed to creating, convening, and sharing knowledge for the public good and as an organisation we value Independence; Integrity; Curiosity; Openness and Rigour.

In our view, X no longer aligns with these values

Progressive coevolution of the yeast centromere and kinetochore - Nature Thousands of centromeres were identified and tracked across two major fungal clades, showing that new centromeres spread progressively and that the kinetochore acts as a filter to determine which new ...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Progressive coevolution of the yeast centromere and kinetochore
🤩
@helsenjana.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social

💙💛 Nine UCD projects will share in €34.5 million of funding announced to support “high-risk, high-reward” projects.

Funding under the Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme, seven UCD initiatives are supported through the Projects stream, while two were funded under the Awards stream.

@ucddublin.bsky.social @ucdscience.bsky.social

Exciting recognition for UCD undergraduate research!
The @microbiologysociety.org has featured the discovery of 2 new yeast species our students helped uncover:Cyberlindnera hibernica (“of Ireland”)& Barnettozyma discipulorum(“of students”)discovered in Glengarriff Woods🍃📄 🔗 bit.ly/3LiJonn

This is great! Straight into the lab journal club folder

Higher Ed in 2025 is opening your mailbox to see that your institution has sent you:

1. A Center for Teaching and Learning call to integrate AI into your classroom; and

2. An Office of Academic Integrity email encouraging you to crack down on students who use AI to cheat.

Wild yeasts as a model for climate research | Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation Wild yeasts live in the forests all around us. Yet, little is known about the role they play in ecosystems. They can be used to develop new beer and bread flavors, but wild yeast can also serve as a u...

Wild yeasts live in the forests all around us. Yet, little is known about the role they play in ecosystems. They can be used to develop new #beer and bread flavors, but can also serve as a unique model for studying #climatechange
@stockholm-uni.bsky.social @stelkens.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/mebnw7v5

Discovery of additional ancient genome duplications in yeasts Whole genome duplication (WGD) has had profound macroevolutionary impacts on diverse lineages, preceding adaptive radiations in vertebrates, teleost fish, and angiosperms. In contrast to the many know...

We often talk about THE whole genome duplication in yeasts, but we find new evidence of additional whole genome duplications in other yeast species!

Check out this preprint led by @kylethedavid.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Book cover

Dublin airport

Hmm
N: Tromso
E: Brisbane
W: Vancouver Island
S: Melbourne

A rapid, simple, and economical method for the isolation of ribosomes and translational machinery for structural and functional studies Nature Communications - Here, the authors present a method to rapidly isolate actively translating ribosomes in a time- and cost-effective manner using poly-lysine. The method is compatible with a...

Our RAPPL purification of ribosomes and associated material is out. I am really proud of this study in collaboration primary with Pavlovic-Djuranovic lab, as well as Jovanovic and Hashem Labs. This method aims to replace 60 years old purification of ribosomes by sucrose cushions

rdcu.be/ezlhg

Centromeres in budding yeasts are conserved in chromosomal location but not in structure. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has ‘point’ centromeres, which are much smaller and simpler than centromeres of most other eukaryotes and have a defined DNA sequence. Other yeast taxa have ...

New preprint from lab adding to recent interest in yeast centromeres. There are dramatic changes in structure, but location is conserved www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Research Ireland, on behalf of @deptoffhed.bsky.social, have today launched Global Talent Ireland - a new initiative to attract exceptional mid-career and established researchers from across the globe to Ireland.

For more information visit:
www.researchireland.ie/funding/glob...

NEW pub: The role of metabolism in shaping #enzyme structures over 400 million years. Now out in @nature.com

Super grateful to have played a small role in this project - congrats to lead/corr authors Oliver, Benjamin, and Markus!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#alphafold #evolution #genomics

Really enjoying this series.

🧪👩‍🔬This Sat 14 June, 12 scientists will bring their fascinating research to Dublin city centre! #SoapboxScience

Drop by South King St 1-4pm to join them in exploring topics ranging from nematodes & reptiles, to DNA & human health at this FREE event.

ucd.ie/research/new...

PostDoc | Job Details - Postdoctoral fellow level 1 in yeast biodiversity at Conway Institute, University College Dublin Postdoctoral fellow level 1 in yeast biodiversity at Conway Institute, University College Dublin, listed on FindAPostDoc.com - A jobs site exclusively listing postdoctoral research posts.

Postdoc position in new area for lab on yeast biodiversity. See www.findapostdoc.com/search/job-d.... Please forward! @ucd-sbbs.bsky.social

🎉Huge congratulations to Simran Khatri, Stage 3 Pharmacology student,who has been named joint winner of the 2025 Mary Mulvihill Award. Her essay “In Life for Life – A Monologue from the Heart of a Young Researcher,” is a powerful reflection on the ethics of animal research in science.
bit.ly/4mtiwPR

Fantastic!

Only one week to go until the abstract submission deadline for Candida and Candidiasis 2025! Make sure to submit your abstract by 15 May 2025 at 23:59 BST. Find out more on our website. microb.io/Candida2025A... #Candida2025

Felt surreal to be live on Sky News Breakfast talking about fungal pathogens and climate change🍄‍🟫🗺️

Hopefully more people will learn about the wonderful (and scary) world of fungi this way

The global fight for science in the face of Trump’s attacks As Trump takes aim at science and institutions, other nations double down on research and innovation

The global fight for science in the face of Trump’s attacks

Donate to Lexie and Shreya's Space Settlement Contest mission, organized by Fiona Dockery Hi - our names are Lexie and Shreya and we are two students fr… Fiona Dockery needs your support for Lexie and Shreya's Space Settlement Contest mission

www.gofundme.com/f/lexie-and-...

Help pupils from Irish schools who won a NASA competition to attend the International Space Development Conference in Florida and showcase their hard work. If you can, please click the link below to donate or share it with others. Thanks for your support!

Candida and Candidiasis 2025

Abstract submission for the Candida and Candidiasis conference, held in Berlin 6th-9th October 2025, is open until 15th May: microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

The Tariff rate is calculated the same way as the Impact Factor

UCD research infrastructure projects receive more than €5.3m in funding

🔬💎 Exciting news for UCD Professors Oliver Blacque, Peter Haughton, and Eoin Casey, whose projects will receive over €5.3 million in funding from Research Ireland’s Research Infrastructure Programme. www.ucd.ie/newsandopini...

My mother had diphtheria. She survived the hospitalisation; her younger brother did not. Was common in Dublin, now eliminated.