the Hoffman Lab

We found that viability selection targets exonic evolutionarily conserved mutations 🤔 Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Cover of Current Biology Vol 35, number 23, Dec 2025. It shows a picture of a black grouse, its image mirrored in a pond it is standing next to.

Publication alert! ❗ Do predicted deleterious mutations reduce survival? In our latest paper lead by @rebeccachen.bsky.social published in @currentbiology.bsky.social, we compared mutation load across different age classes in black grouse.

How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference We studied equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) issues at an academic conference using observational and experimental behavioural data collected during question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions in additi....

And the full paper in Ecology and Evolution @ecol-evol.bsky.social here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#InclusiveAcademia #ConferenceEquity #DiversityInScience

How can we make scientific events such as #conferences more #inclusive? Read about the study we conducted during #Behaviour2023 as a nice and concise summary in the press-release here 👉 aktuell.uni-bielefeld.de/2025/10/06/r...

#InclusiveAcademia #ConferenceEquity #DiversityInScience

How Can We Make Scientific Events More Inclusive? Insights From Q&A Sessions and Surveys From an International Conference We studied equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) issues at an academic conference using observational and experimental behavioural data collected during question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions in additi...

Check out the paper in Ecology and Evolution here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Ramona smiling broadly and holding her thesis in front of her

A picture of the front of Ramona Mattmueller's thesis titled "Comparing Polar Ocean Soundscapes"

Last week a very happy (and presumably very tired 😁) @ramonammm.bsky.social handed in her PhD thesis titled "Comparing Polar Ocean Soundscapes" 🥳🥳 🥳

Congratulations with this huge milestone! Looking forward to the defence and of course the celebrations afterwards!

For the full publication, check out Nature Ecology and Evolution
@natecoevo.nature.com 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 6/6

Schädliche Gene mindern den Paarungserfolg bei Birkhühnern Die Studie eines Forschungsteams unter der Leitung der Biologin Rebecca Chen wurde im Fachjournal Nature Ecology & Evolution veröffentlicht.

For a lay summary by the university, check out the press release (in German) 👉 aktuell.uni-bielefeld.de/2025/08/11/s... 5/6

We analysed if coding and non-coding mutations have different fitness effects, and showed that mutations in regulatory regions of the genome seem to play a disproportionate role in explaining lifetime reproductive success! 4/6

Black grouse aggregate on leks where males fight to defend non-resource holding territories. Their ability to attend leks during the lekking season is critical to secure matings with females, and we show that lek attendance indicates their underlying genetic quality. 3/6

Our PhD candidate @rebeccachen.bsky.social showed that predicted deleterious mutations, both in homo- and heterozygosity, are associated with lower lek attendance in black grouse males, which reduces their mating success. 2/6

Do predicted deleterious mutations explain fitness variation in wild populations?
Our recent publication addresses exactly this question in black grouse, a lekking Galliform. 1/6

We have a brand new genome for porcini mushroom! First chromosome-scale, haplotype-resolved reference genome for Boletus edulis. A great resource for fungal genetics, and the rest of Etienne's PhD!

ESEB 2025 Four of our lab members presented their work at the Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB 2025) in Barcelona in August. Beril presented a pilot study linked to her multi-p…

DNA as street decoration? Of course! Our very own @k-hench.bsky.social made some beautiful pictures of the @eseb2025.bsky.social street decorations at the “Festes de Gràcia”.

Check out some of his pictures and read more about why we were there: thehoffmanlab.com/2025/09/05/e...

The genome and epigenome are not independent, so why analyse them separately? 🤔 Come and discuss our hypotheses on the interplay between deleterious mutations and epigenetic mechanisms today with @rebeccachen.bsky.social at #ESEB2025 poster number 85! 🧪🧬

@annekep.bsky.social shows us a super impressive long term study in Antarctica fur seals to explore interactions between inbreeding and climate change 🦭

Title slide of the presentation. The left side has a blue background with in white the title: "Inbreeding-mediated individual responses to climate change in Antarctic fur seals" by David Vendrami, Anneke Paijmans, Emily Humble, Ane Liv Berthelsen, Jaume Forcada and Joe Hoffman. On the right side there is a picture of a Antarctic fur seal female with light grey/brown fur coloration and a darker colored pup on her right side

Do inbred females suffer disproportionately from climate change induced changes in selection pressure? Come and find out in @annekep.bsky.social's talk today at the @eseb2025.bsky.social conference 12:00 PM - 12:15 PM in meeting room 115 #ESEB2025

Kosmas pointing to his scientific poster titled "dynamics of mutation load in the Antarctic fur seal" at the ESEB2025 conference

Interested in the temporal and spatial dynamics of mutation load? Come find @k-hench.bsky.social who is investigating this in Antarctic fur seals! Poster session 2, S44 355 5-7PM tonight @eseb2025.bsky.social #eseb2025

#eseb2025

How do deleterious mutations affect male black grouse fitness? Find out at @rebeccachen.bsky.social's presentation today at @eseb2025.bsky.social 2:00 PM-2:15 PM, meeting room 131 🧬

Interested in the genomic consequences of commercial sealing? Check out Beril's poster (number 266) tonight at #ESEB2025 where she presents her study on differences in genomic inbreeding levels, bottleneck strength, and genetic load in two populations of South American fur seals 🦭🧬🧪

“Exploring the link between epigenetics and deleterious mutations” by @rebeccachen.bsky.social on Thursday 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Poster Session 3 (P03.085)

#ESEB2025 #MutationLoad #InbreedingDepression #Epigenetics #MarineMammals #BlackGrouse

“Inbreeding-mediated individual responses to climate change in Antarctic fur seals” by @annekep.bsky.social on Wednesday 12:00 PM 12:15 PM (meeting room 115)

“Dynamics of Mutation Load in the Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella)” by @k-hench.bsky.social on Tuesday 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Poster Session 2 (P02.355)

“Genetic architecture of male reproductive success in a lekking bird: insights from predicted deleterious mutations” by @rebeccachen.bsky.social on Tuesday 2:00 PM 2:15 PM (meeting room 131)

“Tracing genomic consequences of historical sealing in South American fur seal populations” by Beril Yildiz on Monday 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Poster Session 1 (P01.266)

Working on mutation load, inbreeding or bottlenecks and attending ESEB2025 Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology next week? Check out our lab's talks and posters 😁 Looking forward to chat with you!

Eavesdropping on the Arctic Ocean - WWF Arctic

They explain what passive acoustic monitoring is and how we can use it to learn about the icy underwater world of the Arctic simply by listening.

Check it out: www.arcticwwf.org/the-circle/s... @wwf.de @awi.de

Our very own Ramona Mattmueller @ramonammm.bsky.social and her colleague Karolin Thomisch from AWI wrote an article for the Circle Stories of the WWF Global Arctic Program.