Andy Foote

Robustness of Ancestral Recombination Graph Inference Tools to Phasing Errors Ancestral Recombination Graphs (ARGs) are fundamental population genetic structures that encode the genealogical history of a sample of haplotypes along the genome. They have recently received substan...

We are excited to share our recent work on the surprising robustness of Ancestral Recombination Graph (ARG) inference tools to computational phasing errors, now available on BioRxiv: biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
This work is co-advised by @yundeng.bsky.social and Rasmus Nielsen.
1/7

Team fish - we need your help! We are trying to build a database of all the fish chromosome-scale genomes where sex chromosomes have been identified. Have you build one or some? Do you know someone who has? Can you post the link in the comments? Please spread the word and repost! Thank you!

We made the cover of @heredityjournal.bsky.social ! Photo by @cherinebaumgartner.bsky.social

The Evolution of Cetacean Societies From leading cetacean biologists, an up-to-date, comprehensive collection exploring advancements in our understanding of cetacean ecology, behavior, and societies.   Cetaceans—whales, dolphins, and po...

Buy The Evolution of Cetacean Societies book direct from uChicago press via link below and use the code UCPNEW at checkout to get 30% discount off the list price.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

The Centre for Advanced Study Sofia is offering several quite attractive fellowship schemes for postdoctoral researchers from the social sciences and the humanities, including one specifically dedicated to Ukranian scholars.
Check it out!
Application deadline: 31 March 2026.

cas.bg/en/cas-sofia...

Improving two-step cancer treatment strategies based on evolutionary models, but above all a nice evolutionary rescue model that should be of interest to everyone. #PopGen #CanEcoEvo

Seems you need a selective sweep of your office

The evolutionary genomics of life-history adaptations in pinnipeds - Yorkshire Environmental Sciences • Doctoral Training Network Project summary Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, fur seals and walrus) are keystone marine predators, and sentinels for marine ecosystem health. Advances in genomic technology open up the possibility to u...

New PhD studentship opportunity in my lab & with collaborators from the Pinniped Genomes Consortium. Come help us unravel the genomics of seal physiological super powers! Closing date 7th January 2026 🧪🦭🧬🌍🦑🐳 #marine #mammals
#consgen #popgen #phylo #molevol #evolution
yes-dtn.ac.uk/research/the...

Just over a month left to apply for scholarships on this project. We will run internal pre-selection interviews end of November, so if you consider applying, please reach out now. I can guarantee amazing scientific and intellectual environment at the Institute for Eco Evo @edinburghup.bsky.social

Elevated mutation near crossovers inhibits the evolution of recombination https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.01.685904v1

Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...

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

A dream postdoc on an incredible population, building on over three decades of field research, and with a brilliant and supportive PI.

This is a bloody awful situation. If anyone has experience of how to deal with this please reach out to Kim

A young PI here in Mainz has a fabulous PhD position that will be filled soon! By you? Keywords: Social insects, ageing, gene expression. www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb10-evoluti...

A great opportunity to work with great colleagues (Marie Louis and Outi Tervo) on the beautiful Faroes on an ambitious eDNA study of marine mammals.

Thanks to the previous reviewers from an MBE submission back in 2020, whose detailed feedback greatly improved the manuscript. COVID lockdowns + new job in 2020 meant it sat on the shelf for 5 years. Palpable relief to finally have it out.

New paper out in Heredity: 'Evidence of long-term purging of mutation burden in killer whale genomes'. Time calibration of purging was through inclusion of an ancient (7.5Kyr) genome which was close to directly ancestral to the present-day population with signature of purging.
rdcu.be/eM25j

Join us tomorrow either at the @smnstuttgart.bsky.social or online to learn what 20,000 years old bones of crows 🐦‍⬛ can tell us about the evolution of color pattern! @kombiota.bsky.social

Just left Roscoff this morning after an excellent week long meeting on speciation. I cannot recommend the location
highly enough!

MSc by Res opportunity - developing behavioural indicators to inform killer whale conservation with
@exeter.ac.uk @whaleresearch.bsky.social @seadocsociety.bsky.social

People from underrepresented groups in marine science encouraged to apply.

Deadline 19Dec

www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and ...

1/9 New in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8005
How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.

Reference genome bias in light of species-specific chromosomal reorganization and translocations - Genome Biology Background Whole-genome sequencing efforts, have during the past decade, unveiled the central role of genomic rearrangements—such as chromosomal inversions—in evolutionary processes, including local a...

Article alert: Maurstad, Hoff; Cerca et al. Reference genome bias in light of species-specific chromosomal reorganization and translocations. Now out in Genome Biol. Congrats to Sissel and the team😀 doi.org/10.1186/s130...

PhD OPPORTUNITY! 🔬🔖

Still one more day to apply for our fully-funded PhD position in Norway!

Please share widely 🙏

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91

Oof, one of my heroes.

🦴🧬🦴🧬🦴

Abstract submission is now open for the 1st International Conference on Palaeogenomics!

June 23–26 2026, in Stockholm.

Join researchers from across the field for 4 days and >100 talks (+ poster sessions)!

Submit abstracts here 👉
icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/abstracts/

Deadline: Nov 30th

Exciting news!
The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris.

This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics.

More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk

See you there !

I am pleased to share our new review paper detailing killer whale interactions with commercial fisheries in Frontiers in Marine Science!

www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...

This only happens to you once

We are hiring (Post number 2) - join us as a graduate research assistant to support killer whale research. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social Prof Dan Franks (York) start 1st Nov (or ASAP) end 31st Oct 2028. Apps close on 19th Oct.

jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...