Geoff Findlay

Reaffirming the value of model organisms in training scientific minds - Nature Cell Biology As biomedical research prioritizes human models and translational promise, classic model organisms are increasingly dismissed. Here we argue that they have a lasting value, both in enabling discovery and in cultivating scientific thinking, by training researchers in systems reasoning, integrative thinking and independent inquiry.

Model organisms, in particular non-mammalian model organisms, such as yeast, Caenorhabditis elegans, #Drosophila and zebrafish, have long stood at the centre of biological discovery www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It’s a great afternoon for stock-flipping! 🔱⚾️

The effects of mating and blood feeding on the immune defense of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes Author summary: Mating and the subsequent process of reproduction can either enhance or suppress the ability of female insects to respond to pathogenic infection. In most mosquitoes, blood feeding is ...

Congrats to lab alum Brendan Kelly '19 on his co-first author publication from his MS work at Ohio State! journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...

Normally people don’t stress much about the odds of giving up six runs in a single inning, but I’m a Mariners fan and that’s its own kind of generational trauma.

DNA floats in the background of a texty event flyer that says "Personal genetics engagement in classrooms and communities, Learn about genetic advances and about how to bring conversations about ethical, legal, and social dimensions of genetics into classrooms and informal science learning. Tuesday October 7, 2025, 12pm EDT. brought to you by Skype a scientist and the personal genetics education and dialogue program. RSVP at linktr.ee/skypeascientist

On October 7th, learn how to communicate genetics topics to classrooms and informal settings with with @robomalley.bsky.social from @pged.bsky.social!

This is for teachers and all other kinds of educators.

RSVP for free here: givebutter.com/8TVNiA

Here at UW Genome Sciences, PhD students take a summer course at the end of 1st year to write NSF GRFP proposals. They finished refining proposals on Wednesday, the first day of Autumn quarter, marking the start of their 2nd year. With NSF's announcement, the entire cohort is suddenly ineligible.

Economic loss from the White House's NSF FY 2026 Proposed Budget

New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget.

Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide.

Report: osf.io/e8rnc

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📣 Our department is hiring an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Cell and Molecular Biology to join the @weillinstitute.bsky.social PLS spread the word!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30607

New out in Molecular Ecology! In which we show that small males try harder when it comes to seminal fluid proteins. w/ @ju-morimoto.bsky.social @iremsepil.bsky.social @becks-seascience.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

College of the Holy Cross is looking for Lab Manager / Staff Scientist. College of the Holy Cross is looking for Lab Manager / Staff Scientist. Learn more or Jobvite a friend.

Excited to share that our new NSF RUI grant was funded! 🎉🪰 We'll be looking into Drosophila fertilization proteins and studying how orphan genes function in non-model fly species. We're hiring for a 3-year lab manager/staff scientist position: app.jobvite.com/j/?cj=oGzWxf... Shares/RTs appreciated!

Surprising find reveals asymmetry in identical-looking fruit fly organs At Cornell, Dawn Chen was counting sperm stored in a pair of organs called spermathecae in female fruit flies, fully expecting the counts to be roughly the same.

Female fruit flies possess two visually identical sperm storage organs that differ in origin, sperm storage, and release rates, highlighting functional asymmetry in paired biological structures. doi.org/g93t23

College of the Holy Cross is looking for Lab Manager / Staff Scientist. College of the Holy Cross is looking for Lab Manager / Staff Scientist. Learn more or Jobvite a friend.

Excited to share that our new NSF RUI grant was funded! 🎉🪰 We'll be looking into Drosophila fertilization proteins and studying how orphan genes function in non-model fly species. We're hiring for a 3-year lab manager/staff scientist position: app.jobvite.com/j/?cj=oGzWxf... Shares/RTs appreciated!

MSc position in my lab. Come study the evolutionary & behavioural ecology of insects!
@stfx-university.bsky.social

The scent of silence! Cool research in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social to brighten up your day🌹. The mystery of why some roses are fragrant and others aren't has an answer. It's called SCREP: a rose-specific gene that evolved from non-coding DNA 16.8 million years ago 👇

Trump’s Decapitation of CDC Takes Darker Turn—and Hands Dems a Weapon Illinois’s J.B. Pritzker is leading a charge other Democratic governors should take up: In our America, we’ll make sure public health systems remain strong.

This is good: With Trump/RFK destroying CDC, JB Pritzker's officials are exploring the possibility of buying Covid vaccines from manufacturers and distributing them in-state themselves, source tells me.

Dem govs must step up and fill the void.

New piece from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1998...

A predicted structural interactome reveals binding interference from intrinsically disordered regions https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.15.670535v1

All About the AAP Recommended Immunization Schedule Here's what to know about the recommended immunization schedule for children and teens. The schedule is approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics and based on ongoing review of the most recent sc...

Also important this week: A trustworthy guide to childhood vaccine schedules, from actual pediatricians (many of whom saw these diseases before they could be vaccinated against).

* pin it & share it *

Ps: no, pediatricians are not pharma shills, don’t @ me
www.healthychildren.org/English/safe...

Opinion | The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism (Gift Article) Data can easily be manipulated to show a causation that doesn’t exist.

A must-read, must-share piece - clearly deconstructing the shoddy science of the Geiers (who are inexplicably in charge of studies at HHS).

Consider this an early warning for what lies ahead. 🛟🩺🧪

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Been hearing folks don’t realize NIH is more than its internal labs.

That cutting NIH is ok because Dana Farber will still do cancer research. Joslin will cover diabetes, etc.

But these centers get most of their funding from NIH.

Stop NIH, and the whole system fails, across the entire US.

FlyBase needs your help! We ask that European labs continue to contribute to Cambridge, UK FlyBase, whereas US and other non-European labs can contribute to US FlyBase. For more information and how to donate: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...

In 2005, a small team of researchers asked:
What if undergrads didn’t just learn genomics, but contributed to real discoveries?

That question launched the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP).
#GenomicsEducation #UndergradResearch #GEPCUREs

Graphic of the UCSC Genome Browser with accompanying text. Image text: "The Pathways Project: Free, open-access genomics curriculum for undergraduates. Learn more at thegep.org."

Undergrads learning real genomics?
Yes—through the Pathways Project.

The GEP provides:
• A gene annotation walkthrough
• A full YouTube video series
• All prerequisite curriculum materials
—all free and open-access.

Explore here: thegep.org/projects/pat...

#Genomics #STEMed #GEPtools

Protein sequence evolution underlies interspecies incompatibility of a cell fate determinant https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.02.668269v1

Gene model for the ortholog of Glyp in Drosophila ananassae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.18.665411v1

Postdoctoral researcher: avian microbiomes and reproduction We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join our team working on avian reproductive microbiomes at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in the group of Dr. Melissah Rowe. The postd...

We are looking for a postdoc to join our group to work on an ERC funded project on avian reproductive microbiomes. nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...
Please RT! #microbes #microbiomes #sparrows #postdoc

🚨🚨🚨PUI TT Job Alert!!

My dept at TCNJ is hiring a tenure track cell and molecular biologist. Come join my supportive colleagues, helpful staff, & fabulous students!

We're surprisingly well resourced w/excellent equipment (confocal, SEM etc) and research w/students counts towards our teaching load!

Gene regulatory networks and essential transcription factors for de novo-originated genes Nature Ecology & Evolution - A combination of computational methods applied to single-cell RNA sequencing data and genetic experiments shows that a small number of transcription factors are...

Our latest paper is out: rdcu.be/ev6Ym — one of my favorite projects. It began about 8 years ago when Nobel laureate Torsten Wiesel asked me: what transcription factors regulate new genes? I had no idea then. Now we have some answers.

How new genes get switched on - News Scientists discovered an identical neural circuit that operates differently in male and female mice.

Rockefeller's @lizhao.bsky.social has spent nearly a decade cataloguing evolutionarily young genes. Now, complementary studies in @pnas.org and @natecoevo.nature.com are the first to demonstrate how these new genes are regulated and expressed.

Guay, S. Y., Patel, P. H., Thomalla, J. M., McDermott, K. L., O'Toole, J. M., Arnold, S. E., Obrycki, S. J., Wolfner, M. F., Findlay, G. D. (2024). A newly evolved gene is essential for efficient sperm entry into eggs in #Drosophila melanogaster. bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Genome Sciences is looking for a Director of Departmental Computing. This is a rare opportunity for someone interested in leading our excellent IT team, building and maintaining computational infrastructure, and working closely with our faculty and labs uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/candidat...