Geoff Findlay

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...

A novel sperm-derived seminal fluid protein in Caenorhabditis nematodes Abstract. Nematode sperm contains subcellular vesicles known as membranous organelles (MOs) that fuse with the sperm cell membrane upon sperm activation to

Kasimatis et al. identify a new nematode seminal fluid protein which is released from a novel sperm subcellular organelle. This protein is not involved in sexual conflict but provides a small fitness benefit to females

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@katjakasimatis.bsky.social @asherdcutter.bsky.social

Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science These graphics will guide you through science-based vaccine guidelines for children and adults

Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪

Help us hit $2025 by June 25! The Genomics Education Partnership gives students real research opportunities in genomics. Every gift supports hands-on learning and inclusion in STEM.

📢 Donate & boost:
secure.givelively.org/donate/genom...

#STEMEducation #Genomics #FundScience

Congratulations Ben!!

Proud of this lab alum for this essential advocacy (among other reasons)!

This #microscopymonday image is of a #Drosophila male reproductive system: paired coiled testes, seminal vesicles & accessory glands, and a single ejaculatory duct. Each coiled testis is about 1.5mm. Image captured by MDI Bio Lab Sr. Scientist Travis Carney.

#standwithscience #researchmatters 🧪 🤝

NYT, Page One:

“Within hours, he had an email from China, offering to move his lab to ‘any city, any university I want,’ he said, with a guarantee of funding for the next 20 years.”

@nytimes.com

Drosophila Genetic Database The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

Opinion | We are witnessing the suicide of a superpower The president’s assault on science dangerously undermines America’s superpower status.

Since the 1940s, the engine driving U.S. economic and military competitiveness has been federal support of research universities. Now Trump is sabotaging a research and development pipeline that is the envy of the world. wapo.st/3FDsQEg

A ‘war on children’: as US changes Covid vaccine rules, parents of trial volunteers push back Frustration and anger mount as Trump administration contemplates new trials and restrictions for Covid vaccines

These parents clamored to enroll their children in the Covid vaccine trials. But they say it'll be tough — and unethical — to enroll children in placebo trials again. And they feel betrayed that their sacrifices are now going ignored. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Contradicting RFK Jr., CDC keeps recommending covid vaccine for kids While RFK Jr. said coronavirus vaccines would be removed from the CDC schedule for healthy children, it’s still recommended in consultation with doctors.

Breaking news: Contradicting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC continues to recommend the coronavirus vaccines for healthy children, according to new documentation posted to the agency's website.

Selected frames of a live-cell imaging time-course experiment. A single cell is shown, co-expressing PEEL-1::eGFP and PMPL-1::mCherry. The nucleus is labeled (“N”). t = 0 is 16 hrs after transfection. Acute swelling can be seen (t = 2 hr 30 min), followed by a transient blob or protrusion (arrow) jetted out by the cell (t = 4 hr 15 min) and later reabsorbed (dotted arrow) (t = 4 hr 20 min). Scale bar = 10 µm.

#Celegans peel-1/zeel-1 is one of the best-characterized animal #toxin-antidote systems, but how does it work? @lewsiferase.bsky.social &co show that PEEL-1 co-opts the PMPL-1 to exert toxicity by creating a novel #IonChannel that leads to cell swelling @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3HfH8LN

New COVID vaccine policy limits choice, could raise risk for younger groups | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Bill Hanage discusses the implications of a new FDA policy that will limit the COVID-19 vaccine to people over age 65 and those with certain medical conditions.

It is certainly reasonable to question exactly how helpful covid boosters are for younger people, but the new FDA policy goes beyond that...

hsph.harvard.edu/news/new-cov...

An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination | NEJM This article from the FDA compares broad U.S. recommendations on Covid vaccination with those from other countries and announces the adoption of an evidence-based approach to such recommendations.

Makary and Prasad have a sounding board piece written in NEJM about the future of COVID-19 vaccine regulation at the FDA.

Some thoughts:

“you should have a choice” means “we get to choose for you”

HHS to stop recommending routine Covid shots for children, pregnant people, RFK Jr. ally says A change in recommending Covid vaccines for children and pregnant women would circumvent an expert panel but please many MAHA fans.

It appears Sec. Kennedy is getting ready to over-ride vaccine policy experts & scrub Covid shot recommendations for children, teens & pregnant people. Having a HHS secretary reset vaccine policy without hearings or expert advice is unprecedented, experts tell STAT. www.statnews.com/2025/05/15/c...

My #FlyWeek contribution:

The Variety of Testis Shapes in Pomace Fly Species

Aren't they beatiful?🌈🪰🔬

An old-school sci-poster meets modern confocal imaging!
#Drosophila testis diversity fascinated even Curt Stern (yes, the human genetics textbook guy!) back in the 1930s.
#microscopy #insects

*Jonathon, sorry! [Where's the edit feature on this thing? ;) ]

We're grateful to the #NSF for funding our work over the last 8 years. This support has helped >30 undergraduates engage deeply with research, half of whom have earned authorship on our papers. Many more students across the US should continue to have such opportunities in the years ahead.

Last but not least, current student Grace became our third lab student to win our department's sophomore award! She, Rosie and Ashley are looking forward to a productive summer of research in the lab starting in June.

Jill O'Toole '21 is completing her Masters in Genetic Counseling from Penn and just accepted a job in Boston! Jill will be "replaced" at Penn's program by Brenna McCormick '24, who recently matched there after a year working at Dana-Farber. Jill and Brenna will be excellent, empathetic providers.