Kathleen Kay's Avatar

Kathleen Kay

@kathleenmkay.bsky.social

Scientist, professor, mom, trail runner, plant lover. UC Santa Cruz.

785 Followers  |  483 Following  |  81 Posts  |  Joined: 31.08.2023  |  2.1764

Latest posts by kathleenmkay.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Research Engineering/Scientist Associate I Job Posting Title: Research Engineering/Scientist Associate I ---- Hiring Department: Department of Integrative Biology ---- Position Open To: All Applicants ---- Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40 ---- FLSA ...

My amazing colleague Shelley Sianta (not on bsky) is looking for a tech to join her new lab at UT Austin. The position will involve lab, greenhouse, and field work to study local adaptation and speciation in plants. Please share! utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UTstaff/job/...

31.10.2025 18:00 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Applied Biostatistics

Hey Yaniv Brandvain is not on Bluesky but his most recent biostats ebook is live ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/. His stats resources have been so helpful to me as I develop my own stats course, so check it out. Github repo here: github.com/ybrandvain/b...

24.10.2025 14:47 β€” πŸ‘ 85    πŸ” 51    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3
Applied Biostatistics

Proud of the latest edition of my free intro biostats book.

gitrepo: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
book: ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/

Not complete but at a good point to take a break, and I think its quite usable

dm me with comments , ideas etc

24.10.2025 14:33 β€” πŸ‘ 67    πŸ” 47    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...

One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

22.10.2025 17:45 β€” πŸ‘ 155    πŸ” 80    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 6

This paper is SO COOL! Congrats, and thanks for sharing!

22.10.2025 18:44 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT

15.10.2025 15:53 β€” πŸ‘ 141    πŸ” 171    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 4
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When women researchers publish, media attention doesn’t always follow Men-led papers receive more media coverage than women’s, new study finds

When women researchers publish, media attention doesn’t always follow | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

13.10.2025 01:01 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

looks like $80 for plants!

17.10.2025 03:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Great work! Bravo!!

14.10.2025 17:18 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Just add water: A simple floral bud injection method for stable Agrobacterium‐mediated transformation in two ecotypes of Mimulus guttatus Premise Stable transformation is the biggest barrier to studying gene function in plants. In most species, transformation requires tissue culture and regeneration methods that may be arduous and cau...

Excited by this breakthrough work led by Dr. Lauren Stanley (now Assistant Professor at Central Michigan University). Lauren was able to develop for the first time floral dip/spray transformation methods in the yellow monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus). bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

13.10.2025 12:28 β€” πŸ‘ 39    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2
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Postdoctoral Researcher in Plant Evolutionary Genomics The postdoctoral researcher will work in Dr. Michael Grillo’s plant evolutionary genetics lab. The goal of this research project is to understand the genomic basis of plant-microbiome variation in leg...

I am hiring a postdoc to examine the genomic and evolutionary basis of plant microbiome variation in legumes. There are opportunities to gain teaching experience. Chicago is a great city to live in! Please help spread the word.
share.google/gukbzS1zdIx6...

10.10.2025 18:11 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 40    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A graphic advertising phage ecology and evolution research at the University of South Carolina, showing a central image of a tide pool flanked by a photo of an agar plate containing diverse microbes and a TEM image of a virus particle.

A graphic advertising phage ecology and evolution research at the University of South Carolina, showing a central image of a tide pool flanked by a photo of an agar plate containing diverse microbes and a TEM image of a virus particle.

Very happy to share that I will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina in January! My group will be working on environmental phage ecology and evolution, and I am recruiting for the upcoming year (more info below).

08.10.2025 16:34 β€” πŸ‘ 75    πŸ” 27    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 2
Applied Biostatistics

This is a great book, and free! ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/

07.10.2025 23:58 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

What's the other anther doing? Just hanging out in case something better comes along?

30.09.2025 15:24 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Application review begins in one week for the MSU herbarium director position!!!! More info here: plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

26.09.2025 13:33 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

I'll add here that MSU's Plant Biology Dept is world class, has a great chair, and is full of excellent scientists. #scijobs

26.09.2025 13:35 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ending publication bias: A values-based approach to surface null and negative results Sharing knowledge is a fundamental principle within the scientific community, yet null and negative results are still being underreported. This Consensus View discusses the problem of such publication...

Publication bias continues to skew academic literature. In our new @plosbiology.org article, we outline actionable steps for journals, funders & researchers to ensure all resultsβ€”not only β€œpositive” onesβ€”are valued. A roadmap for more reliable science: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

25.09.2025 12:49 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Congratulations, @needhibhalla.bsky.social !!!!!

21.09.2025 20:56 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

no idea - just my best guess! we had a raccoon problem at one point and an exterminator suggested it. someone needs to go to this festival and find out

18.09.2025 00:01 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

mountain lion pee -- you can actually buy it

17.09.2025 23:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

A host organelle (in sea slugs) integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

17.09.2025 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 113    πŸ” 51    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 5
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Who Radicalized You: An Elite University or a Discord Server? β€œThe Utah man being held in the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk used the social media platform Discord to send messages about the ri...

Sadly timely from @mcsweeneys.net: www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/who...

16.09.2025 09:30 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Also: "The advent of AI slop means that instructors (and TAs) must either endure the slings and arrows of em-dashes or take arms against a sea of cheatersβ€”a battle enormously costly in time and effort." πŸ˜‚

14.09.2025 17:46 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Everyone is focusing on β€œCatch this, fascist”, and Ciao Bella being an anti-fascist song and reading that as literal. But these are both used in the video game Helldivers2 - which is a parody of authoritarianism. β€œCatch this, fascist” is satirical anti-fascism. 1/

12.09.2025 15:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1911    πŸ” 640    πŸ’¬ 96    πŸ“Œ 42
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Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants

12.09.2025 07:54 β€” πŸ‘ 194    πŸ” 118    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3
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Today at WashU’s EEB seminar, I presented a new species diversification model that incorporates regional species diversity into rates of evolution through time (a joint work w/ @landismj.bsky.social).

Slides here: sites.google.com/view/albert-...

Preprint hopefully will be here this month #evobio

11.09.2025 23:48 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Unsolicited listicle: My list of the most criminally underused/underappreciated phylogenetic comparative methods. Note, I am not involved in ANY of these methods; but I see them as things people are often asking of comparative data but have been surprised at how infrequently they have been cited.

21.05.2025 20:06 β€” πŸ‘ 147    πŸ” 68    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

Amazing opportunity to work with a brilliant, creative, and kind mentor!

11.09.2025 17:52 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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a man with his eyes closed is wearing a plaid shirt and a blue jacket . ALT: a man with his eyes closed is wearing a plaid shirt and a blue jacket .

So... I did some analysis of grants that did receive noncompetitive renewals.

In particular, I looked a those award where the title of the grant changed.

Warning: The results are just what I expected, but oooph...

1/4

09.09.2025 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 248    πŸ” 104    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 14

Almost 10 years ago Smith and Baum's textbook introduced me to Phylogenetic Comparative Methods.

We now have our own review on PCM! Come for history, traits and spicy takes!

We welcome any comments/ concerns/ jokes!

@tribblelab.bsky.social @crothfels.bsky.social and MRM!

doi.org/10.32942/X28...

02.09.2025 17:23 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2

@kathleenmkay is following 20 prominent accounts