Megan Sorensen's Avatar

Megan Sorensen

@messorensen.bsky.social

Interested in evolutionary microbiology, symbiosis, organelles and protists. Currently an MSCA postdoc at HHU, Düsseldorf.

414 Followers  |  286 Following  |  12 Posts  |  Joined: 18.10.2023  |  2.2607

Latest posts by messorensen.bsky.social on Bluesky

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This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com

rdcu.be/eLtCH

02.11.2025 17:52 — 👍 72    🔁 30    💬 1    📌 2
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Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

31.10.2025 15:27 — 👍 157    🔁 55    💬 1    📌 2
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🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

31.10.2025 14:41 — 👍 205    🔁 97    💬 15    📌 10
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Bacterial tubular networks channel carbohydrates in insect endosymbiosis Symbiosis is widespread in nature and plays a fundamental role in organism adaptation and evolution. In nutritional endosymbiosis, host cells accommod…

Agnès Vallier, @cmonegat.bsky.social , Baptiste Vierne, @nicolasparisot.bsky.social , Guy Condemine, Pedro Da Silva, Xavier Jaurand, @yschwab.bsky.social , @kaltenpoth-lab.bsky.social , Abdelaziz Heddi, and @annazaidmanremy.bsky.social

➡️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 5/5

29.10.2025 11:48 — 👍 13    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 3

Please share this with anyone who may be interested in a post-doc in Germany:

jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/20...

This is quite an exciting opportunity to push the boundaries of what is known regarding the molecular basis of the formation and demise of photosymbiotic relationships in marine habitats.

22.10.2025 10:36 — 👍 44    🔁 48    💬 1    📌 1
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We are happy to share our latest work in @nature.com . We study the genomic and cellular basis of facultative symbiosis in Oculina patagonica - a Mediterranean coral remarkable for its ability to survive long periods without algal symbionts. Led by Shani Levy and @xgrau.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eLbaZ

15.10.2025 19:57 — 👍 128    🔁 46    💬 5    📌 2
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Pretty excited to share our new preprint!
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

10.10.2025 03:34 — 👍 87    🔁 43    💬 0    📌 3
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🪸🧪 We’re hiring! Join our ERC-funded group at the @hifmb.de in Oldenburg, Germany to explore the cellular origins of photosymbiosis:⁣

𝟏 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐜 + 𝟐 𝐏𝐡𝐃𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.⁣
Deadlines: Oct 29 & Nov 5. Links below. ⁣

Questions: nils.raedecker@hifmb.de⁣
#Photosymbiosis #HIFMB #ERC #AcademicJobs

06.10.2025 12:27 — 👍 27    🔁 15    💬 3    📌 0
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How to upgrade stolen organelles into permanent plastids: A comparative transcriptomic perspective www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #protists #protistsonsky

07.10.2025 10:01 — 👍 11    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0
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OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...

07.10.2025 10:01 — 👍 47    🔁 65    💬 1    📌 1
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The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

Dear all, registration for the upcoming EMBO/EMBL Symposium on "the cellular mechanics of symbiosis" is now OPEN 🤩 ! Feel free to register ! www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
@hassansalem.bsky.social @berasymbionts.bsky.social @embl.org

29.09.2025 08:15 — 👍 49    🔁 28    💬 0    📌 0
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Anaerobic breviate protist survival in microcosms depends on microbiome metabolic function Abstract. Anoxic and hypoxic environments serve as habitats for diverse microorganisms, including unicellular eukaryotes (protists) and prokaryotes. To thr

Now completely published :)
Really proud of this paper led with Karla at @cstairs.bsky.social lab.
doi.org/10.1093/isme...

27.09.2025 06:50 — 👍 35    🔁 16    💬 1    📌 2
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Apply online by November 1st! Wiko Early Career Call for fellowships 2026/27 in the #NaturalSciences and #LifeSciences. Gain time to think during a 3–5 month #fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin – Institute for Advanced Study: wiko-berlin.de/fellow-werde... #cfa

24.09.2025 13:03 — 👍 9    🔁 7    💬 0    📌 2

Check out our new paper on adopting a trait-based framework for protist diversity! We make the case for a unified protist trait database, how to build it, and how it could transform research on protist ecology and evolution.
#protistsonsky

03.09.2025 08:47 — 👍 56    🔁 26    💬 1    📌 1

Thanks so much Varsha and Daniel!! I'm very excited to be setting up in Vienna

08.09.2025 08:28 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Thanks so much Fabien!!

08.09.2025 08:23 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - Nature Genomic and biochemical analyses of prokaryotic sulfur metabolism identify diverse microorganisms with the capacity to oxidize sulfide using iron(iii).

📢 New paper in @nature.com

Microbes rock 🎸🤘 with sulfide and iron minerals

I am very excited to share our recent study, which describes a previously unknown microbial energy metabolism ⚡⚡⚡🦠🧫⚡⚡⚡

🆕 Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - MISO

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

27.08.2025 20:17 — 👍 119    🔁 44    💬 5    📌 6
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I gave a symposium talk at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology 2025 (#eseb2025) meeting last week and this was my title slide showcasing how I was speaking as an independent scientist because @dalhousieu.bsky.social @dalhousie.bsky.social has locked us out.

25.08.2025 12:09 — 👍 148    🔁 71    💬 6    📌 11
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How thoughtful experimental design can empower biologists in the omics era - Nature Communications Here, the authors discuss principles of experimental design that are relevant for all biology research, along with special considerations for projects using -omics approaches, highlighting common expe...

I am really excited to see this article on basic experimental design principles published. Definitely will be mandatory reading for incoming graduate students in my lab. Maggie Wagner who led this article did an amazing job with the illustrations of basic principles www.nature.com/articles/s41...

07.08.2025 19:43 — 👍 83    🔁 31    💬 2    📌 5

Congratulations!! Great work and beautiful images

18.08.2025 19:59 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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The first paper from my PhD is out now! doi.org/10.1111/jeu....

We describe a new photosynthetic #Paulinella species from a brackish beach in British Columbia 🇨🇦

Big thanks to the co-authors Maia Palka and @alive-in-the-ocean.bsky.social, and my supervisor @fburki.bsky.social

#protistsonsky

18.08.2025 11:36 — 👍 59    🔁 17    💬 9    📌 2
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Frontiers | High partner specificity in an algal-salamander mutualism at continental scale The mutualism between the green alga Oophila amblystomatis (“Oophila”) and egg masses of the spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum involves acquisition of a...

New #symbiosky paper from Cory Bishop and collaborators (including me 😊) on the remarkable specificity of the symbiosis between spotted salamanders and the alga in their eggs. Cory organized colleagues to get egg fluid from NC USA to NS Canada. He found extremely low...

tinyurl.com/2jmwce2s

17.08.2025 22:05 — 👍 30    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 0
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Genomes of nitrogen-fixing eukaryotes reveal an alternate path for organellogenesis | PNAS Endosymbiotic gene transfer (EGT) and import of host-encoded proteins have been considered hallmarks of organelles necessary for stable integration...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Genomes of nitrogen-fixing eukaryotes reveal an alternate path for organellogenesis #protistsonsky

14.08.2025 03:55 — 👍 41    🔁 20    💬 1    📌 0
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🚨New Preprint Alert🚨 P. strigosa, a reef-building coral shows tightly regulated transcriptional control over natural diel cycles. #CoralReefs #Symbiosky #bioinformatics #marinemicrobes #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

07.08.2025 17:02 — 👍 18    🔁 11    💬 2    📌 3
RECLESS_Postdoc_single_cell_UniVie.pdf u:cloud - Ihre Daten, auf Wolken gebettet.

🚨3-yr Postdoc Position on #SingleCell Activities in #Marine #N-Cycling🦠🧪👩‍🎓🔬

Join me @univie.ac.at @dome-vienna.bsky.social
Part of our ERC Synergy #RECLESS looking at microbes in marine oxygen minimum zones

Apply by Oct 15, start March 2026!

-> ucloud.univie.ac.at/index.php/s/...

04.08.2025 10:48 — 👍 20    🔁 24    💬 1    📌 2
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Check out our new preprint all about Pirsonia, a tiny killer of bloom-forming Coscinodiscus diatoms!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#protistsonsky #marinemicrobes 🌊🔬

30.07.2025 15:04 — 👍 49    🔁 24    💬 4    📌 1
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🚨 We’re hiring! Join our Aquatic Ecosystem Analysis group #UniversityKoblenz,Germany as a PhD researcher (m/f/d) in #plankton #ecology. Dive into #protist- #algae interactions, molecular ecology & sustainable water management. Apply by 14.08.2025! 🌊🔬 #protistsonsky #parasites #microbiology

31.07.2025 13:00 — 👍 12    🔁 9    💬 2    📌 0

Excited to share our first paper on the symbiosis between chlamydiae and social amoebae showing in detail the adaptations of endosymbionts to the social life style of their host! 🎉

09.07.2025 13:03 — 👍 32    🔁 15    💬 0    📌 0
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Congratulations to Megan Sørensen on receiving an FWF-ASTRA Award! We’re thrilled to announce that Megan Sørensen has been awarded a prestigious FWF-ASTRA grant to investigate at CeMESS how microbial partnerships have shaped evolution.

We’re thrilled to announce that Megan Sørensen has been awarded an FWF-ASTRA for her upcoming research at #CeMESS on microbial partnerships and evolution!

Read more about the grant and project 🔗 cemess.univie.ac.at/news/detail-...

02.07.2025 06:15 — 👍 19    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 3

Thanks Sergio!

06.07.2025 03:26 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

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