UVA Biology

Our new paper "Host avoidance and resistance vary independently and are specific to parasite genotype" is out in Journal of Animal Ecology! @animalecology.bsky.social @akgibson.bsky.social

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Biology Lab Tech 2 or Lab Specialist in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America | Research at University of Virginia Apply for Biology Lab Tech 2 or Lab Specialist job with University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America. Research at University of Virginia

📢 There is a lab technician or lab specialist position available in my lab, starting fall 2025. The position will involve molecular biology, microbiology, drosophila work, and more. Please share with anyone who may be interested and apply here: jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...

Dr. Louis Bubrig defending his dissertation

Various examples of dispersal across the tree of life: aphids, dandelion seeds, monarch butterflies, elk

Dr. Louis Bubrig gave an amazing defense of his dissertation exploring how dispersal affects the spread of epidemics. Congratulations, Dr. Bubrig!!

🚨New(ish) paper alert!🚨We developed and implemented an efficient iterative ranking algorithm for multi-body competitions. This is the first paper from my former student Jack Yeung (LinkedIn: jackcyeung), I am immensely proud of the work he has put into this project!

journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...

🚨🚨 New preprint just dropped! In collaboration with @colltoaction.bsky.social, Cliff Joslyn, @fralotito.bsky.social, Audun Myers, Joshua Pickard, Brenda Praggastis, and Przemysław Szufel, we define a new data sharing standard for higher-order networks. arxiv.org/abs/2507.11520

HIF: The hypergraph interchange format for higher-order networks Many empirical systems contain complex interactions of arbitrary size, representing, for example, chemical reactions, social groups, co-authorship relationships, and ecological dependencies. These int...

HIF: The hypergraph interchange format for higher-order networks arxiv.org/abs/2507.11520

I’m excited to share our work which identifies a new seminal fluid protein in C. elegans!

Flyer with images and text describing the environment, goals, and details of the workshop.

Just a few spots left in our graduate evolution workshop @mlbs-uva.bsky.social! Join me, @clively.bsky.social, @ldelph.bsky.social, and @corlettwood.bsky.social
from Jul 27-Aug 2 for a week of evolutionary thinking, science writing, and time outdoors! mlbs.virginia.edu/evolutionary...

Hope this primer proves helpful to anybody interested in infection avoidance. It was certainly a pleasure to write with @akgibson.bsky.social and @pfvale.bsky.social l!

Congratulations! 🎉🎉

zebrafish pigment cells

New NIH funded research from our group now out. We are interested in development and evolution of cell types and adult phenotypes. In this paper, postdoc Dylan Huang and collaborators asked how a pigmentary ornament of bright white cells develops on the fin of zebrafish. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

New paper out from grad student Katia Korzeniwsky and collaborators with roles for Mitfa transcription factor in pigment cell development and genetic interactions with related transcription factor Tfec.
dx.doi.org/10.1111/pcmr...

Huge congrats to Ray Keller on his election to the National Academy of Sciences! Ray isn’t on Bluesky but that shouldn’t stop anyone from letting him know how well deserved this is, or the impact he’s had generally. Certainly his work was a major reason I ended up in dev bio.

A Blue Start: A large-scale pairwise and higher-order social network dataset Large-scale networks have been instrumental in shaping the way that we think about how individuals interact with one another, developing key insights in mathematical epidemiology, computational social...

New paper out! "A Blue Start: A large-scale pairwise and higher-order social network dataset" in collaboration with @cetaceanneeded.bsky.social, Ilya Amburg, @diesagar.bsky.social, and @foucaultwelles.bsky.social. Paper at arxiv.org/abs/2505.11608 and dataset at socialmediaarchive.org/record/78

Remembrances of Masashi Kawasaki Please share your memories here. Add your name to your post if you'd like others to know who you are. TO POST click on the "+" at the bottom of the column, make a title clicking where it says "Title"...

To share your own memories see tinyurl.com/masashikawas...

We are heartbroken to share that our dear colleague, Masashi Kawasaki, passed unexpectedly on Sunday. Masashi was an important member of our community and we will miss him deeply. For more about his life and legacy see bio.as.virginia.edu/masashi-kawa...

#withoutNSF I wouldn't have received the @uvabio.bsky.social NSF EXPAND fellowship, funded through an NSF Research Traineeship grant, that allowed me to pursue new interdisciplinary perspectives in my research.

#GliaPapers #GliaMay2025 RESEARCH

Sushanth Kumar, …, @deppmann.bsky.social sky.social
@uvabio.bsky.social

Characterizing microglial signaling dynamics during inflammation using single-cell mass cytometry
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Yesterday I successfully defended my dissertation! 🥳 Thank you Dr. Filippo Radicchi for your guidance as my advisor over the years, your mentorship has been invaluable!

Next stop, University of Virginia with Dr. Nicholas Landry @nwlandry.bsky.social!

Excited to share that our study identifying a unifying model of species abundance distributions (SADs) has just been published: rdcu.be/ejYKe. We found that the ‘powerbend’— a bent power law — accurately describes SADs across ~30,000 animal, plant, and microbial communities.

Alex in a grey UVA sweatshirt

I am thrilled to announce that I have committed to @uvabio.bsky.social's PhD program for Fall 2025!

I am so grateful for this opportunity to develop my research interests, further my education, and contribute to a vibrant scientific community (now more than ever)! 🧪🌍🔬🦎 #PhDSky

Welcome! We're excited to have you join us!!

Exciting news! Daniel is the newest addition to the Landry Lab! He brings exciting new perspectives and will be an awesome colleague here at @uvabio.bsky.social. Welcome, Daniel!!

Our collaborative team at UVA Biology Department @uvabio.bsky.social including the labs of Chris Deppmann @deppmann.bsky.social and John Campbell are awesome. They all made it fun!

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are transforming the treatment of obesity and diabetes (and more). Our recent pre-print examined next-gen small molecules mimicking GLP-1, using humanized mouse models to uncover how they interact with brain circuits driving food consumption. 1/15