Michael Gerth

Two fully funded #PhD positions on insect #Symbiosis available in our lab: Spiroplasma in Neotropical Arthropods (tinyurl.com/spiroplasma) & Psyllid symbionts (tinyurl.com/psyllids).
Please contact me for any questions & share widely #symbiosky #academicjobs

A blue poster describing opportunities to join the Bernhardt Lab -- for more information please see https://www.bernhardtlab.org/join-us

✨ The Bernhardt Lab at the University of Guelph is recruiting graduate students for 2026! Join us! We have several fully funded grad positions available ✨

Please spread the word!

www.bernhardtlab.org/join-us

#CSEE2025

Tenured Professorship „Plant Ecology“ (W2 salary) - Halle (Saale) job with Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg | 12841002 The professorship (successor of Prof. Dr. Isabell Hensen) will play a central role in advancing collaborative research in the field of biodiversity

Awsome job opportunity for a plant ecologist at University of Halle, with many amazing colleagues nearby at @unihalle.bsky.social, @ufz.de and @idiv-research.bsky.social. Halle is a very cool city. Go for it! www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Within-host competition causes pathogen molecular evolution and perpetual microbiota dysbiosis Abstract. Pathogens newly invading a host must compete with resident microbiota. This within-host microbial warfare could lead to more severe disease outco

I'm very pleased to share the latest paper from my post doc with @kayla-king.bsky.social. We looked at how host microbiota can influence pathogen virulence evolution in a C. elegans model of infection: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Microbe with bizarrely tiny genome may be evolving into a virus With DNA focused almost entirely on replication, newly discovered organism blurs the line between cells and viruses

𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝘂𝘀
or maybe not. a 🧵

roland @environmicrobio.bsky.social‬ ‪and Krzysztof @ktjurdzinski.bsky.social‬ already commented, please also read their posts.
www.science.org/content/arti...
#MicroSky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky

Superspreaders have lower gut microbial alpha-diversity and distinct gut microbial composition in a natural rodent population - Animal Microbiome The microbiome is well known to drive variation in host states (e.g. behaviour, immunity) that would be expected to modulate the spread of infectious disease—but the role of microbiotal interactions i...

Our new paper, just out “Superspreaders have lower gut microbial alpha-diversity and distinct gut microbial composition in a natural rodent population”.

Highlights gut microbial signatures for those individuals that have the potential to spread the most infectious disease.

doi.org/10.1186/s425...

Nigel Groome Studentship: Using Museomics to Investigate the Disappearance of the Mazarine Blue and Large Copper Butterflies in the UK at Oxford Brookes University Explore a Nigel Groome Studentship: Using Museomics to Investigate the Disappearance of the Mazarine Blue and Large Copper Butterflies in the UK on jobs.ac.uk. Discover more PhD opportunities and appl...

We have fully funded PhD studentship available for a genomic analysis of the demise of the Mazarine Blue & Large Copper 🦋 in the UK. Interested in conservation genomics, extinction, 🦋, bioinformatics? If so, this might be the PhD for you! Full details: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DML401/n...

I’m recruiting a PhD student in macrogenetics at Dalhousie University 🇨🇦! Focus will be on the biogeography of vertebrate genetic diversity or urban evolutionary ecology.
Full ad: www.schmidt-biodiversity-lab.org/macrogenetic...
If the ad is up, applications are still open.
Please share widely! 🧬🧬

Striving for Gender Equity in Academia Insights from the iDiv Female Scientists Initiative

Our article is out. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Improving gender equity in academia depends on the workplace environment.
www.idiv.de/striving-for...
The Female Scientists initiative at iDiv is connecting women in science. We learned so much from each other and our community along the way.

Evolution of Wolbachia male-killing mechanism within a host species Male-killing bacterial symbionts, prevalent in arthropods, skew population sex ratios by selectively killing male progeny, profoundly impacting ecolog…

@haraipapilio.bsky.social paper on evolution of Wolbachia MK mechanism through prophage acquisition in molina butterflies - avoiding suppression by the host. Now out! #symbiosky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... With @daisukekageyama.bsky.social @bolinabug.bsky.social and others

Blue sky over the iDiv core centre in Leipzig. Photo: S. Bernhardt

The sky’s the limit for biodiversity research! 🌳☀️ Join iDiv on Bluesky and stay informed about new research, upcoming events, and #iDiv initiatives, including sDiv, the #InsideBiodiversity podcast, and the yDiv Graduate School.

Nigel Groome Studentship: Gene Regulatory Networks Driving Male-Female Genital Co-evolution at Oxford Brookes University Explore a Nigel Groome Studentship: Gene Regulatory Networks Driving Male-Female Genital Co-evolution. Apply today and discover more PhD opportunities at jobs.ac.uk.

PhD Opportunity: Last few days to apply to join my lab to explore the co-evolution of male and female genitalia in Drosophila. Feel free to DM me for more details! 🧬🐝 #PhDposition #EvolutionBiology #Genetics tinyurl.com/PhD-Drosophila

A phylogenetic approach to comparative genomics Nature Reviews Genetics - Controlling for phylogeny is essential in comparative genomics studies, because species, genomes and genes are not independent data points within statistical tests. The...

Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2

We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets.

These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit.

@lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social

Two #postdoc positions available in my lab. Position 1 focusses on #phytoplasma transmission via #insects. Position 2 aims to investigate the dynamics of #symbiont #evolution in #psyllids in collaboration with @mgerth.bsky.social, Martin Kaltenpoth and Liliya Serbina. Please share.

BBSRC NWD: On the edges of symbiosis: how insect symbionts evolve in newly established interactions at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - BBSRC NWD: On the edges of symbiosis: how insect symbionts evolve in newly established interactions at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com

BBSRC funded PhD - evolution in the early stages of symbiosis, using Arsenophonus as model. tinyurl.com/Edgeofsymbio.... Apply by 30/01/2025. Available for UK and International students. With @brockhurstlab.bsky.social and @acdarby.bsky.social. #symbiosky

Developmental evolution in fast-forward: insect male genital diversification Insect male genitalia are among the fastest evolving structures of animals. Studying these changes among closely related species represents a powerful approach to dissect developmental processes and g...

New review on the evolution of insect male terminalia I wrote with Daniela Nunes: www.cell.com/trends/genet...

I made ,some time ago, a starter pack for Microbial #Symbiosis. I'm 100% sure it's incomplete, but short on time lately... You can reply and suggest prople/feeds/etc to add!

#MicroSky #SymbioSky

go.bsky.app/T8VUWCz

What happens to the #genome of #bacteria as their association with the host becomes ever more intimate?🧪🦠

A lot: Expansion, pseudogenization and shrinkage, driven by reduction of phage pressure

New by Stefanos Siozios, Greg Hurst &co
#evolution #genomics #microbiology

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Wolbachia in Antarctic terrestrial invertebrates: Absent or undiscovered? Endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia are recognized for their role in influencing host survival and stress resistance, particularly in cold environmental conditions across various species. However, our a....

In our new study “Wolbachia in Antarctic terrestrial invertebrates: Absent or undiscovered?” doi.org/10.1111/1758... we summarise the diversity of terrestrial #invertebrates and discuss why #Wolbachia - the common #endosymbiont of invertebrates was not found in #Antarctica.

Text: Chloé Schmidt, 2024 Society for the Study of Evolution Dobzhansky Prize. Headshot of Chloé Schmidt.

Congratulations to our Dobzhansky Prize recipient, Chloé Schmidt! Dr. Schmidt will give the joint Dobzhansky Prize/ASN Early Career Investigator Award talk at #Evol2024 on Sunday at 2:30 PM EDT. shorturl.at/D6P1C @chloology.bsky.social

Several positions opening in my lab and the Centre for Functional Genomics at Oxford Brookes:
- 2 PhD positions via the Oxford Bioscience DTP
- a fully funded PhD in my lab, co-supervised by Darren Williams, KCL
- a research tech position (0.5 FTE) to help tagging Drosophila transcription factors

Journal cover depicting a nighttime forest scene

Excited to have done a cover illustration for the November issue of Trends in Genetics, related to our article about conservation macrogenetics! Made in inkscape.