Pooja Swali

What an incredible resource for those starting out in ancient DNA! Thanks once again @oskolkov.bsky.social for being our first #AaRCademy speaker

Insights into infectious diseases through ancient pathogen genomics Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 17 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01259-7In this Review, Kocher, Krause and Spyrou explore how ancient pathogen genomics is providing new perspectives on the history and evolution of infectious agents. They show how ancient DNA has revealed the aetiology and unfolding of historic outbreaks, pathogen evolutionary timescales, patterns of dissemination and functional evolution, and discuss existing limitations and perspectives of the field.

New online! Insights into infectious diseases through ancient pathogen genomics

Historical genomics of the declining red squirrel in Britain | Aries Dr Anders Bergström, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia Professor Cock van Oosterhout, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Dr Selina Brace…

A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

Applications are now open for the NERC TREES DLA 2026 PhD cohort. If you’re interested in conducting high-impact research in environmental science via an advertised or self-proposed project please take a look: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/news/applica.... #PhDprogramme #PhD #genomics #evolution

Wonderful and engaging talk by
@lucyvandorp.bsky.social
who was invited to speak on the drivers of pathogen evolution using ancient DNA at the Ancient Genomes: Perspectives on Human Biology and Medicine meeting
@gensocuk.bsky.social
🧬🦠

Great to have Priya Moorjani visit UGI and give a talk on inferring Neanderthal ancestry in ancient individuals, and to share a bit about her work on Indian genetics, including insights into the evolution of lactase persistence.

Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...

How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?

Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.

🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515

Dr. Hrushikesh Loya presenting Ghostbusters

Great to have Dr Hrushikesh Loya give a fantastic talk on his tool Ghostbusters: A Genome-Wide Genealogical Approach to Uncovering Hidden Admixture Events in Human Evolution 👻

A scientist (Tim Urich) hammering a core into the permafrost in the Arctic, while in the background, the cores are being sampled.

Fantastic reporting by @kakape.bsky.social on @scs22.bsky.social's work in the Arctic looking for sequenceable ancient RNA viruses. Amazing pictures (including this gem), and as always great story telling and commentary on the topic. Excited to see what they find. www.science.org/content/arti...

Ancient genomic insights into Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C in Central Mexico Salmonella enterica is a widespread pathogen of major global health relevance, with over 2,500 serovars classified into non-typhoidal and typhoidal groups. Within the typhoidal group, S. enterica Para...

Thrilled to share our preprint where we propose that S. enterica Paratyphi C entered Mexico via European conquest and then diversified locally. More evidence is needed to assert whether or not it caused Cocoliztli (a major contact-period epidemic). Comments welcome!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolutionary history and recurrent host adaptation in ancient Salmonella enterica Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica is an extremely diverse bacterial pathogen causing frequent infections and foodborne disease among human populations. More than 1500 different bacterial strains (se...

🦠💀🦠 Happy to share our (with @gunnar-u-neumann.bsky.social) new preprint on ancient Salmonella enterica genomes! We analysed 53 new genomes along with published ancient and modern datasets to learn about lineage replacements and host adaptation in prehistory: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Almost 10 years after my masters here, I finally get a chance to talk at @lshtm.bsky.social for CEE's autumn symposium 🍁🧬🦠

Postdoctoral position in Population Genomics - Uppsala University Postdoctoral position in Population Genomics, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University

I have funding for a 2-year dry-lab postdoc to join our team @humanevouu.bsky.social 🧪 (Deadline Oct 21st)

The project will utilize modern and #aDNA data from humans and sheep to study environmental adaptation (including method development and simulations).

Please share!
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Very excited to receive an ERC Starting Grant to study the earliest archaeological and biomolecular evidence of Homo sapiens in NW Europe

Watch this space for new positions in Bristol in 2026! 🎉

#HorizonEurope #ERCStG

Check out our latest paper, a huge effort led by @benjaminguinet.bsky.social and @tvdvalk.bsky.social 🦣🔍🦠

Paper: www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Centre for Ecology & Evolution autumn symposium & mixer | LSHTM The CEE Autumn Symposium & Mixer brings together London's vibrant ecology and evolution research community. This is an excellent opportunity to hear cutting-edge research presentations, mainly by PhD

Centre for Ecology & Evolution autumn symposium & mixer www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/e...

Come join us!! A very exciting project with a wonderful team!! 🤩🧬

New preprint on the early evolution of BA.2.86

If you like generating genomic data from unusual medical samples, past and contemporary epidemiology and advancing methods in phylo/population genetics please get in touch.

Group website: www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbpvan/

Closing date Sept 25th 2025.

#aDNA #microbialgenomics #ISBA #popgen #UCL

UCL – University College London UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

Excited to say we’re hiring 😊. We’re looking for a post-doc in ancient pathogen genomics to join our friendly supportive team in London at @ugiatucl.bsky.social. Start date January 2026.

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

An ancient influenza genome from Switzerland allows deeper insights into host adaptation during the 1918 flu pandemic in Europe - BMC Biology Background From 1918 to 1920, the largest influenza A virus (IAV) pandemic known to date spread globally causing between 20 to 100 million deaths. Historical records have captured critical aspects of ...

We were part of another viral aRNA study that was just published. In this work spearheaded by Christian Urban in the lab of Verena Schuenemann, a new protocol was assessed (good for short fragments) and a seventh 1918 flu genome was completely sequenced

bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

📣 Work with us! 📣

The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge is looking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology.

📅 Closing date: 15 September
👉 More info and how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

I am starting a computational lab at LIOS, Riga, Latvia, and going to recruit a few people. Please DM if you are interested in a postdoc or PhD position in my Metabolic Research Group within the TARGETWISE project. I can highly recommend Riga, it is a beautiful city with very good living conditions.

New review paper led by @nancybird1.bsky.social which unpacks the complexities of genetic ancestry and examines what genetic data can and cannot tell us 🧬 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks to @gregerlarson.bsky.social for a fabulous talk 'Hunting the Earliest Dogs' which rounded up this academic year's UGI seminar series. It was great to have Greger visit us @ucl.ac.uk.

The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia - Nature Screening shotgun-sequencing data from ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history uncovers the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA and zoonotic pathogens coi...

A big advance today in the infectious disease history of Eurasia: Sikora et al., "The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia," www.nature.com/articles/s41.... #histmed #aDNA 🧪🗃️

✨🧬 Sharing our UCL Genetics Institute starter pack of researchers, friends and alumni past and present 🧬 ✨

#UGISKY
(DM us to be added)

go.bsky.app/Gw1NqRa

Had a chance to present my research on Cameroonian genetic history last Thursday at the conference 'From Genes to Nationhood' in Yaoundé, organised with the Cameroonian ministry for Youth Affairs and Civil Education!

Thank you again for coming and the wonderful talk!!

We welcomed @kguschan.bsky.social to @ucl.ac.uk for our UGI Seminar Series. A fantastic talk spanning primate population histories, mito-nuclear interactions, temporal microbiomes, and antimicrobial resistance.

Thank you for coming and for the wonderful talk!! Promise technology will be on our side next time you visit