James Pearce

Wasps (and me!) in @thesundaytimes.bsky.social today. Thanks @ben-spencer.bsky.social for championing wasps!

Get involved with #WaspPicnicSurvey and #BigWaspSurvey!
#SummerOfWaspLove
Links below!
@uclcber.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social
@adamhartscience.bsky.social

Incredible what one application of Just For Men can do.

Ps. for those who might have on the fence and considering coming - the scenery, wildlife and snorkelling on your doorstep are incredible

Back from Kolymbari, and had such an amazing time with an incredible community of lepidopterists #lepgencrete. Great to get the opportunity to talk about what we're up to with @gmrc.bsky.social and spread the word about the #galleriamellonella infection model. Can't wait for #lepgen13 in 2028!

a silly #SciArt redraw of the squish that cat meme, but it is a grey stickfigure squishing a mosquito (that looks like a little cat) with the text SQUISH THAT BUG!

You want to collect insects (and maybe other arthropods) for reference genome sequencing, but don't want to spend a fortune on dry ice shipping!

All you gotta do is SQUISH. THAT. BUG!

More details in our recent preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Galleria mellonella workshop in September, Edge Hill University
nc3rs.org.uk/events/galle...

A wax moth larvae (Galleria mellonella) in a plastic petri dish.

Wax moth larvae are growing in use as a partial replacement for rodents, from infection and immunity research to toxicology. The fourth annual Galleria mellonella workshop is organised by Dr Rachel Clare in collaboration with @gmrc.bsky.social

🗓️15 September
👉Register: nc3rs.org.uk/events/galle...

GALLERIA MELLONELLA WORKSHOP 2025 We are very pleased to announce  that the annual Galleria Mellonella Workshop is back for 2025!  This year, the workshop will run for the first time in the north of England - at Edge Hill...

🌟Excited to announce our first speaker for GMW2025

🎤Prof. Khutoryanskiy (www.pevitac.co.uk) will join us with a talk on:

“Galleria mellonella in Toxicology & Antimicrobial Evaluation: A PEVITAC Perspective on Scientific & Commercial Impact”

🐛Info: www.gmrcuk.org/galleria-mellonella-workshop-2025

Galleria bucket hat is a conference essential

The lep meeting is only every three years and i was gutted to miss the 2022 one, so very happy to be here! Enjoy the 2026 trip!

*2018

Yep - the main block where I stayed back in 218 is still out of action but the rooms in the semicircular building is open (and the rooms now have AC)

Orthodox academy of crete knows how to do conference accommodation!

Ready for the 12th international workshop on molecular biology and genetics of Lepidoptera. Kolymbari here we come!

Our hop plant is doing a lot better this year, so looking to surpass last years target of 11 hops contribution to bristol hops collective. Bonus side benefit has been it acting as a little caterpillar farm with some knot grass moth and comma larvae coming along nicely

Our most recent visitor to the LSI had me do a double take, but is instead a closely related species to our very own moth residents! Turns out Aphomia sociella look very similar to Galleria, but with more distinct light and dark markings and a longer and flatter body

The 12th international Workshop on molecular biology and genetics of the Lepidoptera REGISTRATION NOW OPEN We are delighted to invite you to join us at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, set just outside the lovely Cretan village Kolymbari, for a stimulating and enriching event. With 150 ...

For anyone interested, the program is here and looks like a fantastic week - events.gwdg.de/event/880/pa...

Quickly coming up next though is a return to Greece - this time to Crete for the 12th International workshop on Molecular Biology and Genetics of Lepidoptera! Bit of a mouthful to say, but i'll be giving a talk on the mothy things we have going on with #Galleriamellonella at the @gmrc.bsky.social 🐛

Back from holiday, but managed to sneak in a little moth excursion whilst in Athens where I met Bill Kotsinis! He's having a go at larger scale Galleria rearing as host for nematodes at the Agricultural University of Athens. Thanks very much to Prof Ioannis Giannakou and his lab for the hospitality!

And my first visit from a speckled wood butterfly this year, which gives a good reason to keep the grass longer

A beautiful Pyrausta purpuralis female chilling on the catmint. I imagine this means I’ll have plenty of hungry caterpillars to look at in a few weeks too!

Perennial cornflowers have recovered from a bit of transplantation shock and already up and running for the bee buffet 🐝🪻

May in the UK is my absolute favourite time of the year - especially in the West Country. Devon Avon currently top spot for favourite Avon!

Thank you Hodshill near bath for the reminder of what maximum heart rate feels like, and confirming that roadie legs are well and truly gone.

A better plan next time would be to leave bike at home and just visit the Wheatsheaf

Dysdera crocata hiding under a pot of lettuce this morning, one of the few spiders in the UK that are likely to give you a nip!

Excited to see this UAS based enhancer trap working in Galleria embryos!

Love all the fantastic things happening at the Uni - today is the Exeter psychedelics @breakingconvention.bsky.social. Forum busy with exhibitors including #mushroommikey and his wares

Mirror mirror on the wall, who hath the fairest VOCs of them all?

Layers of immunity: Deconstructing the Drosophila effector response The host innate immune response relies on the cooperation of multiple defense modules. In insects and other arthropods, which have only innate immune mechanisms, four main immune-specific modules cont...

Excited to finally announce this work which has been in the pipeline for 5 years: Layers of Immunity.

Faustine et al. made a set of immune mutants covering 4 major immune modules in #Drosophila, deleting melanization (ROS), phagocytosis, and both Toll & Imd NF-kB responses. What did we find?

1/n 🧵

Modelling host–pathogen interactions: Galleria mellonella as a platform to study Pseudomonas aeruginosa response to host-imposed zinc starvation. Published as part of the Pseudomonas collection in #MicrobioJ: buff.ly/3CvQ25V