Samuel Vanden Abeele

🎉 Happy 10th Birthday to BopCo! 🎉
November 2025 marks 10 years of BopCo, the Belspo funded DNA Identification Service at RBINS & RMCA — and what a journey it’s been!

🐟 Fast DNA testing to protect the future of European eels

The lucrative trade of glass eels continues to raise serious concerns across Europe. While the European eel is critically endangered and protected under CITES regulations, illegal trafficking persists due to high demand, especially in Asia.

New NeoBiota special issue explores invasions in aquatic systems Following the 2024 NEOBIOTA conference on biological invasions, a new special issue of NeoBiota has been released, exploring invasions in aquatic systems.

We have published a new special issue on invasions in aquatic systems, which stemmed from @neobiota.bsky.social's 2024 conference in Lisbon. 🌊🇵🇹

🔗 Read all about it on the @pensoft.net blog: blog.pensoft.net/2025/10/10/n...

One week to apply before reviews start for the postdoc I am offering investigating the tempo and pattern of river connections with the closure of the isthmus of Panama and its impact on river plant (Podostemaceae) migration. Genomic+fossil+geological data + fieldwork 👇

Bioinformatician, NERC Museum Pollinator Genomics:South Kensington

Natural History Museum, London, seeks a Bioinformatician for its Insect Pollinator Genomics Project. Position details: https://jobs.nhm.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=431. Required skills include bioinformatics and genomics. #postdoc

🧬Join the Genomics for Biodiversity Conference!

🗓️ 29–31 October 2025 #savethedate
💻 Fully online & free of charge!

More info - including the #opencall for abstracts:
➡️ biodiversitygenomics.eu/2025/08/07/g...

#GenomicsforBiodiversity #conference #BGE @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social

Snowy Owl_by Patrick Danforth Photography [CC BY 4.0]

Barn Owl_by Karen Arnold [Public Domain]

Falco peregrinus - by Avia Venefica_Flickr [CC BY 2.0]

Belgium is home to several breeders of CITES-listed birds such as parrots and birds of prey. Some of these species are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, which has led to illegal practices in the past, such as the collection and raising of eggs or chicks taken from the wild.

🧵👇

Congrats Jesús! Enjoy the new position

🌞 Feeling the summer heat? Step into the frozen world of science with us, at -80°C! ❄️

Did you know that both the AfricaMuseum and @naturalsciences-be.bsky.social house massive tissue collections stored at -80°C for molecular research?

The Delmore lab at Columbia University is offering a fully funded postdoctoral position in Ecology and Environmental Biology, focusing on behavioral and speciation genomics. Apply by emailing a cover letter and CV to ked2195@columbia.edu. More info at: delmorelab.com #postdoc

🔬🧬🍄 @science.org Distribution of haploid chromosomes into separate nuclei in two pathogenic fungi | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@ubcbotany.bsky.social
#fungi #fungisky #mycology #genetics #chromosome #nucleus #DNA #evolution #genome #biodiversity

Piece of wood from port of Antwerp (c) RBINS

Close up wood from port of Antwerp (c) RBINS

🚢 In January 2024, BopCo received damaged wood from the “Berendrechtsluis” in the port of Antwerp. The wood was riddled with tiny holes and tubes — a telltale sign of possible shipworm activity.

Check out our new paper led by the amazing @benkuhnhaeuser.bsky.social in @science.org, exploring how the extraordinary diversity of Asian rattan palms was assembled 🌴

Last 3 days to apply for the #CETAF E-SCoRe Award!
🏃🏃‍♂️ HURRY UP!

🌿 for #natural collections based #researches
👩‍🔬 for PhD #students
💶 prize of 1.000 € + 1.500 € for research trip

Check this page out 👇
cetaf.org/template-act...

#taxonomy #biodiversity #phd #opportunity

Cambridge University Library and University of Leeds - Collections Connections Communities

🚨2025 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
First up:
The Hidden Gender of Collections: Women and the Curation of Scientific Heritage
@universityofleeds.bsky.social and
@theul.bsky.social

📅: 30 April 2025
🪶: cc-ee@fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

Apply here👇
www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/...
#GLAM

PhD on offer at Kew: Plants and their Products: Biocultural collections at Kew Gardens & the South Kensington Museum during the long nineteenth century

If only I could apply! Fascinating mutual interests of Kew and the V&A in plants. Closes 16 May

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-her...

3-y postdoc position in (meta)Genomics of Population Declines elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid.... If you have experience with low-coverage genomic data, care about biodiversity loss, want to understand host-microbiomes interactions, this post is for you! #museomics #ancientDNA #mammals

Employment | New York Botanical Garden Find out what employment opportunities are available at The New York Botanical Garden.

Come work with us! The New York Botanical Garden is hiring a Curator at the Assist. or Associate level. Profile: a productive and FUN Mycologist or Cryptogamic Botanist. Happy to talk to candidates about how wonderful one of the best botanical research centers is, easy.
www.nybg.org/about/work-w...

Long-read sequencing and genome assembly of natural history collection samples and challenging specimens - Genome Biology Museum collections harbor millions of samples, largely unutilized for long-read sequencing. Here, we use ethanol-preserved samples containing kilobase-sized DNA to show that amplification-free protoco...

#LIBresearch Museum collections are gems for genomic research! We refined amplification-free long-read DNA sequencing, which led to the assembly of new genomes and moved us closer to reference genomes for all eukaryotes! #Genomics #Biodiversity Read more: doi.org/10.1186/s130...

Just extended the deadline to March 21 for this position in the Plant Phylogenomics group at the University of Vienna. It is sort of a "post doc plus" position funded for up to six years.

Please reach out if you want to chat - I'd love to talk to you about it!

jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

3-Year PhD position @Uni Mainz (Germany) with @crltt.bsky.social, S. Foitzik, and me

#Neurobiology #genomics #transcriptomics to investigate the olfactory system of ants from genes to neurons

Information: seafile.rlp.net/f/5df9298781...

We still have a postdoc position available for this project.

🦑🧪 Three days left to apply for the postdoctoral position in my lab. We're looking for a population geneticist/ecologist/evolutionary biologist who is interested in studying tiny fishes in the Indo-Pacific! Come join us! 🤗

fishandfunctions.com/s/Postdoc_Ad...

This month’s cover image is of a diverse display of tropical plant species under ex situ cultivation in the glasshouses at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, UK.

Great to see our paper on the front cover @natureecoevo.bsky.social, with the tropical displays in our glasshouse range!

With thanks to all 50+ co-authors.

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

Nice editorial on the issues facing a variety of ex situ plant collection.

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

Opportunities - Collections Connections Communities

Applications open for the new round of Participatory Research fund! NEW & IMPROVED!
Check the Further Particulars and Apply via our website.
Email us for any questions, and spread the word!
www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/opportunities/
@jillwhitelock.bsky.social @docbroc.bsky.social @nealspencer.bsky.social

looking to find folks who have current access to identified specimens (can be live or dead and well preserved) of many mosquito species. there are 3500ish described Culidae out there - anyone know anyone who might have specimens from 50+ species? please get in touch if so!

🚇 New Research Uncovers the Ancient Origins of the "London Underground Mosquito"

🦟 Culex pipiens - a.k.a. the common house mosquito or northern house mosquito - is one of the most common mosquitoes found in human habitats across the temperate regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

🧵👇

📣 What is the importance of wildlife surveillance? What is the role of AI in advancing One Health? How should biological invasions be managed within the One Health concept? These and other related topics were discussed at the Belgian One Health event in Brussels last week.

🧵👇

Biologists Unveil New Taxonomic System Classifying Species By Hotness

Biologists Unveil New Taxonomic System Classifying Species By Hotness
theonion.com/biologi...

Anopheles mosquitoes reveal new principles of 3D genome organization in insects - Nature Communications Anopheles mosquitoes are vectors of human malaria, and better understanding of them has implications for public health. Here, the authors apply Hi-C, FISH, RNA-seq, and ChIP-seq techniques to comprehe...

#Mosquito #genome chromatin architecture #evolution - extremely long-ranged looping interactions, conserved for ~100 million years www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🌿 Introducing #OneSTOP 🎉

A new EU-funded project to strengthen European #biosecurity by addressing terrestrial invasive alien species.
We're breaking silos, fostering collaboration, and engaging communities to protect biodiversity.

Stay tuned for updates on our mission!

📸 Mario Shimbov