MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory

Interested audience at our Friday seminar today
@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
featuring Manuel Irimia @mirimiam.bsky.social
talking about the evolutionary landscapes of the zygotic activation in animals.

Join us Friday for the second DSSS talk this week where we are hosting Dr. Manuel Irimia from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). Everyone welcome!

▶️More info: tinyurl.com/yc5x4ks8
📆: Friday 31st October at 3pm
📍: MPI IS seminar room IS N0.002 (ground floor)
#DSSS
@mirimiam.bsky.social

1/2 Want to become up to date with pangenomes and genome graphs and their history? Check out this fantastic review by @zbao.bsky.social!

Complexity welcome: Pangenome graphs for comprehensive population genomics
#pangenomes #plantscience #genomegraphs
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Selection and transmission of the gut microbiome alone can shift mammalian behavior Nature Communications - Here, the authors present evidence that the gut microbiome alone, without changes in the host genome, can shape how animals respond to selection, identifying a bacterium and...

We selected the laziest mouse at each round to inoculate the next batch of germfree mice: over rounds of selection and passaging, behavior shifted without changes to the mouse genome: rdcu.be/eM3rO
🦠🧫

Europe's cutting-edge research as a driver of innovation According to a recent study by the European Patent Office, the Max Planck Society ranks second – just behind the Fraunhofer Society and ahead of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The study highlights...

Excellence in #science drives #innovation! We are ranking among the top ten European research institutions with the highest number of #patent applications ✨🤩 The Fraunhofer Society is 3rd place, the Max Planck Society 7th place, and the German Aerospace Centre 10th place. mpg.de/25586100/europ…

Fruit flies are more than pests! Humans share 60% of their genome with them. @luisapallares.bsky.social busts myths about how these tiny creatures can tell us about human diseases. Watch Luisa's full video here: www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/71433/videos #BiologyMyths #Drosophila #Genomics

Join us next Tuesday for the next DSSS seminar where we are delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Diethard Tautz from MPI for Evolutionary Biology in Plön. Everyone is welcome!

▶️More info: tinyurl.com/5dkkadz3
📆: Tuesday 28th October at 11am
📍: MPI BIO seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS #MPI-BIO

It was great to host you Corrie and we had a full house in the audience for your fascinating talk

Corrie Moreau and Hassan Salam at the Max Planck Institut fur Biologie Tubingen

Tubingen city

Corrie Moreau, Aileen Berasategui, and Hassan Salam in Tubingen, Germany

Had a fantastic visit to the ‪Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen @maxplanckcampus.bsky.social Super thanks to @hassansalem.bsky.social and @berasymbionts.bsky.social for hosting me and showing me the town! Fun to talk symbiosis science with such superstars 🤩

🧪 Looking for candidates with experience in stem cell culture, quantitative image analysis, or modeling — and eager to learn!
📩 Interested? Contact us!

Our Pyrodictium cannulae paper is out in its final form! Cannulae assemble into calcium-stabilized tubular filaments stable at 100 °C—a unique archaeal cell–cell connection. Led brilliantly by @mikesleutel.bsky.social & @vinceconticello.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64120-8

Come along next Monday for the next seminar in the Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series by Dr. Corrie Moreau from Cornell University for her talk on turtle ants. Everyone is welcome!

▶️More info: tinyurl.com/yc4vdbj2
📆: Monday 20th October at 3pm
📍: MPI BIO seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS #MPI-BIO

Saturating the eQTL map in Drosophila: Genome-wide patterns of cis and trans regulation of transcriptional variation in outbred populations Pallares et al. collect over a thousand RNA-seq and DNA samples from Drosophila melanogaster flies to investigate the genetic basis of gene expression variation. They find eQTLs for 98% of the genes a...

We have put together a comprehensive eQTL map for D. melanogaster using thousands of genetically diverse flies 🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰 We hope this helps -as similar resources have done in yeast and humans- to understand how genetic variation 🧬 regulates complex traits variation 🪰 via transcriptional regulation ⬆️⬇️

Collage of 4 mushroom pictures that look like Polaroids.

News for mushroom lovers: With the Flora Incognita app, you can now identify numerous #mushroom species in Central Europe based on images. These results can give you a good initial indication of what you have found 🍄 😱https://floraincognita.com

Patrick Cramer speaking at the Max Planck Group leader meeting in São Paulo

Two people presenting in front of a full auditorium

A person presenting in front of a screen, which reads: From Past to Future: Lessons from Successful Collaborations

A group image.

Meeting our Max Planck group leaders and young researchers in São Paulo was a highlight of my Latin America trip. Their talent and commitment show how collaboration across borders strengthens science — and the global community that depends on it. 📸 Ricson Onodera

But beware: **An app determination is never approval to eat the mushroom!**

Max Planck Postdoc Program Launching in April 2025, the Max Planck Postdoc Program features structured application calls and a comprehensive support system for researchers.

Looking to do a postdoc? Explore this fantastic opportunity to do a postdoc at a Max Planck institute. Applications for this program are due by October 13, 2025.

hashtag#maxplancksociety hashtag#postdoc
www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...

Thinking about a postdoc in microbiome science?
Our lab at the MPI for Biology (Tübingen) builds on the culture I established at Cornell: collaborative, creative, and internationally diverse. Postdocs lead their own projects with secure funding. Join us!
#PostdocJobs #HostMicrobe #AcademicJobs

Come along this Friday for the next Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk to be delivered by Prof. Nick Talbot from The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich. Everyone is welcome!

▶️More info: tinyurl.com/xnanannn
📆: Friday 10th October at 3pm
📍: MPI-IS seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS #MPI-IS

Thrilled to share what we learned from re-annotating the mobilome of the brown algae model [Ectocarpus] 🌊🌿🏖️

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

A wonderful collaboration with @ericadinatale.bsky.social, @cssmartinho.bsky.social, @rorycraig.bsky.social, and Susana Coelho! 🎉

Latent endogenous viral elements drive active infection and inheritance in a multicellular host Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) inserted in host genomes are often regarded as inert relics of past infections. Whether they can retain infective potential and contribute to active viral cycles has r...

Excited to share our new preprint on giant virus infection in brown algae: Latent endogenous viral elements drive active infection and inheritance in a multicellular host
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Wie haben Algen Sex? – Podcast über kuriose Algenfortpflanzung Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

International Podcast Day
Curious about algae sex? For #InternationalPodcast Day Dr. Susana Coelho explains in our #wissenspodcast episode 🎧 twtr.to/4tbQv. Plus, read about her latest research on asexual brown algae 📰 twtr.to/8ynOj. #BiologyPodcast #Nature #reproduction

Meet the next guest in our #WeAreMPIBio #WeAreFML portrait series: Dr. Prince Marowa, senior lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe who joined our African Plant Genomics Group in the month of September as part of the Horned Melon Genomics and Breeding Project. Read more tinyurl.com/5n6henhx

📢 Are you interested in plant genomics?
📢 Will you be in Zimbabwe this November?
🫵Apply to attend the #ARTEMIS Bridging Minds Workshop at the University of Zimbabwe.
Our fantastic PhD researcher, @catarinalino.bsky.social, will be leading the workshop.
#africanplantgenomics #plantgenomics

Busting myths with @jweir.bsky.social. Did you know you don't inherit exactly 1/4 of your DNA from each grandparent? Or that fertility issues can affect young people, too? Find out more: www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/71433/videos #BiologyMyths

The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

Hassan Salem will be co-hosting the EMBL/EMBO Symposium “The Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis: Sensing Friend from Foe” from 17–20 March 2026 in Heidelberg next year. Registration and abstract submission will open next month! For more info: tinyurl.com/bdhyv3ht

Meet Georgios Tsissios from the FML! For #PostdocAppreciationWeek, we're celebrating his research on wound healing & tissue regeneration, which is turning the sci-fi dream of scar-free regeneration capacities in humans into a reality. #WeAreFML #PostdocAppreciationWeek #WeAreMPIBio

Why do prey "play dead" when caught? Our new study reveals how the #nematode C. elegans goes into a sleep-like state when caught by a predatory fungus. It's not giving up—it's activating specific neurons to "freeze."
Full story: s.gwdg.de/NYkHdO
#maxplanck #fungalbiology #fungalwormlab #nematology

Massive congratulations to @canaztekin.bsky.social for being awarded an ERC Starting Grant @erc.europa.eu ! 🎉 His "Signal to Regeneration" (SigReg) project will explore the potential of limb regeneration in mammals.

Read more and watch Can introduce his project: s.gwdg.de/cLAmJE

🪱🍄 The secret to predatory escape lies in collagen. A new study how a single nematode gene nhr-66 resist fungal traps thanks to Velcro-like abilities, but the trade-off is their weakened cuticles making them vulnerable to rainfall. For more: s.gwdg.de/VJySw4
#Nematodes #FungalBiology #MaxPlanck