Lilian Caesar

With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵

A screen shot of the PDF of the Research Article, Dynamic reciprocal morphological changes in insect hosts and bacterial symbionts, published by Anthony D. Junker, Jason Z. Chen, James G. DuBose and Nicole M. Gerardo in the Journal of Experimental Biology Special Issue: The Integrative Biology of the Gut. The publishing information states, '© 2025. Published by The Company of Biologists | Journal of Experimental Biology (2025) 228, jeb249474. doi:10.1242/jeb.249474'. The first line of the Abstract reads: Symbiotic interactions, central to most life on Earth, are interwoven associations that vary in intimacy and duration'.

In their SI research article, Anthony Junker & co reveal the changes in cellular morphologies undergone by the squash bug (Anasa tristis) & behavioural changes in their symbionts (Caballeronia zhejiangensis) when establishing their symbiotic relationship

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Diversification of social complexity following a major evolutionary transition in bees Peled et al. develop a data-driven approach to study social phenotypes and their evolution in bees. They analyze 17 traits for 80 species and find that only the corbiculate bees overcame biological ba...

Diversification of social complexity following a major evolutionary transition in bees: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Microbial Databases, Software Tools, and Web Services Publish your microbial database or software tool in MRA to gain recognition, citations, and community trust.

Excited to share our new call for papers at @asm.org's MRA journal. Do you have a database, software, or web-based tool that would be a great resource for the micro community? Consider submitting it to MRA! journals.asm.org/journal/mra/...

graphical abstract of the article the extended mobility of plasmids

Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome.

See thread for more information and reach out!

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate Plasmids are autonomously replicating DNA molecules that stably coexist with chromosomes in bacterial cells. These genetic elements drive horizontal gene transfer and play a fundamental role in bacter...

New paper alert! 🚨

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate.

We combine theory, simulations, experimental evolution, and bioinformatics to demonstrate that mutation rates scale with plasmid copy number.

Let's dive in! 🧵👇

I am seeking a postdoc for my group at UCLA. We work at the intersection of population genetics x microbiome (garud.eeb.ucla.edu). If interested, please message me!

Looks super cool and timely—can’t wait to read!

We (with Clement Coclet, not on Bsky) had the chance to work on a broad "state of viromics" review. We tried to use this to give an overview of how the field changed over the last ~ 15 years, and also what we think are some of the major remaining challenges. Full-text access at -> rdcu.be/excHt

A periodic table of bacteria?: Mapping bacterial diversity in trait space Bacterial diversity can be overwhelming. There is an ever-expanding number of bacterial taxa being discovered, but many of these taxa remain uncharacterized with unknown traits and environmental prefe...

New pre-print from my group - project led by PhD student Michael Hoffert. We set out on a daunting mission to generate a 'periodic table' of bacterial diversity (1/6) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Junior, Assistant, or Associate Specialist – Xue Lab University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!

The Xue lab at UC Irvine is looking for a staff scientist to support our work investigating how microbes interact and evolve in the gut microbiome! Open to a wide range of previous experience levels, see ad for more.
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601

POSTDOC🚨
With the excellent @anshika22.bsky.social moving to UCI 🥲Anna Zemke and I are again recruiting a postdoc on the HOST-PATHOGEN BIOLOGY of TRACHEOBRONCHITIS. This is a microbiome-device-host immunity problem of broad significance.

Contact Dr. Zemke (zemkea at upmc dot edu) if interested! 👇🏻

How may theoretical ecology & evolutionary theory push microbiology forward?
At Environmental Microbiology, I am commissioning a series of Perspectives exploring that question. Excited to share them in the 🧵 below
The series is open, so do get in touch if you'd like to propose a new contribution!

When is microbial cross-feeding evolutionarily stable? Cross-feeding, a phenomenon in which organisms share metabolites, is frequently observed in microbial communities across the natural world. One of the most common forms is waste-product cross-feeding,...

When is microbial cross-feeding evolutionarily stable?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Shifts in bee diet breadths are associated with gene gains and losses and positive selection across olfactory receptors Abstract. Bees are palynivorous insects that vary widely in the number of plant families from which they collect pollen. Their evolutionary history has bee

🧬 Shift between specialized & generalized diets in #bees is associated with evolutionary changes in their sensory genes. Generalists lose odorant receptors (ORs) and gain gustatory receptors (GRs), while specialists diversify existing genes 🌸🐝 #genomics #pollinators
academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Functional replacement of ancestral antibacterial secretion system in a bacterial plant pathogen Nature Ecology & Evolution - The bacterial plant pathogen genus Xanthomonas uses two distinct secretion systems for antibacterial competition. Here the authors show that some Xanthomonas...

Very happy to announce our paper @natecoevo.nature.com on the functional replacement of ancestral antibacterial secretion system ( #T4SS #T6SS ) in a bacterial plant pathogen ( #Xanthomonas ). Enjoy reading! rdcu.be/euNrM
Special thanks to @costprogramme.bsky.social !

Sunday lunch: Brazilian adult formula :)

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

There is one month left to apply for our Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution! These awards provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in #ecology and #evolution. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons... #science

The deadline for the @asm.org Microbiome Data Prize is tomorrow! Apply or nominate a colleague before it's too late. This award recognizes microbiome researchers with distinguished efforts in open science, data management, and data standards asm.org/academy/asm-... 🧪

We had a last minute cancellation for STAMPS -- a phenomenal course on microbiome data analysis. Woods Hole, MA, July 14-24 2025.

If you or *anyone* you know is interested to attend, please email Titus &/or me... and we'll do what we can!!!

Thx for sharing widely! 🤞❤️

Check out Laura's thread on our latest preprint demonstrating best methods for low biomass skin sampling.

Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies - Nature Microbiology In this Consensus Statement, the authors outline strategies for processing, analysing and interpreting low-biomass microbiome samples, and provide recommendations to minimize contaminants.

New Consensus Statement in Nature Microbiology!
Working with low-biomass microbiome samples? From deep subsurface rocks to human lungs, contamination is a major challenge. We offer field-to-data analysis guidelines to help keep your results clean.
📖 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Organic colony management practices are profitable for backyard beekeepers Abstract. Management practice decisions are critical for maintaining honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colony health, and the profitability of beekeeping opera

🐝 New research shows that an organic bee management system is profitable in small-scale stationary operations. 📉 Chemical-free = economic losses. 📈 Organic = highest honey & bee production. Mite control = key to success!
#Beekeeping #OrganicFarming #HoneyBees

academic.oup.com/jee/advance-...

Evolutionary trends in Bombella apis CRISPR-Cas systems | mSystems Honey bee worker gut microbes have been implicated in everything from protection from pathogens to breakdown of complex polysaccharides in the diet. However, there are multiple niches within a honey b...

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Check it out! Awesome work led by Carrie on the CRISPR-Cas systems of Bombella, a bee-associated bacterium found across hive niches. Few shared spacers across strains suggest a dynamic, active system—and mutations in the CRISPR hairpin loop hint at ongoing evolution!

Session EEB-IDS-501 - Evolution in Microbiomes Across Environments Adaptive Evolution of Bacteroides fragilis under Oxidative Stress Modulates Iron Metabolism and Intensifies Host Inflammatory Responses Add to Itinerary June 23, 2025, 9:15 AM - 9:30 AM 402AB, LACC

If you're at #ASMicrobe, check out @reneeoles.bsky.social's talk on Monday morning:

Session EEB-IDS-501 - Evolution in Microbiomes Across Environments

Adaptive Evolution of Bacteroides fragilis under Oxidative Stress Modulates Iron Metabolism and Intensifies Host Inflammatory Responses

#asm2025

Excited to be on the way to #ASMicrobe once more ! And if you want to know more about our work on CRISPRs, metagenomes, and phages, please come and chat and/or come see me tomorrow morning (9:15am in the EEB-IDS-202 session, which looks amazing overall !)

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...