Jeffrey M Kidd

William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89

William Foege has died. He was a central architect of smallpox eradication, pioneering surveillance-driven ring vaccination when vaccine supply was limited. That strategy helped eliminate the deadliest human pathogen we’ve ever known.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

Portrait of Brenna Henn next to an open freezer of samples.

Here's my latest contribution to the @nytimes "Lost Science" series. Brenna Henn's sweeping study of African genetics has been frozen. Gift link: nyti.ms/3Ypmm1A

Revisiting the Evolution of Lactase Persistence: Insights from South Asian Genomes Lactase persistence (LP), the ability to digest lactose from milk into adulthood, is a classic example of natural selection in humans. Multiple mutations upstream of the LCT gene are associated with L...

interesting new addition to the story of the spread of lactase persistence www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Homepage - 2026 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference Visit our website to learn more.

PEQG website live! genetics-gsa.org/peqg-2026/

Edward T. Blake, 80, Dies; Forensic Expert Sparked Innocence Movement

I don't think it would be possible to overstate Blake's influence on the DNA revolution in criminal justice and the exonerations that followed. He genuinely changed the world for the better.

Rest in peace.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/s...

Structural variation makes an important contribution to genetic diversity. An integrated analysis of long-read and short-read sequencing data created an expanded database of structural variation in canines. Several structural variants, including multiple mobile element insertions, have frequency profiles across major clades of modern dog breeds consistent with selection.

Schall & @jeffreymkidd.bsky.social characterized structural variation in dogs using a combination of long- and short-read data and genome assemblies. Several SVs have frequency profiles across breeds consistent with selection.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf173

#genome #evolution #TEsky

Seems like the rough times will continue for those of us trying to qualify to apply for a NIGMS R35.

Here is NIGMS.

This reflects Jon Lorsch's push away from R01s and toward MIRA awards (R35s). While there are some advantages to the R35 mechanism, there are downsides to "putting all of your eggs in one basket" as some discovered this year.

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Like a big family reunion. I'm lucky that our lab is full of kind creative people without big egos, just the best energy

Hearing all the random research updates about advances in nanopore sequencing to whale evolution turned on part of my brain I hadn't used in a while. I miss academia 🥲

The Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan is looking for a new faculty colleague at the rank of Assistant Professor. Please share!

careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

A phylogenetic estimate of canine retrotransposition rates based on genome assembly comparisons Background Due to their history of domestication and breed formation, dogs are a powerful system for studying the phenotypic impact of genetic variation. Comparison of canine genome assemblies show th...

LINEs and SINEs contribute a lot of dog genetic variation. We estimate that new insertions occur in ~1/184 and 1/22 births, with most diversity reflecting long-standing genetic variation
. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

hope this is useful and saves someone some hassle!

Check out our latest work co-led by @dcsoto.bsky.social and @jmuribescr.bsky.social identifying hundreds of human duplicated gene families using the new T2T-CHM13 assembly, with a focus on those potentially contributing to brain evolution 🧪: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lTQtL7PXu...

What if a Grocery Store Was More Like a Farmers’ Market?

Nice to see Argus Farm Stop in the news. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/b...

Integrative genotyping and analysis of canine structural variation using long-read and short-read data https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.05.641690v1

Thanks for pointing to this amazing tool!

A thread on NIH Reorganization and the Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB)

Disclosure: I was involved with the SMRB since its inception and have very strong feelings about how it was used, misused, and abandoned. My passion on these issues will undoubtably show through.

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