José Cerca

Scalesia gordilloi, part of a large adaptive radiation of Asteraceae in the Galápagos.

Check out this new #AJB On the Nature of Things essay!

#Pangenomes as a framework for adaptive radiation, speciation & adaptation

By @nicolo-tellini.bsky.social , Ole Tørresen, David Edwards, Loren Rieseberg, Kjetill Jakobsen & José Cerca

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #evolution

💥 We highlight the problem (elephant in the room) of using a single reference genome.

➡️ We put forth a set of hypotheses on how variable genomes contribute to adaptation and diversification

📰 Starting this friday with some positive news:

Our publication "Pangenomes as a framework for adaptive radiation, speciation, and adaptation" came out today in the American Journal of Botany!

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1537...

Go work with Julian - it's a fantastic lab!

Why do queens bees live so much longer than workers? Apply for a postdoc position in my lab to figure it out! Please get in touch if you want to know more.

link to job:
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

lab website:
www.websterlab.net

My 11-year-old sitting with her pile of Halloween candy, sorting it into a bar graph

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

Hybrids

Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology - Uppsala University Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University

📢 We have an open position for a postdoc to join my lab. It's a great position @animecol-uu.bsky.social, fully salaried for 2.5 years with all benefits.

www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)

Reference genome bias in light of species-specific chromosomal reorganization and translocations - Genome Biology Background Whole-genome sequencing efforts, have during the past decade, unveiled the central role of genomic rearrangements—such as chromosomal inversions—in evolutionary processes, including local a...

📌 New publication out:

Reference genome bias in light of species-specific chromosomal reorganization and translocations

TL;DR - We show that the choice of reference genome biases the detection of structural variants and popgen stats. Navigate carefully - 🛳️ 😬

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thank you! :)

A very nice paper! @naturalselection.bsky.social Congrats!!!👍💪

Reference genome bias in light of species-specific chromosomal reorganization and translocations

The Comparative Analysis of Lineage-Pair Traits Abstract. For many questions in ecology and evolution, the most relevant data to consider are attributes of lineage pairs. Comparative tests for causal rel

Now available in Systematic Biology, a new paper (and R package) in which we outline an approach to account for non-independence in comparative analyses of lineage-pair traits academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

We are recruiting a fully-funded PhD student to work on the evolution and mechanisms of intestinal remodelling in lampreys. @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @uofgmvls.bsky.social

www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Chimeric Reference Panels for Genomic Imputation Abstract. Despite transformative advances in genomic technologies, missing data remains a fundamental constraint that limits the full potential of genomic

Excited to share our new paper in
@GeneticsGSA
! We developed "Retriever," a novel method that enables high-quality genotype imputation in non-model organisms. 🧬 Congratulations to Charles on his first PhD paper!

Paper: doi.org/10.1093/gene...

A thread 🧵👇

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91 Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour

RIP Jane Goodall. You'll live through the inspiration you instilled in all of us.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Exciting news!
The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris.

This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics.

More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk

See you there !

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, Structural Variants, and Short Tandem Repeats Capture Distinct Signals of Adaptive Divergence in the Atlantic Puffin Abstract. The Arctic has been the scene for (re)colonization, diversification, and adaptation of boreal and Arctic fauna. As anthropogenic warming of the A

Article alert! Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, Structural Variants, and Short Tandem Repeats Capture Distinct Signals of Adaptive Divergence in the Atlantic Puffin url: academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Friends: I'm recruiting at least one PhD student to join our lab in Atlanta in the Fall of 2026. Information about our research can be found at the link below. Please pass along to any students interested in the quantitative study of speciation, secondary contact, and the build-up of biodiversity!

Du må få tattoos også i prosessen

Scientists claim they’ve made ‘pivotal step’ in bringing back the dodo for first time in 300 years Thousands of dodos could return within a decade according to Colossal Biosciences, a ‘de-extinction’ company – but experts warn of ‘moral hazard’

“Rich Grenyer, a biologist at the University of Oxford, said de-extinction is a “dangerous” distraction and that gene-edited animals are “at best a sort of simulation, rather like those unnerving animated AI portraits of dead relatives some… people create”.”
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

A while back (maybe 3-4 years?) there was a paper on common misconceptions of the genetics of various traits. One of them was eye colour in humans. I have lost this reference and can't find it anywhere. Does anyone recognise what I mean?

🕰️ Deadline 15 Nov.

📨 I have one such position and I'm really happy at the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (and with the DDLS program possibilities). I will be happy to meet and answer any questions you or your talented postdocs may have.

🧨 The Naturhistoriska riksmuseet has a position open for a Tenure-Track group Leader position (DDLS fellow).

17 M SEK start-up (1.6 million euros, which will account for your salary / 2 PhDs / 2 Postdocs / plenty of money for starting projects and sending peoeple to conferences).

lnkd.in/d5jNr_Ti

Parallel but distinct adaptive routes in the budding and fission yeasts after 10,000 generations of experimental evolution https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.11.675703v1

Green butterfly sat on a flower.

I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm

The genome of the Glacier lanternfish shows loss of MHC I and II function and provides insight into evolution of lanternfish immune systems Lanternfishes (Myctophidae) are one of the most abundant and species diverse orders inhabiting the mesopelagic zone. Exploitation of marine resources has recently attracted increased interest. It is t...

Cool preprint! 🚨

Lanternfish lack MHC I and functional MHC II — yet still produce antibodies! 🧬🐟

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If you know anyone interested in starting a Master's project working on ammonoid phylogenetics (or the phylogenetics of a mollusc group spanning the OAE2 event in the Late Cretaceous), then ask them to get in touch with me.

The situation is a little tricky, as it would be funded by the remainder…

Excited to share that I’ve started as Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark! 🧑‍🎓

I also received an a NNF Emerging Investigator grant to use genomics + machine learning to study extinction.

👉 PhD & Postdoc positions coming soon — follow for updates!
Reposts appreciated 🙏