Carla Hoge

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...

Exciting new study led by @ekerdoncuff.bsky.social and @meaghanmarohn.bsky.social on the evolution of Lactase Persistence in South Asia.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are searching for a Forest Ecophysiologist (tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor) to join the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry. Please share! Details are here: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs

We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT

When sex chromosomes turnover, they can reset the rules of genomic conflict.
New preprint exploring how turnover reshapes barriers to gene flow through an “escape-hatch” model for mitonuclear conflict.
Any feedback would be welcome! ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

New today: We're petitioning NSF to revert GRFP eligibility criteria to last year's terms, to avoid pulling the rug out from under the earliest of early-career scientists who had every reason to think they'd be able to apply this year. Sign and spread the word!

laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

The GRFP announcement from NSF cuts out an entire cohort of 2nd year students from consideration, without warning. This is so deeply unfair that it warrants a formal protest from the scientific community. If someone wants to work with me to craft an open letter and solicit signatures, LMK.

Be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident Intend to enroll or be enrolled full-time in a research-based Master's or doctoral degree program in an eligible Field of Study in STEM or STEM education (See Appendix and Section IV.3 for eligible Fields of Study Never previously accepted a Graduate Research Fellowship Declined any previously offered Graduate Research Fellowship by the acceptance deadline Never previously applied to GRFP while enrolled in a graduate degree program Never earned a doctoral or terminal degree in any field Have completed no more than one academic year (according to institution's academic calendar) while enrolled in a graduate degree program (non-degree coursework must be clearly identified in the transcript and does not count toward this limit) Individuals holding joint Bachelor's-Master's degrees who did not apply while enrolled in the joint program, may apply as second-year graduate applicants if enrolled in an eligible doctoral program the beginning of the academic year immediately following the academic award year of the joint degree Individuals with prior graduate enrollment who have: (i) completed more than one academic year in any graduate degree-granting program, (ii) earned a previous master's degree of any kind (see guidance for joint Bachelor's-Master's degree-holders above), or (iii) earned a professional degree must meet the following requirements: not enrolled in a graduate degree program at application deadline two or more consecutive years past graduate degree enrollment or completion at the application deadline Not be a current NSF employee.

Must, at the time of submission, be a U.S. citizen, national, or a permanent resident (“green-card” holder) Must intend to enroll or be enrolled in an eligible research-based master's or doctoral degree program in an eligible field of study in STEM, including STEM education (See Appendix and Section IV.3 for eligible Fields of Study); Never have previously accepted a Graduate Research Fellowship; Have declined any previously offered Graduate Research Fellowship by the declination deadline (if applicable); Have completed less than one academic year in a graduate degree program (according to the institution’s academic calendar; non-degree coursework must be clearly identified in the transcript and does not count toward this limit). This means individuals in the following statuses at the time of application are eligible: Undergraduate in the final (senior) year of a bachelor’s degree program Bachelor’s degree-holder with NO enrollment in a graduate degree program (non-degree graduate coursework allowed) Individual enrolled in a joint bachelor’s-master’s degree program with at least three undergraduate years completed First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar) Individuals enrolled in joint bachelor’s-master’s degree programs are considered graduate students. For GRFP, joint bachelor’s-master’s degrees are defined as degrees concurrently pursued and awarded. Not be a current NSF employee.

As others have pointed out, the fellowship is now available only to 1st year grad students. (Left is last year, right is this year)

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Phantom epistasis through the lens of genealogies Abstract. Phantom epistasis arises when, in the course of testing for gene-by-gene interactions, the omission of a causal variant with a purely additive ef

Delighted to see this paper with @anaignatieva.bsky.social now published in Genetics!
academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

We tackle a thorny issue arising in statistical tests for genetic interactions (epistasis) using ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs)... 🧵

Top left: Results of genome-wide association study (GWAS) for sex in E. caeruleum, E. radiosum, and E. spectabile showing sex chromosome turnover has occurred repeatedly. Top right: Phylogeny showing sex chromosome turnover in darters and non-darter percids. Chromosome 9 is the putative ancestral sex chromosome, shared by Perca flavescens and multiple members of the orangethroat darter complex (e.g., E. spectabile, E. pulchellum). Bottom: Schematic depicting repeated turnover of sex chromosomes as a mechanism to resolve mitonuclear conflict and promote speciation.

First pop gen paper from our lab! We find repeated evolutionary turn over of sex chromosomes in darters contributes to reproductive isolation. Turnover may be an escape hatch to resolve mitonuclear conflict & neo sex chromosomes evolved via a rare recessive mutation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very happy to share our work on signature SBS5. See Molly's thread for a short summary

Collateral mutagenesis funnels multiple sources of DNA damage into a ubiquitous mutational signature Mutations reflect the net effects of myriad types of damage, replication errors, and repair mechanisms, and thus are expected to differ across cell types with distinct exposures to mutagens, division ...

In these dark times, it comes as a rare pleasure to highlight @natanaels.bsky.social ‬ & @marcdemanuel.bsky.social's work on germline and somatic mutations in humans. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Trump Deals A New Immigration Blow To International Students Trump officials have proposed a new rule limiting international students to fixed periods of entry, making a U.S. education more precarious.

Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew
Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.

From personal experience, an expensive private college school was, in practice, much cheaper than many of my state school options because of need-based financial aid.

This seems like a wildly useful resource for students applying to college and trying to compare costs - collegetables.info

The cost after need-based financial aid varies widely, and often not in ways one might expect

Why do males and females often differ in traits?
The expected answer: selection.
But our new paper in GENETICS shows that genetic drift alone can generate sexual dimorphism — even when male & female optima are the same

The relationship between sexual dimorphism and intersex correlation: do models support intuition? Abstract. The evolution of sexual dimorphism (the difference in average trait values between females and males, SD), is often thought to be constrained by

Full paper now out in GENETICS:
The relationship between sexual dimorphism and intersex correlation: do models support intuition?
🔗 academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
#Evolution #QuantGenetics @GeneticsGSA

Not sure how many scientists here have tried Claude Code or similar command line coding assistants. I had a complicated family property tax problem that was best solved by a brute force Monte Carlo simulation approach, so I spent a few days coding up and analyzing a model with Claude Code.

I'm thrilled that my lab at NYU is now supported by an NIH MIRA grant! I'm looking to hire 1-2 senior lab members (outstanding postdoc candidates or experienced staff scientists) with expertise in computational or statistical methods in human genetics or genomics. Please share!

hey folks! so looking forward to seeing everyone at @sse-evolution.bsky.social! if you have space on your schedule, come check out the Kreiner lab contigent on Sunday morning in the Adaptation VI symposium.

'No Kings' protests in Chicago, suburbs, nationwide fill streets, plazas to oppose Trump policies Thousands gathered in Daley Plaza and in suburban events in protests timed to coincide with a military parade in Washington celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump's 79th b...

Let me remind you: we don't have kings in America — and I won't bend the knee to one.

Never stop speaking out and showing up, Illinois.

This is what democracy in action looks like.

Here’s a New York Times photo of the Chicago “No Kings” rally. NYT said the march that followed spanned at least 10 blocks.

A woman (me) at the no kings march in Chicago, holding a large rainbow flag. Many people and a few tall buildings in the background, and the sky is a beautiful partly cloudy blue.

The #NoKings march in Chicago stretched for blocks and blocks and blocks - No monarchs here! (except for butterflies and drag kings + queens)

Excited for our publication on how the geographic scale of a sample affects the discovery of rare, deleterious variants to be out this week. With a mix of theory, simulation, and data analysis, we show when samples are narrow vs broad, the number of variants discovered and their frequencies change

I'm excited to announce that I'll be starting a lab at UCSF in the @ihgatucsf.bsky.social and @ucsf-epibiostat.bsky.social in July.

We'll work at the intersection of statistical genetics, population genetics, and machine learning.

I have an opportunity to hire a staff scientist for my lab. Looking for someone with outstanding skillset in ML/statistics, genomics applications; interest in mentoring, strong publication record, PD experience required.

Email CV to me+cc my assistant (see 'contact' on my website). Ad to follow.

Out today in @pnas.org! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Jennifer Blanc and @jeremyjberg.bsky.social use theory and simulations to study the process of testing for an association between polygenic scores and axes of ancestry variation when confounding factors are present.

Learn more about their findings in #GENETICS: buff.ly/EmKpXyP

University of Chicago campus

University of Chicago campus

Our lab is moving! I’m thrilled to be joining the Department of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago this fall. I’ll be recruiting PhD students so please spread the word and reach out if interested!

📌