Ben Larson

#protistsonsky
Direct link to the Chaetoceros Quick Guide if you want to learn more :)
@sorayazwahlen.bsky.social @currentbiology.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lYLj3QW8S...

Hypermutable hotspot enables the rapid evolution of self/non-self recognition genes in Dictyostelium Cells require highly polymorphic receptors to perform accurate self/non-self recognition. In the amoeba Dicytostelium discoideum, polymorphic TgrB1 & TgrC1 proteins are used to bind sister cells and e...

I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A schematic showing two models for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell plan starting from an archaeal ancestor. The "inside-out" and "outside-in" models both lead to an intermediate stage with internal and plasma membranes connected by tubules. The sequence continues through the formation of an endomembrane lumen, followed by the emergence of membrane contact sites and tubular carriers, and finally coated vesicles and stable compartments.

I set out to review the evolution of eukaryotic intracellular traffic, but along the way a new hypothesis came into focus: maybe the earliest membrane carriers were tubules, not coated vesicles!

New preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Here’s the idea. 🧵

An amoeba with teeth. When building its shell, Netzelia corona selects sharp grains of quartz and positions them around its aperture with the tips pointing inward. I took a few closeups, yesterday. #ProtistsonSky #amoebae #peatlands #MEvoSky

Geometrical preference of anchoring sites in the unicellular organism Stentor coeruleus Organisms often inhabit environments comprising complex structures across various scales. Animals rely on visual information from surrounding geometrical structures for navigation. Even at the microsc...

Nice paper on the interplay between active cell behavior and passive physical mechanisms driving cell decision-making. Environmental geometry dictates behavioral transitions in Stentor. Similar physical mechanisms may influence ecological niches in other protists.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Tube feet dynamics drive adaptation in sea star locomotion Sea stars use hundreds of tube feet on their oral surface to crawl, climb, and navigate complex environments—all without the coordination of a central brain. While the morphology of tube feet and thei...

Fascinating new work on mechanics and tube feet dynamics during starfish locomotion, which reveals a robust, decentralized strategy for locomotion on challenging terrain involving modulation of foot-substrate contact time in response to mechanical load: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A haiku composed by Hannah Brannan, inspired by recent slime mold sightings:

Protists sneak, small and
ferocious in the mulches,
and in the water.

Encrusted fruiting body of the myxomecete Fuligo septica growing out of mulch around landscaping plants

Sometimes you don't even need a microscope to find cool protists. Nice bloom of the venerable myxomycete Fuligo septica, a.k.a. dog vomit slime mold. This structure, the aethelium, is the encrusted fruiting body of the plasmodial slime mold. Not surprising that these were once thought to be sponges

Please help get the word out - We are hiring at all levels (graduate students, technicians, and postdocs)! If you are interested in sponges, cell biology, evolution, immunity, and symbiosis, please don’t hesitate to contact me to learn more.

Environmental Technician or Engineer (Soil Lead) The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship research institution for the life sciences, bringing together over 110 independent research groups and service teams across six si...

TREC is hiring! @embl.org is looking for a field technician/engineer to coordinate soil sampling: plan activities, apply protocols, lead site scouting, coordinate teams & more. Join an amazing international team exploring a hidden universe beneath our feet. Please spread the word! bit.ly/4eSTPbZ

Yes, inject the protists directly into my bloodstream!

Physics meets fashion: a bioluminescent dress A very special look was presented earlier this week by fashion designer Iris van Herpen at the Paris Haute Couture Week. The garment: a bioluminescent dress, created from 125 million living algae. Bio...

In the last couple of months I helped biodesigner Chris Bellamy in a collaboration with fashion designer Iris van Herpen to make a bioluminescent dress for Paris Haute Couture week.

And the outcome was absolutely stunning!!!!

www.uva.nl/en/shared-co...

Poster for an interdisciplinary workshop titled "Behavior Across the Tree of Life: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges", taking place September 26–27, 2025. Organized by Gianmaria Dani, Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda, and Grant Ramsey (Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven). The call invites theoretical and empirical researchers—philosophers and scientists—to submit abstracts (max. 500 words, excluding references) on comparative behavioral biology and its conceptual foundations. Submission deadline: July 14, 2025. Notification: July 18, 2025. Abstracts must include affiliation and contact info and be sent to gianmaria.dani@kuleuven.be and alejandro.fabregastejeda@kuleuven.be. Invited speakers: Kristin Aleklett (Lund University), Silvia Guerra (University of Padua), Tobias Starzak (Ruhr University Bochum), Kirsty Y. Wan (University of Exeter). On the lower left side, the poster features a collage illustrating diverse biological behaviors across life forms: orange and yellow lichens growing on rock (symbiotic behavior), a close-up of bacteria (microbial interactions), leafcutter ants cooperating to carry a leaf (social insect behavior), a sundew plant trapping an insect (plant predation), and phylogenetic trees representing evolutionary relationships.

What theoretical and methodological challenges emerge when investigating #behavior across the tree of life? 📢Final days to send your abstract for an interdisciplinary workshop (September 26-27) at KU Leuven! Come join us, and please help us share! hiw.kuleuven.be/clps/events/... #HPS #HPbio #evobio

1/27 We have a new paper out! Turns out that snowflake yeast have been hiding a secret from us - they've evolved a (very!) crude circulatory system. Not with blood vessels or a heart, but through spontaneous fluid flows powered by their metabolism. 🧪🔬

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Hah, yes. Also, maybe another excuse to convene again and poll and discuss with participants directly?

Thanks so much to Guillermina and Omaya for bringing us all together! Meant it when I said I felt a rare sense of being completely at home. Looking forward to continued development of this community and maybe one day being able to succinctly identify what it is that we all do…
#IntegrativeCellBio ?

Such a pleasure to be co-organising the #Latsis Symposium this year with Guillermina !

Thanks to all the speakers & sponsors.

And all our teams members who helped make this a reality.

It just felt right.

#Science #WildCells #ProtistsOnSky #Cell #Biology #Biophysics #Behaviour

Mosaic evolution of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in fungi Picco et al. take an evolutionary approach to study clathrin-mediated endocytosis in a fungal clade and discover that the process is evolving in a mosaic fashion. The early phase of endocytosis has sh...

How does evolution shape ancient cellular processes? Our new paper uncovers the mosaic evolution of conserved and diverging endocytic traits in fungi!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Localization of WDS proteins and fimbrin in three fungal species.

How do cells switch on the actin assembly at endocytic sites? How can this on-switch evolve? Check out our new preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Termite mounds harness diurnal temperature oscillations for ventilation | PNAS Many species of millimetric fungus-harvesting termites collectively build uninhabited, massive mound structures enclosing a network of broad tunnel...

Maybe you're thinking of this? The senior author (Maha) described the main result of the paper in a talk: "The termite mound is like a lung that breathes once a day, driven by diurnal temperature oscillations" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Help us record firefly flashes! 👇🙏

YouTube video by Protistologists ISOP Member Spotlight Patrick Keeling 2025

Check out this month’s #ISOP Member Spotlight featuring Patrick Keeling! We discuss the major challenges facing science today, the importance of storytelling in protistology, and Patrick’s experience with his long-running undergraduate protistology course at UBC #ProtistsOnSky

Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory | PNAS Recent papers by physicists, chemists, and geologists lay claim to the discovery of new principles of evolution that have somehow eluded over a cen...

I can't say I agree with everything here, especially as I think it overstates how much evolutionary theory can explain about what we observe in Nature. However, I very much appreciate the perspective and a bit of muckraking. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Published now. doi.org/10.1242/jcs....

Omaya Dudin Interview with Omaya Dudin, who uses Ichthyosporea as models to study how and why unicellular organisms evolved multicellularity at the University of Geneva.

90% of you probably don’t need to read this.
But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy.
It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud;
partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3)
tinyurl.com/DudinO

We are organizing a conference for young researchers at the intersection between physics & biology: www.embl.org/about/info/c... @embl.org @events.embl.org @intcha.bsky.social
Please consider applying/registering -- the deadline is already in one week!

I always like starting with simple first to see if that does the trick. Based on your explanation and the pictures, solidity might be a useful measurement. Solidity of a 3D shape is the ratio of the volume of the shape and its convex hull.

Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.16.654244v1

The inside of our net was coated with these tiny jelly balls. I asked @blancobercial.bsky.social if they were some kind of ctenophore, but he said (enthusiastically) "No! These are #Rhizaria!" He is holding a single cell here. #marinelife #protistsonsky

Hello, more for the Ocean peeps: understanding and managing marine ecosystems is a global scientific priority. Do you have in mind tools or methods from unrelated fields that have proven to be surprisingly relevant? Anything from basic to applied science is of interest.Thx !
@mblscience.bsky.social