Aide Macias-Muñoz

This is a great awards program for science communication. Enter now (before April 3) and/or please encourage others to do so. Categories include researchers (early, mid- & late career), journalists, independent & institutional. From @nationalacademies.org & @schmidtsciences.bsky.social

Passionate about transcription?

🚀 We’re recruiting a PhD student in Transcriptional Regulation at @ucph.bsky.social Start Summer 2026

Work with RNA, CRISPR, sequencing & proteomics in the Gregersen Lab @cgen2025.bsky.social

Meet us: gregersenlab.com

Apply by Apr 10, 2026👇
tinyurl.com/PhD-CGEN

Full instructions including eligibility requirements, proposal writing guidelines, and sample proposals are available on the website: www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Society for the Study of Evolution Site description

📢 Now accepting proposals for the Graduate Research Excellence Grants! These provide evolutionary biology research funds for early and advanced Master’s and PhD students. Applicants must be members of SSE. Deadline: May 18, 2026
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Senior Scientist, Protein Sciences in South San Francisco, California, United States of America | Research & Development at Genentech Apply for Senior Scientist, Protein Sciences job with Genentech in South San Francisco, California, United States of America. Research & Development at Genentech

Our department at Genentech is hiring. We're looking for a freshly-minted PhD (0-3 years) protein biochemist / structural biologist to join as a Sr Scientist. A rare opportunity to join our group leader job family at a more junior level than we usually hire.

I was trying to figure out what an obvious right answer was, turned out it was just for fun

My 6 year old: today in class <teacher> asked what animal is our closest relative and we voted on otter, hippo, axolotl, duckling, etc. and afterwards I told her that the correct answer was apes but it wasn’t an option
🤣

Society for the Study of Evolution Site description

Applications due March 1 for the T. H. Huxley Award, which recognizes high-quality evolution education resources! The recipient will have the opportunity to attend and present their work at the NABT meeting in October or #Evol2026 in June. Apply today! bit.ly/2kP2pPM

New Hampshire judge announces formal end to Trump policy against DEI in schools • New Hampshire Bulletin A New Hampshire federal judge formally dismissed a yearlong lawsuit against the Trump administration’s “anti-DEI” directive to public schools — weeks after both sides agreed it is no longer necessary. 

When the Department of Education issued vague threats to defund schools that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, we sued and now they're backing down.

This is a win for students' right to a full and honest education.

Evolution 2026 meeting logo. A heart with hands reaching toward each other across it. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Caregiver Grants to facilitate virtual or in-person attendance. Apply by March 15.

Apply now for the SSE Caregiver Award for up to $500 USD to help cover caregiving costs while attending virtual or in-person #Evol2026. Deadline March 15!
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
@evolmtg.bsky.social

Me: wow I have so much time to write today
*1.5 hours of class prep*
Ok, I have 30 minutes to get some writing done
*emails*
Ok, now I can finally get some writing done
*notification: zoom meeting in 10 minutes*

When this works, I’ll be happy to incorporate it! For the section assignment I have them work through the snake ZRS enhancer.

I used the @accorsi-alice.bsky.social et al. 2025 paper and asked “what happens if we use CRISPR to knockout Pax6 in the apple snail?” Response: no eyes

I obviously talked about eye development and regeneration, and then people came up to me after class to ask more about these topics :)

Today’s genetics lecture was EvoDevo I think my lecture capture word cloud will be a huge “super cool”. I overheard someone say it was the most interesting lecture so far in the class ✅

Evolution of monoamine reception and its role in cellular contractility.

How do #sponges coordinate their bodies despite lacking neurons and true muscles?

We show that sponges use monoamines to control water flow in their canals — reminiscent of how adrenaline regulates blood vessels.

My PhD story, now on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Evolution

APPLICATIONS OPEN!

Apply to Comparative Developmental Biology by July 26. This intensive 2-week lab course is designed for graduate students in their second or later year of Ph.D studies and post-docs.

🔗Info: go.mbl.edu/CDB

My 6am email subject: “a fun idea” body: since this paper might be published soon, it could be fun to write an brief article about it for a broad audience in both English and Spanish. #scicomm

Are you interested in Comparative Developmental Biology? Great opportunity for grad students and Postdocs to take this 2 week course at the MBL in October 2026.

Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres - Nature Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with re...

Our paper is now out in Nature:

“Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres”

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres.

1/14

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

If you're on the job market and are working in any area of Plant Molecular Biology, check this out. We have a very strong group: Jeff Dangl, Joe Kieber, Greg Copenhaver, Jason Reed, Zack Nimchuk, and an incoming new assistant professor starting in January
bio.unc.edu/people/facul...

Reading this knowing I’ll be working later tonight and planning to be up at 5 am to get some writing done.

And for many parents, add the breakfasts, lunch prep, dinners, bedtimes, activities, appointments, house chores. 😮‍💨

Since a few students in my genetics class have now mentioned they’ve never seen Jurassic Park, I know understand why they stare blankly at me when I say “ohh I should have written Gattaca” every time I write hypothetical DNA sequences 😭

SMBE 2026 Faculty Award nominations

SMBE is now calling for nominations for recipients of the Faculty Awards for Early-Career Excellence, Mid-Career Excellence, Lifetime Contribution, and Community Service.

ℹ️ Informations
smbe.org/faculty-awards

📝 Applications
members.smbe.org/membersurvey/Fill/Lz3MnUjr

🗓️ Deadline
February 20, 2026

LAPD Charges at Hundreds of High School Students in Peaceful Walkout Protest at MDC ~ L.A. TACO LAPD arrested at least two teenagers protesting ICE raids in Los Angeles yesterday. They were also seen corresponding with ICE agents on Alameda Street during the demonstrations.

I feel like Los Angeles is a place where people expect ICE to happen because the kidnappings have been happening to my home city for decades, so there’s less media attention to it now. and I want folks to see that in LA, Latine students are organizing major protests & the police are attacking them

Rep. @joaquincastrotx.bsky.social visited Liam and his dad today at the Texas ICE facility.

He shared this photo on social media that shows Liam either sleeping or lying weakly in his father’s arms.

5-Year-Old in ICE Detention Is Sick, Says Top School Official The 5-year-old who was taken by federal agents in Minneapolis is being held behind bars with his father in Texas.

NEW: Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old who ICE agents in Minneapolis nabbed last week and shipped off to a Texas detention facility with his dad, is now in poor health, his school superintendent told me today www.huffpost.com/entry/liam-c...

It's not ICE out. It's dismantle ICE. It's abolish ICE. Don't just get them out of MN and make them someone else's problem. No city or state should be next. Make them non-existent.

Defund ICE (UPDATED 1/22) - PASSED HOUSE, SENATE VOTE NEXT WEEK ⭑ 5 Calls Updates January 22, 2026: By a 220-207 vote, the House has passed H.R. 7147, the standalone DHS appropriations bill. Republican Rep. Massie (KY) voted …

For those like me feeling pretty hopeless in light of the news of the day 5 Calls has scripts up both to encourage voting against the DHS funding Bill: 5calls.org/issue/dhs-bu... and Stopping ICE's agressive attacks on citizens and immigrants: 5calls.org/issue/ice-ra....