C. Brandon Ogbunu

Rapid compensatory evolution within a multiprotein complex preserves telomere integrity Intragenomic conflict with selfish genetic elements spurs adaptive changes in subunits of essential multiprotein complexes. Whether and how these adaptive changes disrupt interactions within such comp...

How to keep in step when your (protein) partner speeds up…

Here we investigated the adaptive remodeling of a protein-protein interaction surface essential for telomere protection.

Congrats to whole team!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Ancient balanced polymorphism underlies long-standing adaptation for seasonal camouflage in the least weasel Unraveling how adaptive traits originate and evolve is key to understanding the mechanisms shaping species’ diversity and their adaptive potential. Seasonal color molts, from summer-brown to winter-wh...

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

SAVE THE DATE: the yearly NY Population Genetics meeting will be back on March 9 2026, generously hosted by the
@simonsfoundation.org. Details to follow. Please RT.

GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.

I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio

You’re not reading it right. It’s on a log-wrong scale

The chapter about this in ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ is great

A friend of mine may have a paper on this topic...I think under revision...and lots to do in this space...more soon

Ummmmmmmmmmm

(More on this exact thing soon!!)

Very useful analysis of how the metaphors have changed over time.

"Understanding the strengths and limitations of community-based responses to misinformation" — very nice commentary by @ekvraga.bsky.social in PNAS, covering my recent paper on causal effects of Community Notes w/ @isaacslaughter.bsky.social @axelp.bsky.social @msaveski.bsky.social

The Increasingly Complex Science of Political Identity Opinion | Understanding why people vote the way they do has emerged as a cutting-edge scientific question requiring new tools.

Political scientists are rethinking how we understand voting patterns. Old assumptions about identity and alignment don't hold up. Understanding why people vote requires new models and the willingness to abandon outdated narratives.

Boris Shraiman points a physicist’s eye on biological quandaries Boris Shraiman is awarded the American Physical Society’s Max Delbrück Prize in Biological Physics.

Boris Shraiman points a physicist’s eye on biological quandaries news.ucsb.edu/2025/022264/... 🧪

A college friend, a transplant surgeon, is watching and loving these. Thank you, Sean.

Missing Heritability Revisited Following up on Sasha

Blog post: A Missing Heritability Update. Three legs and other problems. I follow up on the recent excellent post on the subject by @sashagusevposts.bsky.social. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/missing-he...

High frequency body site translocation of nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa - Nature Communications Here, the authors report within-host diversity and body site translocation dynamics in hospital samples of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and reveal that body site sharing was likely due to within-patient tra...

Really pleased to share the first paper to come out of the lab.
We found that hospital patients were frequently colonised with P. aeruginosa and that the same clone was shared between the gut and the lung.
The phylogenies indicate that the clones moved from lung->gut

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

Ever wondered whether dogs are a different species from wolves? On an ecological, and behavioral basis, I think so. The Dec 2 issue of PNAS will be interesting! www.pnas.org/toc/pnas/122... and the introductory article to the issue: doi.org/10.1073/pnas... . Here: my daughter, my son, and our dog:

Our new collaborative work led by @taliamycota.bsky.social
Jiajun Cui & Emma Caullireau between my lab @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social & the Karasov Lab (tkarasovlab.org) @uofubiology.bsky.social
and collaborators: @plantricia.bsky.social et al.

tinyurl.com/5yx2wmz5

(1/n)

Yale’s Institute for Foundations of Data Science (FDS) @yaledatascience.bsky.social is seeking applications for postdoctoral positions. These are cool, generously supported, competitive positions, expected to last 2-3 years, for independent scholars working on the foundations of data science.

Characterizing the genetic architecture of drug response using gene-context interaction methods Sadowski et al. propose a framework to study the genetics of response to commonly prescribed drugs in large biobanks. They quantify the heritability of response to statins, metformin, warfarin, and methotrexate, and identify associated genes. Their analysis also shows the importance of accounting for drug use in genetic risk prediction.

New work by Andy Dahl and Michal Sadowski on using GxE to study genetics of drug response now out in Cell Genomics www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

Indeed, we showed that different measures of association give very different ranking of top genes biodatamining.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #gwas #genomics

"Due to the stochastic nature of this microscopic
engine, there are large fluctuations in its heat exchange,
including heat flowing the thermodynamically “wrong”
way".
Make an engine small enough and hot enough, and weird stuff happens.
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...

What enables human language? A biocultural framework Explaining the origins of language is a key challenge in understanding ourselves as a species. We present an empirical framework that draws on synergies across fields to facilitate robust studies of l...

Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n

“This article focuses on the epistemic specificity of humanities research which makes it not only not suitable for replication, but also at odds with many of the other scientific reform measures touted as solutions to the so-called replication crisis.”

We got published in Ecology&Evolution! We propose an equation from which we derive the fundamental equations of population ecology and evolutionary biology (the Price equation). #evobio #philbio onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

YouTube video by MPI for Biology & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory Plant Pathogen Evolution: Bananas

Is your favourite fruit at risk?🍌
Watch & learn from Dr. Honour McCann @honour.bsky.social as she dives into the impact of the pathogen Ralstonia syzygii on banana plantations in our new video.
For more on #PlantPathogen #Evolution, visit: www.bio.mpg.de/48883/plant-pathogen-evolution-honour-mccann

Not this again

'however, standard culture methods did not yield readily cultivable microbiota.'

The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered Not with a bang but with a whimper

"It may be uncomfortable to conclude that a widely used study design has been producing spurious results. But the evidence is in, and telling uncomfortable truths is a part of doing science."

Problems with twin studies.

theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...

The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered Not with a bang but with a whimper

I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵

🔥🔥🔥

✅ Addresses important fundamental questions
✅ Uses insanely creative methods
✅ Gives us a truly new picture of how a tricky phenomenon works

Outstanding.