iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Please RT: Do you use math to address interesting biological problems? Join us at Vanderbilt BioSci! We are conducting an open-rank TT search in Theoretical Biology: apply.interfolio.com/194619. We are a friendly and collaborative department with interests spanning a range of biological disciplines!

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The narrator is old and sighing out the words, but the meter sweeps you along like a current in a river. Read it here: www.poemtree.com/poems/Spring...

poemtree.com

"Spring and Fall: To a Young Child" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

4/? Spring and fall hits the connection of autumn and death more squarely on the head, but thanks to Hopkins' obsession with the musicality of the English language, the kinetic energy of autumn voiced in the first two poems is implicitly embedded in the pace of this one.

poemtree.com

"Spring and Fall: To a Young Child" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

3/? Burnt Norton: I love T.S. Eliot and this one rewards a reader familiar with his oevre, but there is a striking similarity with Bavarian Gentians in the contrast between stillness and motion, emptiness and passion, that evokes the simultaneous comfort and necessity of death unique to autumn.

allpoetry.com

Four Quartets 1: Burnt Norton by T S Eliot

Read the full text of T S Eliot's classic poem "Four Quartets 1: Burnt Norton." Explore poetic themes, analysis, and share your own critique with a community of fellow poets.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

2/? Bavarian Gentians: the narrator is staring at a bowl of gentians in a soft and slow autumn evening, but the rapid intensity and pulsating repetition that guides our descent into Hades is a breathtaking contrast (read it here): poetryarchive.org/poem/bavaria...

poetryarchive.org

Bavarian Gentians - Poetry Archive

Not every man has gentians in his house in Soft September, at slow, Sad Michaelmas. Bavarian gentians, big and dark, only dark darkening the daytime torchlike with the smoking blueness of Pluto’s gloo...

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's fall, but here in Nashville it hasn't felt like it (thanks El Niño?). Nevertheless, I've been indulging in my favorite fall-associated poems, and wanted to share them: 1. Bavarian Gentians by D.H. Lawrence 2. Burnt Norton by T.S. Eliot 3. Spring and Fall (Gerard Manley Hopkins) (1/?)...

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Rich Meisel @richmeisel.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

My great technician is leaving the lab, and I'm trying to replace her. Are you or someone you know interested in evolutionary genomics research that combines animals experiments (with flies!) and molecular biology? Come work with me! Application info at the link evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...

evoldir.net

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

That was true for our MIRA budget; not sure if it extends to R01s.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I think about this constantly, considering that neither my baby nor I have been healthy for more than two days at a time since mid November. It takes a toll, for sure, and we can only hope there is some payoff later.

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Ben Longdon @blongdon.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Insect Infection, Immunity & Microbionts @royentsoc.bsky.social meeting at Milner Centre in Bath 16-17th April www.royensoc.co.uk/event/infect... with @annttate.bsky.social as keynote speaker. Should be fun!

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Poor authors, do they really think big insights come from big words?

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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Now published as version of record at @elife.bsky.social ! Layers of Immunity: Deconstructing the Drosophila effector response. The tools are now deposited in the VDRC (link ⬇️) elifesciences.org/articles/107... shop.vbc.ac.at/vdrc_store/d... #Drosophila #IDsky #SymbioSky #Infection #Immunology

eLife Assessment
This work provides one of the first important attempts to look at Drosophila immune responses against bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens in a way that combines the roles of four major arms in immunity (Imd signaling, Toll signaling, phagocytosis, and melanization) rather than studying them separately. The findings are compelling and the tools provided can be used as they are, or built upon, in various contexts.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.107030.3.sa0

Figure 3 summarising the survival results from a 14-genotype 25-pathogen panel.

Tracking of mortality and pathogen growth over time, complemented by Figure 5 (not shown) looking at pathogen load upon death.

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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

We have a funded NERC PhD studentship! Selfish X chromosomes are these bizarre things where males carrying the selfish X suffer from imploding testes. Lots to do in this space, especially in evolutionary, stress, and infection biology. Please share! #PhDchat #AcademicSky @uniexecec.bsky.social

An advertisement for the project Cryptc consequences of a selfish X chromosome. It shows chromosome mapping indicating many inversions, flies with eye colour phenotypes (wild-type brighter than selfish X), and sections of testes that show ordered (wild-type) or deformed structure (selfish X).

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Looks great - can't wait to read it!

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Pls RT: We are recruiting a postdoc (and potentially an RA or staff scientist) to work on the evolution of stage-structured immune systems! Experimental evolution, natural variation in immunity, and/or evo genomics in flour beetles (Tribolium). See ad here: my.vanderbilt.edu/tatelab/join...

Scale highlighting trade-offs between larval and adult beetles in response to infection

A teaser of panels illustrating potential approaches to studying stage-structured immune systems, including transcriptomics, experimental evolution, and experiments in wild-derived populations

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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

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.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Ever wonder whether older genes contribute to more processes than younger ones, or whether gene duplication might break up pleiotropy over evolutionary time? Does it matter if we're talking about dev. vs. immune genes? Check out our new paper, headed by postdoc Reese Martin: doi.org/10.1093/evle...

doi.org

Pleiotropy increases with gene age in six model multicellular eukaryotes

Abstract. Fundamental traits of genes, including function, length, and Guanine-Cytosine (GC) content, all vary with gene age. Pleiotropy, where a single ge

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

A very cool technology that allows students to interact with John Maynard Keynes’ ideas as he develops them is called a book

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Rita Strack @ritastrack.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Sometimes authors summarize their responses to 3-6 major points raised by the reviewers in their resub cover letters or at the top of their rebuttal letters. This is so super helpful to editors, because it brings us right up to speed after not having read the paper/reviews for months. THANKS!!

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Get the word out far and wide. New opportunity from the Simons Foundation in the Eco-Evo space. 2026 Simons Graduate Fellowship in Ecology and Evolution Awards, due July 31, 2025, only for incoming PhD students who plan to start their PhDs in Fall 2026. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

simonsfoundation.org

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution

The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

If you use AI to write/assist your manuscript reviews, please know that whatever time it saves on your end may well be spent manifold by the authors trying to sort legitimate human criticism from AI nonsense, emailing the journal office about their AI policy and asking for guidance, etc.

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Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Asgari & @annttate.bsky.social uncover the evolutionary forces shaping the multilayered regulation of signaling pathways by negative feedback loops. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf104 #evobio #molbio #regulation

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Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

THIS IS HUGE! TWO Phase I HIV vaccine clinical trials have demonstrated that a stepwise mRNA-based vaccination strategy can SUCCESSFULLY activate AND advance immune responses toward producing broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), a CRITICAL milestone in HIV prevention. Let’s talk about that! 🧪🧵⬇️

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

time.com

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress

I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Ever wondered why your favorite immune signaling pathway is regulated by a simple (or complex) set of feedback loops, and how they might have gotten there? Check out our new paper on the evolution of signaling network topology in MBE, headed by postdoc Danial Asgari: doi.org/10.1093/molb...

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National Center for Science Education @ncse.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Teachers, we've partnered with Evolutionary Studies at Vanderbilt (@evolutionvu.bsky.social) to offer a workshop on evolution in celebration of the Scopes Trial 100th Anniversary. Please join us in Nashville on July 11! forms.gle/wECR4X2q5KCQ... #ScopesSymposium #iteachbio #EduSky #edchat

Flyer: Text reads: Using Evidence and Practical Applications to Overcome Misconceptions About Evolution, Nashville, July 11, 2025 at Vanderbilt. A Scopes Anniversary Workshop on Evolution for teachers. Includes $50 stipend. Imagery is old chalkboard with photo cut-out of John Scopes. The text is drawn in chalk.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

It's even more ominous if you already have an account at that journal (e.g. different email address). Because then, no matter what, you are on the hook to do something, if only to ask to merge accounts

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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

This is bad. Read the updates. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

nsf.gov

Updates on NSF Priorities

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hi, no thanks @hmmvryintrstng.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

james surowiecki has discovered where the completely fabricated trump tariff rate has come from for each country "...for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country's exports to us."

Just figured out where these fake tariff rates come from. They didn't actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did. Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country's exports to us.

So we have a $17.9 billion trade deficit with Indonesia. Its exports to us are $28 billion. $17.9/$28 = 64%, which Trump claims is the tariff rate Indonesia charges us. What extraordinary nonsense this is.

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Tuuli Lappalainen @tuuliel.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

This is excellent; a very clear explanation of what’s at stake at Columbia.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

I asked my PO about an NCE yesterday and he responded quickly, so I don't think there is a gag order or anything. Not sure how much info they are allowed to volunteer though.

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Sorry, Will. My R35 renewal is in the same boat. I've got some unrestricted funds to hold out a bit longer, but worried the university will freeze them or claw them back. Do you know if POs can issue bridge funding in this kind of situation? I haven't seen discussion about that.

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Kalev Freeman @uvmtraumalab.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Attention scientists! Wondering what else can you can do to advocate for research funding? Let's all submit Programmatic Requests to Members of Congress next month, and flood the zone in a show of public support for #NIH and #NSF! ! #SciComm #Science #Medicine #MedSky 🧬🔬🧪 Details below⤵️ 🧵 1/n

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

🧵"So this is how liberty dies..." Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up. I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9

This is a venn diagram showing how 69 Trump actions map onto domains covering: undermining democratic institutions; suppressing dissent and media; dismantling social protections; attacking science and education; destabilising the global order. A table version is available here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LZN7QnbSyFfUZJG8Sn1MWpK0VnfBtb0OSyZ1jxP3xBk/edit?usp=sharing

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I usually reserve this account for my personal views; but today I want to represent my position as President of @asn-amnat.bsky.social to post a message that will shortly go out to the membership of the American Society of Naturalists from the ASN Executive Council

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Kelly Zamudio @kzutaustin.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Hello All, plz share. Last call for applications for a post-doc position in our lab to study immune function in frogs infected with the fungal pathogen Bd. Deadline is Feb 1, reviews will begin soon after. zamudiolab.org/2024/12/17/p...

zamudiolab.org

Post-Doc position in the KZLab! Immune responses to pathogen infections in frogs

We are looking for an NSF-funded post-doc in our lab in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. The work will examine immune mechanisms that potentially underlie…

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

The Abstract deadline is Feb 3 for the 10th annual meeting of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health in Nashville. All welcome, esp. students and clinicians. Full info at iemph.org Please repost #EvMed 🧪 @evmed.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Nashville's options aren't bad but I definitely miss both the diversity and affordability of Houston - both restaurants and grocery produce sections!

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Giacomo Bartolucci (he) @gbart.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

1/n Some time ago my colleague, excellent cook, and friend Ivan told me: "Cacio e pepe is the recipe that I screw up more often. Let's make a project studying systematically the physics of that sauce". Prepare to get cheesy, I'm glad to share the Cacio e paper preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2501.00536

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Kelly Zamudio @kzutaustin.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Hey All, plz repost, and share with grads, post-docs and disease folks! We are hiring a post-doc to work on mechanisms of immune responses of frog hosts to Bd infections. Deadline is February 1, 2025. Details for the position can be found at the link below. 🐸🐸🐸 zamudiolab.org/2024/12/17/p...

zamudiolab.org

Post-Doc position in the KZLab! Immune responses to pathogen infections in frogs

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Yes. Just note this in the opening paragraph of your response to reviewers letter

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I love these #PlantsGiving resources, and think that a cool extension for my current EEID course would be to ID the pathogens that most threaten their cultivation or trip to your table; chime in with your faves!

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Would you mind adding me? Thanks!

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Dr. Lauren E. Fuess @laurenfuess.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Ecoimmunologists/Disease Ecologists of Bluesky please help spread the word that SICB DEDE is accepting applications for our Lochmiller Early Career Award, awarded to exceptional scientists in the field within 10 years of their PhD award date. Apply here by 12/1: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Text description of application materials:

Candidates should include:

1) One-page (<500 words) description of their work.
-->In the description of their work (<500 words), applicants should highlight how their work has contributed to the overall fields of ecoimmunology and/or disease ecology in recent years, as well as their potential for mentoring new and diverse scientists in these fields. Descriptions with more than 500 words will be disqualified.
2) Two reprints of their strongest works
3) A curriculum vitae.
4) Candidates must also have two letters of recommendation forwarded to the Awards Committee Chair (chair.dede@sicb.org).

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Reese's third chapter (preprint coming in the next week or so!) explores the relationship between pleiotropy and gene age across the phylogeny of multicellular eukaryotes - stay tuned!

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