iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

maybe Urostyla with all the cirri?

Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Just a few cyanobacteria in this plankton tow from Lake Chautauqua. If you look closely, you might spy a few of the critters we were after in the sample…

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Yep, they got me. I had stable convergence by about question 30/60. Apparently, pronouncing "crayon" as "cran," "crayfish," and using the word "pop" for sweetened, carbonated beverages really sealed the deal. Didn't realize there was such overlap between pacific northwest, Montana, and midwest

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Start-of-semester-plotes has replaced Surf-plotes on the student office door

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

At the Aspen Center for Physics, even the cosmologists are talking about protists

A slide depicting a slime mold (Physarum)-based algorithm for reconstructing the cosmic web

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

First lab sampling expedition. Turns out we don't even need to leave campus to find delightful protists.

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...

Scanning electron microscopy image of the ciliate Euplotes gigatrox on the cover of the journal PNAS. Distinct punk rock vibes

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Morphological and behavioral diversity among Euplotes, as documented by the PhD students

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Fun find in the free library at work: Greg's Microscope. Never knew this existed. Warms my heart to see some ciliates in a children's book. I forgive them for referring to protists as animals...

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

As usual, Jennings has some nice observations along these lines...

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Spotted today on the door of the new student office. Nice to see that they have already far surpassed me in artistic rendering of Euplotes ability.

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Fantastic ASCB so far! Haven’t even had time to live tweet with all the great talks and catching up with folks. Some science standouts to far have been the Planetary Cell Bio session organized by @gladfelterlab.bsky.social and @robinsall.bsky.social’s beautiful talk on cell migration

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

To begin to study the molecular basis of supergiant formation and reversion, Daniele sequenced hand-picked supergiants, normal morphs, recently reverted cells, and cells of intermediate morphology. He found that the developmental cycle corresponds to cyclic expression of distinct gene clusters. 8/n

Clustering of gene expression patterns of normal morphs, supergiants, reverted cells, and intermediate cells, depicted in a PCA plot and tracing out a developmental cycle indicated by arrows

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Supergiant formation and reversion are both regulated, with supergiants able to continue to divide to produce more supergiants, or rapidly revert in the absence of large prey or with abundant small prey items, producing up to 16 normal morphs even without additional prey or nutrients. 7/n

Representative images of a supergiant dividing to produce another supergiant and an asymmetric division by which supergiants revert to normal morphs

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Naturally, we were curious about when and how supergiants form. This was tricky to figure out. Mahara Mtawali, Vittorio Boscaro, and I tried many conditions before finally finding that supergiants form stochastically following a phase of rapid growth just as small prey items begin to dwindle. 6/n

Plots depicting the emergence of supergiants, never constituting more than about 4% of the population, corresponding to stationary growth phase of the entire cell population and only occurring under moderate nutrient conditions.

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Supergiants are not only morphologically distinct but are also behaviorally distinct. In addition to their obvious raptorial feeding behavior, which contrasts with the standard filter feeding of normal morphs, supergiants display altered motility patterns, including feeble swimming performance. 5/n

A figure depicting differences in movement patterns of normal morphs and supergiants, with supergiants displaying curling walking trajectories and compact, tumbling swimming patterns compared to the extended, helical swimming patterns of normal morphs

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

We found that this Euplotes isolate was in fact a previously undescribed species, displaying a highly polymorphic phenotype, including supergiant cannibals and also winged, "defensive" morphs, captured by SEM by Sam Lord. We named the species "gigatrox" in reference to the fierce supergiants. 4/n

Scanning electron microscopy images of different morphs of Euplotes gigatrox

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

After picking cells to start cultures and then neglecting them for weeks, I began to notice the sporadic appearance of very large cells. During a visit to the Keeling lab, Vittorio Boscaro suggested these cells might be cannibals, as described in other protist species including some Euplotes. 3/n

A very large Euplotes cell surrounded by several normal sized cells

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

This all started some time ago during fieldwork at CARMABI in Curaçao. I decided to take a sample from an old water table filter (after getting the suggestion from both Patrick Keeling and Nipam Patel). I was happy to find some Euplotes cells... Thanks @coralsci.bsky.social for the filter! 2/n

CARMABI research station in Curaço, a blue building with a dock, situated beachside

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

A haiku composed by Hannah Brannan, inspired by recent slime mold sightings: Protists sneak, small and ferocious in the mulches, and in the water.

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

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

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

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

Artistically talented, social media averse @dsboothacosta.bsky.social lab member Fredrick Leon was recently kind enough to make me some stylized Euplotes cartoons. One of them looked like it was going for a high five, so I couldn't help but make a small alteration

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 30/10/2023

That magical time of the year when Costco has giant tubs of golden chanterelles. Always reminds me of one of the greatest meals I ever had. Pasta with chanterelles and garlic, field salad, and homebrew. Simple but perfect. All foraged, grown, and/or made by a cantankerous eco-anarchist farmer friend

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 29/09/2023

Felt very special to give a seminar in the physics department at my alma mater, Reed College. Wonderful to catch up with former professors, meet new folks, and see what has and hasn't changed around campus. Also had the chance to do some quick sampling and found a bunch of Euplotes...

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 12/09/2023

A bit of cell motility. Movement patterns of four different Euplotes species, vannus, parkei, eurystomus, aediculatus, visualized by max intensity projections of background subtracted dark field video recordings over 10s.

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 24/08/2023

Appears the science crew is assembling, so thought I might do a quick intro. I use microscopes, math, and field work to study how cells control shape and movement. Mostly, I am obsessed with protists and their fascinatingly complex behaviors. Posting primarily science and maybe a bit of fly fishing.

The ciliate Euplotes perched on a piece of detritus

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