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Caiti Smukowski Heil

@caitismuheil.bsky.social
443 followers 204 following 36 posts

Evolutionary geneticist studying recombination, hybridization, and domestication in yeast! Asst. Professor at NC State 🔬🧬🍞 👦👦🐈🐈 she/her

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Reposted by Caiti Smukowski Heil
André Marques @amarques.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Out today in Nature: sex without crossovers. Rhynchospora tenuis makes pollen, fertilises and sets seed, yet 0 crossovers in 10,997 pollen nuclei. Chromosome drive and ~87% seed abortion rebuild the mother's genotype, so the offspring are clones. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 16/09/2026
Today, with backing from the ACLU, Kelton and twelve other named researchers filed a class action suit against the NIH under director Jay Bhattacharya for censoring their research and violating their First Amendment rights.
aclu.org
Researchers Challenge NIH Screening of Grants for Disfavored Viewpoints | American Civil Liberties Union
Class action lawsuit seeks to stop censorship and termination of federally funded scientific research
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Megan Smith @snaildit.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My lab is hiring a postdoc for an NSF-funded project on machine learning, model misspecification, and population genetics! Flexible start-date! Learn more about the lab: smithlabbio.github.io Job Ad: explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job... Please reach out if you have any questions!
smithlabbio.github.io
The Smith Lab — Mississippi State University
The Smith Lab at Mississippi State University studies diversification using genomic data, with a focus on terrestrial snails and slugs.
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States United Democracy Center @statesunited.org · 16/09/2026
💰🚨 NEW: Since January 2025, the Trump administration has disrupted $177 billion across 17 funding sectors in all 50 states and DC. Our new project with @grantwitness.org tracks every dollar, grant by grant, and shows the impact of disruptions 🔗 www.lostfunds.org
lostfunds.org
Lost Funds — $177 Billion Gone
Track the Trump administration’s federal funding disruptions state by state — what was cut or frozen, who it hurts, and how states are fighting back in court.
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rachellcosby.bsky.social @rachellcosby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Infertility affects ~1 in 6 people, and up to 30% of cases are unexplained. I am excited to present my postdoctoral work from @toddmacfarlan.bsky.social 's lab, now available as a preprint: tinyurl.com/yync6f2r addressing a possible role for the meiotic gene PRDM9 in infertility 🧵/1
Link to preprint titled: "PRDM9-mediated meiotic hotspot specification is constrained in humans despite extensive sequence diversity"
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Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🌳 @bloomingtonindiana.bsky.social grad students isolated wild #Yeast from a 230-year-old campus oak & partnered with local breweries to produce a fruity-funky ale for the US 250th anniversary🍻 🔥 Place-based, community-embedded CUREs 🧬 #YeastResearch 🧪 #SGD 🔬 www.yeastgenome.org/reference/S1...
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Casey Dunn @caseywdunn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
My new book, Phylogenetic Biology, is now published. Available online for free at dunnlab.org/phylogenetic... . Physical copies can be purchased at shop.lightningsource.com/b/085?params... or your favorite bookstore.
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Daphne Keller @daphnek.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This data on self-censorship among U.S. academic scientists and engineers -- not even humanities people, this is STEM -- is so disturbing. theconversation.com/self-censors...
How are scientists adjusting the way they work during the Trump administration?
The survey asked a representative sample of university based scientists: "Since January 2025, have you intentionally done any of the following due to concerns about possible negative consequences for you, your work environment, or your career?" [then data]
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 30/07/2026
This is going to make it very difficult to know which sports we should ban them from.
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Matthew Hahn @3rdreviewer.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Very cool pair of papers demonstrating little link between amount of additive genetic variation and amount of nucleotide variation within species: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
journals.plos.org
Levels of additive genetic variation vary substantially between species
Adaptive potential determines how populations respond to environmental change. This study compiles evolvability estimates from over 170 multicellular species, revealing substantial variation across th...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 31/07/2026
Nature did a short piece on our preprint about how LLMs will affect the practice of science; my more detailed thread is below.
nature.com
Scientists using LLMs will ‘do more, less well’, modelling study predicts
Research suggests that the combination of incentives to publish and the use of large language models will lead to more papers, but they will be less refined.
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Dashboard with analysis of comments & github source link omb-financial-assistance-comments.netlify.app
Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance
Proposed OMB rule revising the Uniform Guidance for federal financial assistance (2 CFR, including §200.205 and §200.340) that commenters describe as shifting grant review and funding decisions from independent expert peer review toward political appointees, adding ideological conditions on awards, and restricting allowable costs.
OMB Docket: OMB-2026-0034

with cross-tabs, including 94% oppose the rule.
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Jeremy Yoder says no war @jbyoder.org · 13/07/2026
Holy COW. Text analysis of comments on the OMB rule: overwhelming opposition, overwhelmingly not form letters. (But 9 in 10 comments supporting the rule ARE form responses, LOL) Whatever happens next, folks have stepped up.
Screenshot text: Between May 29 and July 9, roughly 51,000 comments were posted to regulations.gov (and over 200,000 more had been received but not yet published). The verdict on public sentiment is clear and lopsided: about 94 percent oppose the proposed rule and only 6 percent support it, with fewer than one percent marked as unclear. The opposition is overwhelmingly grassroots rather than orchestrated. Form letters make up only about 16 percent of all comments (roughly 8,400 comments across 210 distinct campaigns), and only about one in eight opposing comments came from a form-letter campaign. Support for the rule, by contrast, was almost entirely organized: nearly nine in ten supportive comments (about 2,500) came from a single form-letter campaign. Opponents mostly wrote their own comments; supporters mostly signed the same form-letter.
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Andy Lee, PhD @andylee.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
today seems like a good day to repost our Viewpoint!!
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
New: The National Science Foundation is preparing to claw back some $500 million in funds from some of its core science programs in physics, math, computer science, and engineering in order to fund a project from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
nature.com
NSF plans cuts to core science programmes to fund White House initiative
A proposed clawback of already distributed research funds comes as the US agency’s budget is already squeezed and it struggling to clear a backlog of grant applications.
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HittingerLab @hittingerlab.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
A tenure-track research position is available for application at the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute @westerdijkinst.bsky.social located in Utrecht Science Park in the Netherlands. Please share with colleagues and see the link below for more info: wi.knaw.nl/news/details...
wi.knaw.nl
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Coming late to this story: Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50% arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/w...
arstechnica.com
Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50%
AI cheating leads to "a failed society," professor says.
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Caiti Smukowski Heil @caitismuheil.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I'm sad to miss #Evol2026 😭 But PhD student Edie Nissen is there for her first Evolution meeting 🎉 representing the lab and sharing her new work on nuclear-mitochondrial incompatibilities in hybrid yeast. Check out her poster D-19 on Tuesday!!
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Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
@teganhoran.bsky.social et al. challenge the prevailing view that synaptonemal complex length is the primary determinant of sexually dimorphic crossover rates. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag130 #evobio #molbio
doi.org
Molecular assessment of recombination processing across genetically diverse mouse strains reveals sexually dimorphic determinants of crossover distribution beyond chromosome length
Abstract. Meiotic recombination generates crossovers (COs), reciprocal exchanges between homologous chromosomes critical for accurate chromosome segregatio
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Caiti Smukowski Heil @caitismuheil.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Dunham lab past and present at #Yeast26 ! @maitreya.bsky.social
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Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Thanks to everyone who stopped by our #SGD booth at last night's #Yeast26 poster session! Especially our best bud who's clearly ready for some serious budding yeast research 🐕✨ Who needs AirBud when you've got a YeastBud? 🧬💙 🧪 #SGD #YeastResearch
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Sergey Kryazhimskiy @skryazhi.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Neil Shubin: "Curiosity-driven research is really the seed corn for the major breakthroughs and applications. But it’s also important in its own right, because discovery and the expansion of knowledge are virtues in themselves." 🎯
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Gina Baucom @gbaucom.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🚨SSE members: check your inbox!🚨 SSE has sent an important email regarding the OMB's proposed overhaul of federal grant regulations--changes that could affect peer review, publishing, conferences, professional societies, international collaborations, and more. @sse-evolution.bsky.social
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Botany One @botany.one · 02/06/2026
Asst Professor - Plant or Fungal Genomics // University of Wyoming jobs.chronicle.com/job/37995586... The Department of Botany and the School of Computing invites applications for a tenure-track position in Plant or Fungal Genomics at the rank of Assistant Professor. #BotanyJobs
jobs.chronicle.com
Asst Professor - Plant or Fungal Genomics - Wyoming, United States job with University of Wyoming | 37995586
Asst Professor - Plant or Fungal Genomics Join Our Campus Community! Thank you for your interest in joining the University of Wyoming. Our...
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Susan Johnston @susanjohnston.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
📣🧬 Postdoc Alert🧬📣 We are hiring a 2+ year NERC-funded postdoc at Edinburgh Uni investigating causes and consequences of sex differences in recombination in house sparrows in Norway. Informal enquiries welcome at Susan.Johnston@ed.ac.uk 🙂 Details here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
A female and male sparrow stand on a wooden post. Photo by Peter S. Ranke.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Several people have asked for possible content and structure for comments regarding the proposed OMB regulations. With some suggestions from others, I have posted on example (as a Word document) for downloading). jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... I hope this is helpful.
jeremymberg.github.io
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 29/05/2026
In this newsletter I outline important actions to take. 1. Submit a comment opposing the rule change. 2. Contact state legislators to ensure states are engaged with the impact at the state and local level. 3. Contact members of Congress. 4. Spread awareness. This rundown is a great source:
open.substack.com
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule
Russell Vought is going to destroy American Science
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Dan Schrider @samurscicop.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Update! The posting for the postdoc opening in my lab is up! Apply here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/319...
unc.peopleadmin.com
Post-Doc Research Associate (Schrider)
The Schrider Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is hiring a postdoc in population genetics and/or phylogenetics. The successful candidate will help design and carry out projects re...
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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
To support new junior faculty, JEB launched Kickstart Travel Grants to establish a new collaboration & and ECR Visiting Fellowships to bring an ECR to their new lab for a defined project. The next application deadline is 5 June www.biologists.com/grants/#jeb
Are you an early-career researcher withing seven years of your first appointing to a faculty position? 
You could be eligible for our grants for junior faculty staff.
Bottom left: Journal of Experimental Biology logo
Bottom right: junior faculty grant logo, showing two clasped hands
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Kelsie Hunnicutt @kelsiehunnicutt.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Thrilled that our new review article on animal hybridization is now up on EcoEvoRxiv! 🎉 Working on this review with @mollyschumer.bsky.social was a blast, and it was such a wonderful opportunity to catch up on all the amazing work in animal hybridization over the last few years!
A world map showing the distribution of species studied in hybridization research
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Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
New book "A Primer for Experimental Evolution" with coauthors Michael Rose, Margarida Matos, and Joe Graves. www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook... A compact primer for students and colleagues interested in planning and designing experiments to address questions in evolutionary biology.
worldscientific.com
A Primer for Experimental Evolution
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HittingerLab @hittingerlab.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Reminder that the Early Bird registration rate for the 9th Conference on Physiology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi (PYFF9) in Valencia (Spain) will expire on May 24th! 👉 Register here: yeastfungi.efbiotechnology.org @pyff-9.bsky.social
yeastfungi.efbiotechnology.org
Conference on Physiology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi (PYFF) - September 2026, Valencia (Spain)
The Conference on Physiology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi (PYFF) is a leading international event gathering experts in the physiology, metabolism, genetics, and biotechnology of yeasts and filament...
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Caiti Smukowski Heil @caitismuheil.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Super excited to share our lab's work led by PhD student Margot Ruffieux on domestication of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with a focus on sourdough and baking associated yeast! 🍞
biorxiv.org
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Shreyas Pai @theshreyaspai.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Thrilled to have my first PhD paper with @mmdesai.bsky.social out! @science.org Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Thread below: #mevosky #evosky #evobio #popgen #evolsky #ecoevo #molevol
science.org
Sex decreases the pleiotropic costs of local adaptation by purging hitchhiking load
Understanding the evolutionary mechanisms that maintain sex despite its direct costs is a long-standing challenge. Previous work has shown that sexual recombination can accelerate adaptation, in part ...
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Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
This is lovely: www.theguardian.com/environment/... #science #biology
theguardian.com
In the footsteps of Linnaeus: scientists share their passion for species from tiny wasps to hairy plants – in pictures
For his project ‘De Oförtrutna’ (The Relentless), photographer Christer Björkman pictured Swedish scientists working in the spirit of Carl Linneaus, the botanist who created the modern taxonomic syste...
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Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
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Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
⏰ Only 2 DAYS left for early registration! Join us at #Yeast26 (June 13-17, Pacific Grove, CA) for cutting-edge research in #genetics, #genomics, #disease, #regulation, #systemsBiology, #cellBiology, #lifeCycle, #syntheticBiology, & more. Register by April 16 to save! 🧬 genetics-gsa.org/yeast-2026/
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Larisa Aitch @llarisah.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
“And in the process, to maybe, finally, find a way to inoculate future generations of Americans against the kinds of genetic misinformation that has been fueling white supremacist belief systems for centuries. […] last April, both of Donovan’s National Science Foundation grants were terminated […]”
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The American Genetic Association @theaga.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Here are more details for our #AGA2026 President's Symposium, all about Polygenic Adaptation in a Changing World! This symposium will promote a broad, synthetic discussion of adaptive evolution for complex traits, bringing together theoreticians & empiricists working on diverse organisms. 1/2
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Anjali Hinch @anjalihinch.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Meiosis faces a fundamental problem: It must repair hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks while executing a transcriptional programme essential for gamete development. But many of these breaks occur in genes. So how are these two processes reconciled? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Liz Mandeville @lizmandeville.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
So pleased to share that @amanda-meuser.bsky.social 's work is now published in Molecular Ecology! This was a particularly cool study, because it revealed very high rates of hybridization in a system with many closely related species.
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Kristoffer Krogerus @suregork.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
In our recent study, we created over 1000 intraspecific yeast hybrids by crossing genetically diverse strains and tested how well they grow under harsh industrial conditions such as high ethanol, salt, and organic acids. enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Influence of Ploidy and Genetic Background on Stress Tolerance of Intraspecific Yeast Hybrids
A large set of intraspecific yeast hybrids was constructed using two strategies that yielded series of hybrids with variable ploidy. Phenotyping of the hybrids was carried out in high-stress media to....
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Maitreya Dunham @maitreya.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
I’m so pleased to be named a AAAS Fellow! I remember opening the original email thinking wow, which of my awesome faculty won this nice thing (a perk of being chair is getting emails like that) but it was me! www.washington.edu/news/2026/03...
washington.edu
Four UW researchers named AAAS Fellows
Four University of Washington researchers have been named AAAS Fellows, according to an announcement by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are among 449 newly elected...
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Caiti Smukowski Heil @caitismuheil.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Congrats Maitreya!!!! 🎉🥳 A wonderful scientist, mentor, teacher, and leader @maitreya.bsky.social
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Evolution Students @ssegrad.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Sharing this with our graduate student community 👇 The Society for the Study of Evolution Graduate Research Excellence Grants are a great way to support your research journey. We encourage you to apply!
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Darío Lupiáñez @dariloops.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
🐟How does the Amazon molly defy all evolutionary odds and overcome the detrimental costs of asexual reproduction?🧬 😊Glad that @rdacemel.bsky.social and I could contribute to this fascinating study, brilliantly led by Ed Ricemeyer @nature.com 👏Congrats to all authors! @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social
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Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
📢 Reminder: #Yeast26 extended abstract submission deadline is tomorrow (Thursday) at 8PM PT! Submit your research and join us at #Asilomar this summer. Whether your work is fully fermented or still just budding, the #YeastGenetics community wants to hear from you! 🧬 @genetics-gsa.bsky.social #GSA
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