iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

..and it was good to see you two and road test the future vintage.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Reg would be chuffed to bits with this.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

The late Kylie Mullin quipped with me that ACP was a lucky choice for our focus on apicoplast biology in the early days. Antigenic, abundant, nice processing and pull downs..

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Grad student Sarah Farrell wrote this review about a novel approach to malaria control that drugs mosquitoes instead of the people. We believe it will be a cheap and useful disease control strategy. She paints her own figures, and they are gorgeous. url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/cyiICWLJMv...

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Cool. So if I moved SufB and ClpC to the nucleus, would the Plasmodium apicoplast disappear? Asking for a friend.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Cool discovery. One of my favourite talks from the recent Protistology Open in Prague.

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Reposted by Geoff McFadden

Melanie Bonhivers @mbonhivers.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The CNRS has opened a Junior Professor Chair (CPJ) call in Parasitology, and the Microbiologie Fondamentale et Pathogénicité (MFP, Bordeaux) laboratory is among the potential host institutions. More information: www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/... #Parasitology #Protozoology #ResearchJobs #CNRS

insb.cnrs.fr

Junior Professor Chairs (CPJ) 2026 – CNRS Biology

CNRS Biology is recruiting researchers through its Junior Professor Chair (CPJ) program, subject to final approval by the French Ministry of Higher Ed

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

One of my favourite records.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

It is actually not surprising that we never get good immunity to malaria. The ancestors of malaria parasites were parasites of animals for ~0.5 billions years ago. The parasites were in animals when the immune system was invented. The parasites are locked in an arms race to avoid being eliminated.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Conversion from a mutualist to a parasite (the polar extremes of symbiosis) created a new lineage of parasites (Apicomplexa) ~ 500 million years ago. Apicomplexa radiated with animals creating the modern parasites of humans such as malaria plus ~6,000 species of animal parasites.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

It is now clear that this conversion from photosynthesis to parasitic lifestyle occurred multiple times in the Apicomplexa, so it was a frequent conversion and probably is elsewhere in the evolutionary tree. This begs the question of why photosynthetic organisms can convert to parasitism frequently.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I proposed that apicomplexans arose from mutualistic, photosynthetic symbionts such as the symbiotic dinoflagellates that occur in modern day corals. The symbiotic ancestor of Apicomplexa stopped photosynthesising, crossed-the-tracks, and became a parasite instead of a mutualist.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

A photosynthetic predecessor of the apicoplast was discovered in 2010 in Chromera and later in Vitrella, a symbiont of corals. Plastids in dinoflagellate algae, the sister lineage to apicomplexa, are homologous and derived from the same secondary endosymbiotic origin.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

First discovered in Toxoplasma (causes toxoplasmosis) and Plasmodium (causes malaria), apicoplasts occur in most related apicomplexan parasites, with the notable of exceptions of Cryptosporidium and select gregarines. Apicoplast is short for apicomplexan plastid.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

In situ hybridization identifies where a particular gene is located in a cell. We localised 16S rRNA within a four-membrane-bound compartment now known as the apicoplast. 16S rRNA is the target of the antimalarial doxycycline, which lethally blocks apicoplast protein synthesis.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

To identify the apicoplast, we localised chloroplast related genes (sequenced by Iain Wilson and his then graduate student Malcolm Gardner) with a technique known as in situ hybridization which is like FISH but uses tiny gold balls to see the target sequence by EM.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Apicoplasts in some parasites also make fatty acids, iron/sulphur clusters, and haem scaffolds. Generally speaking, the apicoplast makes these components when the parasite can’t scavenge them from the host.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

The key apicoplast function is to make a 5-carbon isoprenoid building block (isopentenyl pyrophosphate or IPP). Parasites use IPP in dolichols, ubiquinone, tRNAs, & prenylation of proteins. Parasites can’t scavenge IPP from their hosts, so must retain an apicoplast to make it.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Science journalist & covid-whisperer @normanswan broke our apicoplast identification on the front page The Australian newspaper. This gave us our ‘15 minutes of fame’ on radio and TV.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

A Google search for “apicoplast” returns 85,600 hits. Wikipedia has a page on the apicoplast. The web lists 940 papers with ‘apicoplast’ in the title, and a new one appears weekly. Admittedly, many of these are mine ;-)

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Our paper first identifying the apicoplast (PMID 8632819) is only 548 words long. I wrote it the same night I got the data. When it was later accepted by Nature, I was too excited to sleep.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Finding apicoplasts in human parasites revolutionised our understanding of their evolutionary history showing they were once photosynthetic organisms like algae or plants, and apparently converted to parasitism ~450 million years ago, but kept their plastids, which are now non-photosynthetic

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Today marks 30 years since we identified the apicoplast, a relict plastid in human and animal parasites (PMID 8632819). Apicoplasts are the target of the widely used antimalarial prophylactic doxycycline, which has saved many thousands of malaria infections.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Jess Home gave her PhD oration on malaria parasite drug resistance yesterday and nailed it of course. Afterwards we went for drinks. 🍷

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Great skiing and snowboarding and a short drive from the Chartreuse distillery. Sounds like a fun option.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Botany building at unimelb has 24/7 access. Sign in and out after hours for safety/security.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Meanwhile, its autumn down under. Tupelo tree imported from North America. There are almost no deciduous trees in Australia and most of the ones that lose their leaves do it in the dry season to avoid desiccation not the cold.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Popped into my local Data Centre. A helpful person there helped me find the data I wanted.They explained that I could take the data home for as long as I wanted but please bring it back so someone else can use it too. Apparently this person is paid by the city to curate the data. Amazing innovation.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Woohoo! Teensy bit jealous. Love Portugal. Such good surf, food, wine, and people.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Yes, it is still a wonder that we head out each morning with a GPS, compass, high res camera, computer, inclinometer, accurate clock that does all time zones, and can also make phone calls in our pocket

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Nice to see a role identified at last. It was pure luck that we used ACP as a keystone to unlock much about the apicoplast in the early days and it turns out to be a hub for more than just FASII.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I’ll try it. Looking at one’s own cells is not to be underestimated as an impactful experience.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Are there sufficient loose cells in saliva to find them easily? We used to do a prac class where students scraped cells off the inside cheek with a popsicle stick and stained them after smearing, but OH&S canned it deeming the risk of putting objects in the mouth in a lab space too high.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Smooth-leaved mountain gum from SE Australia.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

There is something genuinely troubling about a machine challenging me to prove I’m not a machine. I mean really, who is actually in charge here?

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Passed 2k emails unread. The sky hasn’t fallen. No lightning bolts frizzling me from on high. I still have a job. I have found you get a lot less email if you don’t reply 🙄

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Bit of summer evening malariology at a rooftop bar downtown.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Cuckoo wasp from SE Australia. Lays her eggs in the larvae of mud daub wasps, which become food for the hatching cuckoo wasp larvae. Remarkably beautiful little insect, and I’m pretty happy with this iPhone shot as she is only 10mm long.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I picked up a horse blanket at ALDI. Don’t even own a horse.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

My immunology friends use our malaria parasite sporozoites to study the immune system's response to infection. The papers have titles I can barely understand, appearing to be in foreign language. Nice work. "γδ T cell-derived IL-4 initiates CD8+ T cell immunity" www.doherty.edu.au/articles/fro...

doherty.edu.au

From flicker to flame: How gd T cells spark long-lasting immune protection to Malaria - Doherty Institute

Discover how γδ T cells ignite long‑lasting immune protection against malaria, revealing their unique role at the crossroads of innate and adaptive immunity and opening new avenues for future vaccine ...

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

We get it along my coast each summer. The phosphorescence isn't as good as I have seen it at Woods Hole, but it is very good and super fun to swim in at night.

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Nice to see this work out Frankie, Mel and Wai-Hong

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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Such a lovely meeting for science, community, and sweet location.

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