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Filippo Nicolini 🧬

@filonico.bsky.social
335 followers 587 following 104 posts

🧬🦪🦗🧽 Dealing/struggling with invertebrate evolutionary genomics filonico.github.io 🎓 he/him postodoc in @robertofeuda.bsky.social lab at Uni of Leicester (UK), former PhD student at Uni of Bologna (IT) 🎨💭 Also drawing & science communication

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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Let there be hell
static.klipy.com
Elmo Surrounded by Intense Fire
ALT: Elmo Surrounded by Intense Fire
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Nicole 🪲 @fossilforager.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
unfortunately I did not have the bandwidth to make/post a prompt list for invertober this year, but I encourage everyone to draw their favorite invert AND the weirdest invert they know
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
1/2 Last Tue we took part to the first UK Wood Ant Translocation & Reintroduction Symposium in York 🥹🇬🇧🐜 Was absolutely fantastic! From historical archives to advanced genetics, from tiny ant houses to flying drones, we got to know what ppl are doing out there to protect & study wood ants #bugsky 🧬
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Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What a great crowd of people for the launch of @ergabiodiv.bsky.social's COST Action CONSENSA today in #Brussels www.cost.eu/actions/CA25... #biodiversity #genomics #standards ERGA members - sign up to participate!
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
(1/2) Travelling in the UK for an upcoming fantastic workshop in York next Tuesday... ... and guess what? We bumped into rufa #ants (aka red wood ants) while hiking in the Peak District! #bugsky 🐜🧬 They are literally chasing us 👀
A birch forestThe nest of red wood ants, next to a birchA red wood ant on a person hand
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RobertoFeuda @robertofeuda.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
We're hiring 4 postdocs at @unibo.it to study nervous system evolution. Seeking expertise in single-cell genomics, molecular or developmental biology in ctenophores, cnidarians, echinoderms, flies or human stem cells. 2+2 yrs contract. Deadline: 26 Aug. Please share! bandi.unibo.it/s/apos7/proc...
bandi.unibo.it
Procedura di valutazione comparativa per titoli e colloquio per il conferimento di n. 4 contratti di ricerca presso il Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali - SSD BIOS-04/A - GSD...
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Very cool paper about the #neurogenetics of parenting and age-related behavioural changes in #ants! 🧬🖥️🐜 doi.org/10.1038/s415... #bugsky
doi.org
Ancient feeding-related neuropeptides regulate alloparenting in ants - Nature
Pharmacological screening and behavioural assays in ants identify two specific neuropeptides that have key and opposite effects in regulating brood care, and that link nutritional state to age-depende...
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RobertoFeuda @robertofeuda.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of human embryos after gastrulation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of human embryos after gastrulation - Nature
A spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of whole-human embryos after gastrulation and previously transcriptionally undescribed stages of human development are reported.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Thank you @royalsocietypublishing.org for this beautiful print! Will add it to my zoological anatomy collection 🙂‍↕️
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 12/06/2026
Thank you to everyone who visited our booth at #EED26 and congratulations to our lucky prize draw winner, @filonico.bsky.social from the University of Leicester! 🎉 If you’re looking for a home for your research, we invite you to explore our latest content: royalsociety.org/journals/pub...
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Check out our 2026 subject collection, showcasing recent papers in @dev-journal.bsky.social on evolutionary developmental biology: journals.biologists.com/dev/collecti... It has been curated to support the 2026 Euro-Evo-Devo conference in Glasgow, UK. #EED2026
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Alexandra Weber @toedtoad.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I will be giving a talk tomorrow during the #EED2026 symposium c10 @11:47. I am excited to share my work on a new myriapod lab tractable model and arthropod tracheal evolution. If you stop by make sure to find me after to chat and get a sticker!
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Ariel Chipman @chipman-lab.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
#EED2026 @marcrr.bsky.social talking about the Bgee database for curated animal gene expression patterns. The database is manually curated, freely available. Collects data from published papers.
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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Not only is this Sphaerodromia brizops adorable, it is a totally separate carcinization event from "regular" crabs 🦀 Btw this one is not a newly described species, but they probably featured it for cuteness reasons onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Figure 2 from my paper modified to circle sponge crab (guy in quote skeet) and separately "regular crab" which are Eubrachyura or "higher" true crabs. This naming is silly because sponge crabs ARE true crabs but they are very distant from other carcinized groups.

Figure shows that carcinized body plans have evolved multiple times (indicated by the colored characteristics on branches). Carcinized clades are: sponge crabs, "higher" true crabs, porcelain crabs, hairy stone crabs, and king crabs. Decarcinized clade shown is the frog crabs
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
She got one already! But can give more for the lab 😆
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
#EED26 is proving again to be a great congress! If you are around, want to know about the #evolution of phototransduction (n also grab some #ctenophore iridescent stickers 👀) come find me at poster 55 or somewhere in the venue 🫶🦑🖥️🧬 #marineLife #evolsky Link to the poster pdf: shorturl.at/eZVmx
A collection of iridescent stickers of a ctenophore A photo of the stickers set against the hang poster
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Where's the Sorting Hat? ⚡ Loving this venue for the #EED26 in Glasgow 🧬🖥️🦑
A picture of the main lectur hall of the University of Glasgow, which is hosting the euro Evo Devo 2026 meeting. Thr Introductory slide is projected onto a wide screen.
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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
We believe that, as our future leaders in biology, it's vital to provide ECRs with the right support during the early stages of your academic career. We offer practical ways to help you meet the unique needs & challenges you may encounter as an ECR.
biologists.com
Supporting early-career researchers
On these pages we highlight the range of resources that we offer to early-career researchers.
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RobertoFeuda @robertofeuda.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Does anyone have experience with the Gilson PipetMax 268 or 278, or any liquid handling robot, for combinatorial barcoding sci-RNA-seq/SPLiT-seq style workflows? We are interested in buying one for library prep automation. Any feedback welcome! #singlecell #labautomation ➡️ Reply or DM me!
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
A couple of weeks ago WWA landed in the UK 🇬🇧 to present our story at @pintofscience.uk @filonico.bsky.social talked bout the importance of #DNA in todays world, bringing examples from #ants and #ctenophores altogether! 🐜🦑🧬🖥️🍻 So many interested people were there enjoying our science 🥹 #SciComm
Two speakers from Pint of Science posing in front of the official event poster at the pub venue Our speaker in front of the audience, showing the introductory slideOur speaker in front of the audience talking about DNAThe pint of science promotion graphics from the venue
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ERGA - European Reference Genome Atlas @ergabiodiv.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
💡 #KnowledgeHighlight | Bioinformatics basics for trainee students - UNIX and bash basics by @filonico.bsky.social @unibo.it 🧬 🖥️ github.com/filonico/UNI... Explore open-access training materials in the ERGA #KnowledgeHub ➡️ knowledge.erga-biodiversity.eu #unix #bash #genomics #bioinformatics
github.com
GitHub - filonico/UNIX_and_bash_basics: This repository contains bash basics and other useful resources intended for beginner bioinformaticians 🐧💲
This repository contains bash basics and other useful resources intended for beginner bioinformaticians 🐧💲 - filonico/UNIX_and_bash_basics
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Thank you @ergabiodiv.bsky.social for including me 🫶 I really think the knowledge hub will be a fundamental resource for all scientists. But know I feel the urge to update all the repository 🫨
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
I'm not a high-level education teacher, but I'm not a student anymore: just right in between. As such I find myself empathising both with the "lazy" new generations & with the "boring" old school This offers interesting POVs for communication #SciComm www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/dear-...
timeshighereducation.com
Dear educators, Gen Z here. Could you please teach us like it’s 2026?
Learning has changed drastically in the past five years, but teaching practices haven’t caught up. From your students’ perspective, here’s how to adapt
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Do you know how Feulgen densitometry works? Cos we don't 😶‍🌫️ Thats why our master student visited prof Flot's lab at Université Libre de Bruxelles Basically it is a technique to estimate genome size from microscopy images & we couldnt help but to try it out on our #ant samples 🖥️🧬🐜 #bugsky #evolsky
A photo of some ant samples on a piece of paper towel, with forceps and a paper tagA photo of several glass slides ready to be imaged on a microscope Some microscope photos of stained nuclei to be used to estimate the genome size Our student while working at the microscope
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Something's in the making for the upcoming #EuroEvoDevo2026 meeting in Glasgow 👀 can wait to see this done! #evolsky #marineLife I'll be presenting a poster, so make sure to visit me 🎁 can't wait to meet old and new friends!
Digital conceptualisation of a sticker with a ctenophore
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Royal Entomological Society @royentsoc.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Entomology is for everyone - and we’re here to help make that a reality. The RES EDI Grant supports projects that break down barriers and create opportunities for more people to engage with #InsectScience. Apply for funding 🔽 buff.ly/mzUEw45 📅 Deadline: 17 July
buff.ly
Your idea could inspire the next generation - Apply for funding
📸 Damselflies on parade (c) Paul Dibben 2016. The RES EDI Grant is here to fund initiatives that: 🌱 Reach new audiences 🤝 Engage diverse communities 🔬 Open up access to insect science and more. If your project can make an impact, we want to hear from you.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
If only I knew this when I started my PhD! Nothing really ground-breaking or innovative, but this is just one of those "untold rules" of academia that we may want to start telling young scientists, instead of letting them understand in the hard way. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
A step-by-step guide for scientists who hate conference networking
If the thought of ‘working’ a room packed with strangers fills you with dread, academic careers coach Caroline Dunne has some advice.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Want to work on mosquitos nervous system🦟🩸? This is your chance! #bugsky Hate mosquitos and want them to go extinct, but love sea critters🪼 🧽? This is also your chance! #marineLiife Don't miss the opportunity to get a fully funded PhD working on #genomics, #SingleCell & #phylogenetics! 🖥️🧬 #evolsky
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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Been training for this moment my whole life.
A 3x3 CAPTCHA grid showing different stock images of DNA, several of which have unusual left-handed double-helices, rather than the right-handed structure most typically seen in nature. To prove that the user is not a robot, they simply need to click on "all DNA stock images with messed-up chirality".
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Also, ever wondered what goes into producing a figure for a paper? A tremedously tangled process! You know where you start but not where you'll land #evolsky #SciArt Heres a glimpse: from raw ideas to final results! Btw, the figure got eventually split into two. From our last pub shorturl.at/03ROX
Raw hand-made ideas for the figure. Pen on paper.First digital draft of the figure, mostly reflecting the first raw concepts.Second digital version of the figure, with some modifications.
Final published version of the figure.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
You ever wondered what happens to a trait after its loss? Dollo's law predicts that it can't be reinstated in its original form. Actually true (partially)! #evolsky Happy to see this published: we have reviewed the LOSS, PERSISTENCE & REVERSAL OF PHENOTYPIC TRAITS 🖥️🧬🦑🐜 doi.org/10.1002/brv....
Figure 1 of the paper showing two examples of trait loss reversals in the form of phylogenetic trees: on the top, the case of the reinstatement of the second lower molar of the euroasian linx; on the bottom, the case of the reinstatement of stick insect wings.
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
The spark in their eyes never gets old and is truly priceless 🥹 Wood Wide Ants is back in schools sharing the world of #ants with students—from #biology & #systematics to #genomics Their enthusiasm is so inspiring, and we're hoping this keeps going for a long time 🐜🧬🖥️ #SciComm #bugsky
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Well that's impressive!! They just published the first massive phenomics dataset spanning the #ants tree of life, with 2,000+ whole-body 3D scans! Can't wait to use this to integrate molecular and phenotipic studies! #bugsky #phylogenetics #genomics 🧬🖥️🐜 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
High-throughput phenomics of global ant biodiversity - Nature Methods
Antscan is a publicly accessible database of synchrotron X-ray CT images of ants. The database covers almost 800 species from more than 200 genera and is coordinated with genome sequencing projects th...
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
NEW PAPER OUT 🖤 another one of pure comparative #genomics We investigated the molecular & genome #evolution of tadpole shrimps, a group of #crustaceans with a sharp morphological stasis. Also sequenced 2 new genomes 🧬🦐 (the jackdaw picture is unralated) royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org
The elusive genomic signature of tadpole shrimps’ ancient morphology
Abstract. The tempo of evolutionary change varies widely across the tree of life, with some lineages undergoing extensive morphological diversification whi
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Haplodiploidy has been repeatedly reported as one of the factors promoting altruism & eusociality in #insects 🐝🐜🪳 Well apparently it's not! Different statistical approaches find no relationships between the two, in this brand new phylogenetic work! #bugsky #phylogenetics doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Kosakyan et al. sequenced mitogenomes of species from the two main lineages of the Gastrotricha; they found stable mitogenomes in the mostly freshwater Chaetonotida, but a dynamic pattern in the the marine Macrodasyida. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag001 #genome #evolution #mtDNA
GBE | From Rigid Order to Radical Variation: Mitogenome Evolution in the Main Lineages of a Lesser-Known Animal Phylum (Gastrotricha)
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Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
The cover of February's issue of Genome Biology and Evolution features the work of Kosakyan et al. on the evolution of mitochondrial genomes in the Gastrotricha. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag001 #genome #evolution #mtDNA
Genome Biology and Evolution | February 2026 cover
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
A gigantic work by some Italian colleagues on how ants have been used as biological control agents all around the globe: more than 180 published papers have been reviewed! Guess what, also the story of our beloved red wood ant is mentioned 🫶🐜 #bugsky doi.org/10.1007/s103...
doi.org
Ant-mediated biological control: a global meta-synthesis of antagonistic interactions against pests - Journal of Pest Science
Ants’ deep and pervasive ecological impacts on terrestrial ecosystems also translate into several meaningful services and disservices for human activities, whose balance can often be complex to assess...
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RobertoFeuda @robertofeuda.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded a FIS-3 Advanced Grant (ERC-inspired) to study the evolution of neurogenic GRNs. Recruiting soon: 4 postdocs + 3 PhDs Press release in Italian — to decolonise scientific language 😄 magazine.unibo.it/it/articoli/... Email me if interested in joining the lab
magazine.unibo.it
Un viaggio all’origine dei sistemi nervosi
Il nuovo progetto GRNevo, finanziato con un grant FIS-3 Advanced da 1,9 milioni di euro, studierà come si formano i neuroni durante lo sviluppo in specie animali molto distanti tra loro: dal moscerino...
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Philip Donoghue @phil-donoghue.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others
science.org
Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history
Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
2/2🧵In the image below you can see embryos of the Mediterranean mussel🦪 under a fluorescent #microscope 🦑🖥️🧬🔬 In green are sperm mitochondria: ♂️ If they are aggregated (left column), the embryo will develop into a male ♀️ If they are dispersed (right column), the embryo will develop into a female
Fluorescent microscopy images of several developing embryos of the Mediterranean mussel. In green are labelled sperm mitochondria.

On the left column, mitochondria are aggregated near the cleavage furrow and indicate that the embryo will develop into a male. On the right column, mitochondria are sparsed in blastomeres and indicate that the embryo will develop into a female.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
1/2🧵What a way to end 2025! NEW PAPER OUT with ppl from Uni of Bologna & @szndohrn.bsky.social Did you know that some bivalves🦪 transmit mitochondria through both the maternal and paternal lines? We looked at molecular signatures of this through comp #genomics & #RNAseq 🖥️🧬🦑 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
doi.org
New insights into mitochondrial segregation from the Doubly Uniparental Inheritance system in bivalves - BMC Biology
Background While nuclear genome segregation is well characterized, mechanisms underlying mitochondrial partitioning remain partially obscure, even though its failure can cause developmental arrest or ...
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Developmental Biology @devbiol.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
#DBfeature Wish our authors and readers a Happy Holiday & a fruitful 2026!🥳🥳🥳
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Look mum, I'm famous! 🖥️🧬🐜
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Thanks! I must admit that it took me longer to assemble this graphics rather than producing the tree itself 😆
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
2/2🧵 Call me a nerd, but my brain goes crazy for #phylogenetic trees: I find them elegant and easy to read! So I couldn't help but to draw one for my #invertober2025 wrap-up 🖥️🧬 I also run a series of basics stats 👀 see them below and find the full explanation on github.com/filonico/inv...
A 3-plot panel with some statistics describing the invertober25 dataset. First plot: proportion of species per taxonomical class. Second plot: relationship between level of difficulty of each invertober species vs level of satisfaction of the final result. Third plot: gene occupancy table of the molecular dataset used fot the phylogeny.
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
1/2🧵 After >1 month I can finally share my #invertober2025 phylogenetic wrap-up!! Actually it was done weeks ago, but I just didn't have the time to put everything together. #phylogenetics 🖥️🧬 Find the full-size version plus caption and additional content on github.com/filonico/inv...
Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of species included in invertober2025, plus figures for each of them
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Just gave a seminar on the #genomics of #SexDet for students of the uni of Bologna. I included these wonderful plates by Nettie M Stevens, the scientist who first linked XY chromosomes to SexDet: she was a woman and, guess what, she is rarely acknowledged for her work #EndViolenceAgainstWomen
Title slide of the presentation, with Stevens' plates on the left and text on the right. The title is "Beyond sex chromosomes: how sexual processes shape genomes and molecules". Details about my current affiliation and the seminar are also given.NM Stevens portrait
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Ooow I see, I will consider it for sure 😯
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
OMG please don't drag me into another invert-based sci art event...what is #InverteFest?!
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