iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My longtime friend and collaborator MaryMar visited my lab from the Philippines. We had a productive stay working on population genetics and metabarcoding of zooplankton. Can't wait to see what comes out of it! Thanks for coming, MaryMar!

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My student who recently completed a PhD brought me this beautiful bottle of Shinrai Daiginjo from Hiroshima.

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Our new paper is out in Marine Environmental Research! We uncovered hidden zooplankton diversity beneath sea ice in the Okhotsk Sea, using the sightseeing icebreaker Garinko-go for sampling. We also applied metabarcoding for metaphylogeography. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Sampling in the Okhotsk Sea aboard the Garinko-go. We are currently exploring the hidden diversity of zooplankton beneath the sea ice.

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Another round of sampling completed in this February! We’re now preparing incubation experiments with copepods. Our target species, Calanus sinicus, was successfully collected from Sagami Bay. Huge thanks to the amazing team at the Manazuru Marine Center for all their support!

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

The 40th International Symposium on the Okhotsk Sea & Polar Oceans. We presented two studies and conducted field sampling at the Okhotsk Tower: okhotsk-mombetsu.jp/okhsympo/Sym...

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Excited to share our new paper by former Ph.D student Kanako Amei, together with Erica Goetze (UH)! This is the first study to uncover the global diversity of Tomopteridae (pelagic polychaetes). Ready for the next step in exploring hidden ocean biodiversity! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Global-scale biogeography of the pelagic polychaete family Tomopteridae (Annelida) revealed by DNA barcoding and genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms

Zooplankton are essential members of marine ecosystems that respond sensitively to environmental changes. While the distribution patterns of zooplankt…

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Junya Hirai @jhirai87.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Our new paper is out in MEPS! My student Fanyu Zhou uncovered fine‑scale feeding differences among tropical and subtropical euphausiids using metabarcoding and stable isotope analyses. www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

int-res.com

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Reposted by Junya Hirai

Leocadio Blanco-Bercial @blancobercial.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Our last product of the SCOR WG157 MetaZooGene if out! We run a 10-laboratory intercomparison experiment on for zooplankton metabarcoding. Take home: major patterns hold, but sequencing platform matters, taq matters (a lot), add positive/negative controls... onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

MetaZooGene Intercalibration Experiment (MZG‐ICE): Metabarcoding Marine Zooplankton Diversity of the Global Ocean

DNA metabarcoding of zooplankton biodiversity is used increasingly for monitoring global ocean ecosystems, requiring comparable data from different research laboratories and ocean regions. The MetaZo...

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