iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Our latest preprint 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🦠🧬 We explore the genomic legacy of the Second Plague Pandemic across Northern Europe and the Caucasus, analysing 23 newly reconstructed ancient Yersinia pestis genomes from Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Armenia and Iceland. 1/

biorxiv.org

The Genomic Landscape of Post-Black Death Epidemics in Northern Europe and the Caucasus

One of the most devastating events in human history, the Black Death (c.1347-1353), marked the beginning of the Second Plague Pandemic. After initially receding, plague returned in intermittent outbre...

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

What does a typical workflow look like for @ugiatucl.bsky.social researchers studying pathogen diversity? See our microbial genomics theme poster featuring the groups of @lucyvandorp.bsky.social @proffballoux.bsky.social @gemmamurray.bsky.social & Marina Escalera-Zamudio. Poster: Phoebe Cunningham

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Really enjoyed being part of the "Future Medicine" panel at @latitudefestival.bsky.social. A fun challenge to think about what the next 20 years of medicine will look like and how to bring together genomics, AI, vaccines, diagnostics and public health to make better decisions for patients.

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UCL Faculty of Life Sciences @ucllifesciences.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Congratulations to UCL’s Dr Gemma Murray on receiving a prestigious Wellcome Career Development Award, recognising her pioneering research into bacterial evolution and antimicrobial resistance. @ugiatucl.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/life-science...

ucl.ac.uk

Gemma Murray awarded prestigious Wellcome Career Development Award

Dr Gemma Murray has been awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award to lead pioneering research into the hidden role of commensal bacteria in antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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The Cosmic Shambles Network @cosmicshambles.com · 16/07/2026

Here it is, your jam packed schedule for The Cosmic Shambles Forest at this year’s Latitude Festival. Two stages of science, comedy, music, poetry and more, a Museum Street and vendors to explore plus other Shambles shows around the festival. Download the Latitude app for any last minute changes!

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UCL Faculty of Life Sciences @ucllifesciences.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Fascinating talk ahead: Dr @lucyvandorp.bsky.social on recovering ancient DNA from mummies, museum collections & even Jeremy Bentham’s auto-icon — and what it reveals about disease, migration & evolution.

Professor Gail Taylor with Dr Lucy van Dorp.

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

@ugiatucl.bsky.social microbial genomics are at #SMBE2026! S14 - Marina Escalera-Zamudio - mapping fitness landscape of SARS-CoV-2 🧬 S13 - me/Pooja Swali - tracing 2 centuries of evolution in BFDV 🦜 Open 10a - Cedric Tan - Ranavirus evolution across hosts 🐸

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ICP2026 Stockholm @palaeogenomics.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

#ICP2026 Stockholm is over, but ICP will return... in 2028! #ICP2028 will be hosted by Trinity College Dublin 🎉☘️🇮🇪

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Congratulations to Dr Cedric Tan for successfully defending his PhD on the eco-evolutionary drivers of viral host jumps. What a pleasure to work with Cedric over many years with fellow supervisor @proffballoux.bsky.social.

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

We are advertising a 3-year Evolution Education Trust funded #PhD studentship at @ugiatucl.bsky.social UCL to investigate the genomic history of infectious diseases preserved within historical pathology collections. Details: www.findaphd.com/phds/project.... #findaphd #EET

findaphd.com

Unlocking the Genomic History of Pathogens Through Pathology Archives at University College London on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Unlocking the Genomic History of Pathogens Through Pathology Archives at University College London, listed on FindAPhD.com

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Congratulations to PhD Student Cameron Ferguson for winning the best presentation at the annual postgraduate research symposium for his talk on "The Genomic Landscape of Post-Black Death Epidemics in Northern Europe and the Caucasus".

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Max Reuter @maxreuter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

We are advertising a PhD studentship to study the effects of mitochondrial function on cell motility in flies. The project is supervised by myself, Nick Lane and @fcamus.bsky.social, in collaboration with Anna Franz at UCL, @stramerlab.bsky.social at KCL and Michael Sixt at ISTA. Please repost!

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UCL Faculty of Life Sciences @ucllifesciences.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

UCL’s Lunch Hour Lectures are returning with a fascinating deep dive into ancient DNA. Dr @lucyvandorp.bsky.social will explain how genetic traces from mummies, museum objects and even Bentham’s auto‑icon are reshaping our understanding of human history and disease. www.ucl.ac.uk/events/event...

ucl.ac.uk

Bentham and Beyond: Learning through Genomes, Collections and Collaborations

In this lecture, Dr Lucy van Dorp will discuss ancient DNA research, including how DNA is recovered from historical objects such as Jeremy Bentham.

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Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution @official-smbe.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

S13: Perspectives on paleo-omics: defining functional evolution of ancient viruses in the era of big data 🗓️ Wed Jul 1, 1:20pm 🔗 smbe2026.org/programme

SMBE2026 | S13: Perspectives on paleo-omics: defining functional evolution of ancient viruses in the era of big data

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Wonderful UCL Genetics Institute away day at the @nhm.org. A chance to hear exciting research updates, discuss and debate. Thank you to all speakers and organisers.

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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

After 15 years of reporting on infectious disease outbreaks, what continues to fascinate me about them is the challenge of making high-stakes decisions under uncertainty. The hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius is a perfect example My story in @science.org is here (and a thread to come): 🧪 #IDsky

science.org

What to do with the passengers on the cruise ship hit by hantavirus?

Past studies of Andes virus offer scant evidence on transmission risks, and have sparked debate

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Flo Camus @fcamus.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

A nice way to kick-off the weekend! Just saw that our @molbioevol.bsky.social paper was published! 🎉 Congrats to Finley Grover-Thomas for doing an amazing job, and massive thanks to co-supervisor @aidaandres.bsky.social, and collabs @lucyvandorp.bsky.social @proffballoux.bsky.social!! 🥳

Climate-associated natural selection in the human mitochondrial genome

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Even working in infectious disease genomics, it came as a bit of a shock how often toddlers get sick. So myself and a set of colleagues, expertly led by @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social, set out to review the evidence. How much infection is expected, does it increase with nursery attendance and why?

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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Have you ever wondered why children starting nursery/daycare pick up so many germs? I certainly did, and with a crack team of parent-scientists/clinicians, we set out to answer that question. Is childcare a germ factory or an immune bootcamp? journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

journals.asm.org

Germ factories or immune boot camps? Infection and immunity in childcare settings | Clinical Microbiology Reviews

SUMMARYChildcare outside the home is a common experience for many children in high-income countries. It is associated with an increase in the incidence of infectious diseases—not just for the child bu...

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Come join us! We are looking for a Professor or Associate Professor of Computational Genomics in Health and Disease at University College London. Details 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... Post funded by UCL Health Strategy.

ucl.ac.uk

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

There's still a few days left to apply for our AI-Intervene PhD project mapping the drivers of avian influenza using viral genomics, bird migration data and AI-powered phylodynamics. Come join us! Details below. #FindaPhD #LondonPhD #genomics

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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... It's finally out! Meriam Guellil expertly led this project from the first HHV6 detection to the final paper. We found both human herpesviruses 6A and 6B in ancient remains going back 2500 years.

science.org

Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA

First ancient HHV-6 genomes reveal 2500 years of phylogenetic continuity and provide insights into the endogenization of HHV-6A.

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Nina Finley @ninafinley.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Reconstructing the histories of ancient pathogens with @poojaswali.bsky.social of @ugiatucl.bsky.social at the @lien-london.bsky.social meeting. Makes me want to learn every one of these stories!

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

We’re recruiting a PhD student as part of the AI-Intervene DTP to join FlightPath, an exciting project combining viral genomics, bird migration data, and AI-powered phylodynamics to forecast how avian influenza evolves and spreads. Project Details 🦠🧬🦅🦆🌎: tinyurl.com/2v4xaxmx.

findaphd.com

FlightPath: Predicting Avian Influenza Evolution through AI-Powered Phylodynamics and Bird Migration Modelling at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - FlightPath: Predicting Avian Influenza Evolution through AI-Powered Phylodynamics and Bird Migration Modelling at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

We are recruiting! If you like evolutionary biology, microbial genomics, and host-pathogen interactions we have a PhD opening at @ugiatucl.bsky.social using population-scale metagenomics to map global phage diversity and uncover evolutionary signatures that could point to new antimicrobials.

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Pontus Skoglund @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

The 2026 EMBL symposium 'Reconstructing the human past using ancient and modern genomics' is live with a fantastic invited speaker lineup! Abstract deadline 9 June. If work is ongoing, plan for Heidelberg in September😉. Organised by Maanasa Raghavan, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, Choongwon Jeong & me.

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Lucy van Dorp @lucyvandorp.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

A fantastic day of talks and discussions. Thanks to the organisers and @gensocuk.bsky.social

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Great to have Dr Hrushikesh Loya give a fantastic talk on his tool Ghostbusters: A Genome-Wide Genealogical Approach to Uncovering Hidden Admixture Events in Human Evolution 👻

Dr. Hrushikesh Loya presenting Ghostbusters

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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

I am fascinated by how viruses evolve - and not just since #SARSCoV2 has shown us at the global stage how consequential virus evolution can be for us. In my new story in @science.org I got to explore how researchers are probing deeper into the past with old RNA virus genome. So a 🧪 thread…

science.org

On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses

Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases

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Aida Andres @aidaandres.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Pooja Swali @poojaswali.bsky.social presenting her very interesting work on ancient pathogens. @ugiatucl.bsky.social

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Genetics Society UK @gensocuk.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Not long left to submit your abstract! Deadline is 31 July. Join us in November for the Ancient Genomes meeting and hear from amazing speakers including: @mathiesoniain.bsky.social, @lquintanamurci.bsky.social & @lucyvandorp.bsky.social! genetics.org.uk/events/ancie...

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

@cednotsed.bsky.social presenting at #SMEB2025 on his work on predicting the fitness of mutations in SARS-CoV-2. Preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

And UGI PhD student Cedric Tan presenting in symposium 21 @official-smbe.bsky.social #SMBE2025 on his work "Intrahost dynamics, together with genetic and phenotypic effects predict the success of viral mutations".

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UCL Genetics Institute @ugiatucl.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

✨🧬 Sharing our UCL Genetics Institute starter pack of researchers, friends and alumni past and present 🧬 ✨ #UGISKY (DM us to be added) go.bsky.app/Gw1NqRa

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Genetics Society UK @gensocuk.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

We’ve got some good news! The deadline to submit abstracts for our “Ancient #Genomes: Perspectives on Human Biology and Medicine” meeting has been extended to 31 July 2025. So if you were thinking about submitting, there’s still plenty of time! genetics.org.uk/events/ancie...

genetics.org.uk

Ancient genomes: perspectives on human biology and medicine | Genetics Society

It is our great pleasure to invite you to participate in the Autumn Meeting of the Genetics Society. This meeting will provide a unique forum to network and socialise with a wide cross-section of the ...

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Flo Camus @fcamus.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Thrilled to share our latest preprint! 🎉🔥 We analysed >23k mtDNA genomes & found 18 variants shaped by climate—linked to thermogenesis, metabolism & disease. Led by PhD student Finley Grover-Thomas, and in collab with: @aidaandres.bsky.social @lucyvandorp.bsky.social @proffballoux.bsky.social

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