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Tom Booker

@tombooker.bsky.social
423 followers 412 following 20 posts

Assistant professor in forest genetics/genomics at UBC in Vancouver (he/him)

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Tom Booker @tombooker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I’m keen to share this preprint. There is growing evidence that associative overdominance leads to the maintenance heterozygosity and we wondered how this would affect variance for traits under stabilizing selection: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Maintenance of quantitative genetic variation in regions of restricted recombination via associative overdominance
Mutation-selection balance is the most plausible general mechanism for the maintenance of additive genetic variance (VA) for quantitative traits in natural populations. It is well established that the...
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Tom Booker @tombooker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This seems like a very promising approach for GEA analysis. Giving quite big boosts to performance over the WZA (I still prefer Wu Tang to Talking Heads though)
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Anna Tigano @annatigano.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
If you are interested in applied conservation and management genomics of marine critters and would like to apply for a Liber Ero fellowship this fall get in touch to discuss potential projects with me (Fisheries and Oceans) and Greg Owens (UVic). @gregowens.bsky.social
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Tom Booker @tombooker.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is a great opportunity - go work with Sam!!
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Mark Hibbins, Great Lakes Swashbuckler @rejectresubmit.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New review from me and @stepheniwright.bsky.social! We argue the time is ripe for a phylogenomic approach to the study of plant sex chromosomes: doi.org/10.32942/X2S...
doi.org
Plant sex chromosome evolution in the phylogenomic era
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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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Alan Partridge - Quote of the Day @apartridgeqotd.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Alright guys! See the match?
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Takuji Usui | 薄井拓路 @usuitakuji.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Shout out to Amy Angert for her wisdom and collaboration, and thank you to NSERC, @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social and @asn-amnat.bsky.social Graduate Student Research Awards for your support in setting up a new experimental system using duckweeds! 🦆🌱
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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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Christian Rellstab @christian-rellstab.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Very proud to be part of the "Tree Evolution Colloquium" at the Cumberland Lodge in Great Windsor Park, England. For three days, we discussed whether evolutionary rates in trees are underestimated or not.
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Jonathan Basile @jonothingeb.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I wrote for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social about Kathryn Paige Harden's new book, an attempt to popularize the eugenics of criminality. I read it as a gambit to build liberal support for the project animating far right politics today, inspired by Replacement theory.
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Jazlyn Mooney @jazlynmooney.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I am hiring a popgen postdoc! Looking for a creative scientist to join us at USC to investigate recessive variation and complex traits in model or non-model species. The project is funded by a multi-year NIH grant, contract can be renewed. Job add & details 👇🏽 usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...
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Marco Todesco @mtodesco.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
We are looking for a postdoc to help with a project on eelgrass genomics, in collaboration with the O'Connor and Rieseberg labs at UBC - see ad here tinyurl.com/2yd487p4! Come and join us in beautiful Vancouver 🌊🌾🏔️
tinyurl.com
Postdoc Position Eelgrass Population Genomics_UBC_2026.pdf
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WarrenCM.bsky.social @warrencm.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
SING Canada application are now open! Please share with Indigenous students and community members interested in the science and politics of genomics 🧬 All expenses paid. Details on this year’s theme will follow in a few weeks. @singcanada.bsky.social
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Sweta Agrawal @hokuba.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
The Agrawal lab is moving! This January we will be setting up shop at #UBC in Vancouver, in the department of #Zoology! We are actively recruiting at all levels, especially masters and PhD students. These position are #funded! Please send anyone interested my way!
Agrawal lab logo. A fly in the UBC colors, with dots framing its body.
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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!
docs.google.com
Davis Summer Population Genomics Program
Want to learn population genetics? Please fill out this form to indicate your potential interest in a 2-week intensive online summer population genetics course taught by Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra and Graham...
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Tom Booker @tombooker.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Check out this preprint. Tianlin Duan led this project during her postdoc with me and Mike Whitlock. It’s got a lot of stuff in it for those who are interested in the genomics of adaptation
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Benjamin Haibe-Kains @bhaibeka.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
I strongly suggest this read on the topic and LLM antropomorphism: The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models replicate the mechanisms of a psychic’s con softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llme...
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Susan Johnston @susanjohnston.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
A must read for conservation geneticists on the utility (or not??) of using molecular diversity to predict adaptive potential 👇🏻
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Sean Michaletz @seanmichaletz.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
#UBC Botany is hiring an Assistant Professor in Non-Seed Plant Diversity - come work with us in beautiful #Vancouver, BC! Please repost! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31140
academicjobsonline.org
University of British Columbia, Botany
Job #AJO31140, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN NON-SEED PLANT DIVERSITY (BRYOPHYTES, FERNS, LYCOPHYTES), Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 14/11/2025
if microsoft just made outlook search not suck they'd see triple the productivity gains of any AI integration
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Tom Booker @tombooker.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
This program is great, and has a terrific track record of helping prepare folks for tenure track positions. If you are interested in applying to be hosted in my group, feel free to drop me a line!
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Michael Hendricks 🇨🇦 @michaelhendricks.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Canadian researchers should be aware the there is a motion before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Research to force Tricouncils to hand over disaggregated peer review data on all applications: Applicant names, profiles, demographics Reviewers names, profiles, comments, and scores
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Parul Johri @johriparul.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
The Johri Lab has an open postdoc position. Please send me an email, if interested. Start date is flexible. Please do share! Thank you in advance.
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Mario Vallejo-Marin @nicrodemo.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Do you want to do a Masters in Evolutionary Biology? The call for applying to the MEME program is now open! MEME is a fantastic 2-year MSc between four European Universities on all areas of Evolutionary Biology. Apply and study in Sweden/France/the Netherlands/Germany/USA/Switzerland! www.evobio.eu
Picture of MEME students on the beach
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CSEE_SCEE @csee-scee.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
🚨CSEE 2026: Call for Symposium & Workshop Proposals! Got a great idea for a session? Now's your chance to shape the CSEE 2026 program! 🗓️ Deadline: Nov 3, 2025 @ 9:00 PM 📋 Submit via: event.fourwaves.com/csee2026 Full instructions + selection criteria on the site.
event.fourwaves.com
2026 Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution
Fourwaves - 2026 Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
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Tom Booker @tombooker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Check out this short piece on the genomics of local adaptation. Abi Brown (not on Bluesky) and I wrote it with @samyeaman.bsky.social ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... Any input you say have would be welcomed!
ecoevorxiv.org
What fraction of the genomic basis of local adaptation are we missing?
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Stephen I Wright @stepheniwright.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Please share broadly: I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to work on a collaborative project on the temporal population genomics of invasive Capeweed (using contemporary and herbarium genomics), with ‪‪@shaky-dingo.bsky.social‬ and colleagues
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Sam Yeaman @samyeaman.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I'm looking to recruit a PhD student to study patterns of local adaptation and introgression across the spruce hybrid zone in the Rockies near Calgary. Projects can include field work, bioinformatics, pop gen theory, or comparison to plant/ conifer species yeamanlab.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/...
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Asad Hasan @asadh.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Excited to finally have the pre-print up for this work on evolutionary rescue from my PhD at UBC! Previous theoretical work on the effects of negative density-dependent growth on evolutionary rescue has uncovered inconsistent results, leading to an incomplete understanding of its influence.
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bioRxiv Bioinfo @biorxiv-bioinfo.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Building pangenomes for domesticated and wild tree species: genomic complexity and strategies www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Sally Aitken 🇨🇦 @sallyaitken.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Huge congrats to @rafaelcr.bsky.social for his excellent PhD defense yesterday! Rafa has made large contributions to our understanding of local adaptation to drought in Douglas-fir and the underlying genomic architecture of climate adaptive traits as part of the CoAdapTree project.
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Sally Aitken 🇨🇦 @sallyaitken.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Great news - we will be searching for a tree physiologist (tenure track) to join the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC Forestry, later this year. Stay tuned! (Please share.)
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Nicolas Bierne @couplingdmi.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Just three more days to apply to this post-doc position (Deadline 8 May 2025). Not only is the subject matter stunning 🤯 but, you know, life in Montpellier is great too 😎. Haplotype-Resolved Assembly and Structural Variation of Polyploid Genomes in Transmissible Cancers of the Blue Mussel
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Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Alberta First Nations issue cease and desist order against Danielle Smith's attempt to create a national unity crisis. Alberta is on treaty lands. Those treaties were signed 30 years before Alberta became a province.
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Megan Frederickson @mfrederickson.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Like over 7 million Canadians, I voted already last weekend. But if you are a Canadian and 18+ and you haven't voted yet, please go vote tomorrow. Elections matter, and your vote counts. We're lucky to live in 🇨🇦 where elections are free and fair, and our politicians will accept the results.
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Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Absolutely incredible
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Lynda Delph @ldelph.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Hearty congratulations to Anurag Agrawal, Amy Angert, and Graham Coop upon their election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, for their work illuminating the natural world around us. This recognition is very much deserved.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
This guy, @albertburneko.bsky.social, is a genius. Please read his brilliant article on Elon Musk's deranged and morally repugnant Mars colonisation schtick. defector.com/neither-elon...
defector.com
Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars | Defector
Mars does not have a magnetosphere. Any discussion of humans ever settling the red planet can stop right there, but of course it never does. Do you have a low-cost plan for, uh, creating a gigantic ac...
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Marty Kardos @martykardos.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
The idea of replacing environmental regulation under the ESA with gene editing is just fallacious. The reasons are not complicated. Brenna Forester, Tanya Lama, and me in Science in 2023: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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José Cerca @naturalselection.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
[Please share] 📢‼️ I have 2️⃣ postdoc positions advertised at the Swedish Museum of Natural History: Postdoc on "Theory of adaptive radiation" recruit.visma.com/spa/public/a... Postdoc on "Homoploid Hybrid Plant Genome Evolution" recruit.visma.com/spa/public/a...
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Judith Mank @judithmank.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
We are looking for new manager for our computing unit! If you have experience in both biology and computers, this might be the perfect job for you! UBC is a lovely place, and Zoology is a fantastic, collaborative and kind department. Apply by May 4th at ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcstaffjobs...
ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com
Biosciences Computing Manager
Staff - Non Union Job Category M&P - AAPS Job Profile AAPS Salaried - Information Systems and Technology, Level D Job Title Biosciences Computing Manager Department Administrative Leadership | Dep...
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CSEE_SCEE @csee-scee.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Science benefits humanity in countless ways. CSEE condemns the current U.S. administration’s efforts to dismantle science. Read our full statement in support of U.S. scientists and science here: csee-scee.ca/current-bull...
csee-scee.ca
CSEE Current Bulletin
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CSEE_SCEE @csee-scee.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Early Bird ends April 15! Join us in Sherbrooke, QC for CSEE's 2025 Annual Conference (July 6–9)! Register now & apply for travel bursaries! Travel Awards: csee-scee.ca/awards/stude... Registration: event.fourwaves.com/scee2025/reg... #CSEE2025 #Ecology #Evolution
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Tyler Kent @tylervkent.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Excited to see the final version of this paper with @samurscicop.bsky.social and Daniel Matute out in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social! We took a dive into the complicated demographic history of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and its impact on the distribution of genetic diversity doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...
doi.org
Demographic history, genetic load, and the efficacy of selection in the globally invasive mosquito Aedes aegypti
Abstract. Aedes aegypti is the main vector species of yellow fever, dengue, Zika and chikungunya. The species is originally from Africa but has experienced
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bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Accessible, realistic genome simulation with selection using stdpopsim www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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WarrenCM.bsky.social @warrencm.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Exciting Job Opportunity! UBC is hiring an Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track) in Transdisciplinary Wildfire Sciences. Accepting applications until April 30. ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/ubcfac...
ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) - Transdisciplinary Wildfire Sciences
Academic Job Category Faculty Bargaining Job Title Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) - Transdisciplinary Wildfire Sciences Department Dept Forest & Conservation Sciences | Faculty of Forestry (Ri...
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Worth highlighting as folks occasionally repost "data science" factoids by "Cremieux", unaware that he's also trying to mainstream racist & eugenics views (as Lasker in real life) based on a laughably poor understanding of genetics www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Jordan Lasker, AKA ‘Cremieux’
One of the speakers at the conference is billed under a social media alias, Cremieux, but the Guardian has corroborated that the account is apparently run by Jordan Lasker, a long-time proponent of eugenics.

The @cremieuxrecueil X account has been boosted or engaged with dozens of times by that platform’s proprietor, Elon Musk, often on the topic of falling birthrates.

On 27 November, Musk reposted a Cremieux comment on falling birthrates, adding: “With rare exception, all countries are trending towards population collapse.”

On 29 April, Cremieux posted: “Only about a third of the world even meets replacement rate fertility. This is the biggest problem of our time.” Musk responded: “Yes.”


Musk has also boosted or responded favorably to Cremieux posts on other rightwing hobby horses such as crime in Portland, Oregon, and allegations that Democrats had created loopholes in the asylum system.
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northernastrophoto.bsky.social @northernastrophoto.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Watching a member of Parliament tell a Putin loving fascist to fuck off is the greatest thing ever
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