🎉New paper out from the lab, led by @baptistepiqueret.bsky.social: ant larvae chemically suppress the reproduction of their caregivers. bit.ly/4t8uZLG
An example of how social interactions are regulated at the molecular level. The work was made possible by the unique environment @mpi-ce.bsky.social

We’re in for a treat today. Our seminar speaker is Christine Strullu-Derrien: “Early terrestrial microorganisms revealed through advanced imaging techniques.”

Exploring the insane hundreds-of-millions-of-years timescales that we rarely think about.

New preprint out! 🚀
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We mapped how septins organise infection in the rice blast fungus—and found they are far more dynamic than previously thought.

Thread 👇

#FungalPathogenesis #CellBiology #septins

I will probably be hiring either a PhD or a Postdoc in the near future. If you are interested in deep biochemical history or molecular mechanisms of evolution please get in touch.

What an amazing #Fungal26✨ Feeling very inspired– thank you to everyone who shared science and ideas! Thank you to the organisers for my poster award, @gensocuk.bsky.social for sponsoring my attendance and huge thank you @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social for these past years! I will miss the Talbot Lab.

Tolerance toward foreigners in ants requires chronic exposure for establishment but only sporadic exposure for maintenance Bailly et al. show that ants learn to tolerate genetically distinct non-nestmates through prolonged exposure. Once established, this tolerance persists with occasional re-encounters with ants of the s...

Ants are experts at telling nestmates from foreigners via subtle differences in odor profiles. In this new paper, we explore the conditions under which ants develop and maintain tolerance to foreigners. Turns out the ant recognition system is surprisingly plastic.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

How can scent molecules identify stressed plants and offer clues about human and animal health? YouTube video by Cornell University

My first podcast 😅 on how decoding the smell of organisms could help us to find solutions to protect crops in agriculture, and improve plant, animal, and human health by detecting diseases before symptoms appear!

@Cornell @CornellEnto @CornellAgriTech

youtu.be/szTAWwYC5bc

Milkweed evolves ‘mind-blowing’ tactic to fight monarchs | Cornell Chronicle Milkweed has found a new strategy in its epic evolutionary battle with monarch butterflies: structurally upgrading its toxins to outmaneuver monarchs' resistance.

Here is the Cornell Chronicle article about our PNAS paper on the evolution of milkweed toxins (N,S-cardenolides), to which the monarch butterfly is sensitive, despite being co-evolved with milkweeds!

@cornellentomology.bsky.social

news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...

Breakthrough study in plant immunity reveals previously unsuspected… The wheat WAI3 receptor forms a novel defence-activating resistosome made of eight molecules, as revealed by an international collaboration led by The Sainsbury Laboratory

Exciting news!

New findings from TSL and international collaborators reveal that the wheat receptor WAI3 forms an octameric resistosome, offering fresh insights into plant immune system structures and functions 🌱

@jonathandgjones.bsky.social @kamounlab.bsky.social

www.tsl.ac.uk/news/breakth...

That’s a wrap on our Mechanics of Symbiosis meeting in Heidelberg 🎉

Had an amazing time organizing this with @berasymbionts.bsky.social, @floravincent.bsky.social & Tom Richards. Safe trip home everyone!
#EESSymbiosis @events.embl.org

We found that Rickia wasmannii, known from Myrmica workers, also infects queens, males, and larvae, with spillover to nest associates (incl. Lomechusa).
doi.org/10.1007/s000...

Complex dynamics in the ant microcosm --> more ant–fungus work coming

@insectessociaux.bsky.social
@dhaelewa.bsky.social

GetGenome is present at the Asilomar Fungal Genetics Conference #fungal26

Come and visit and spread the word about #ggfungi2026

#EESSymbiosis comes to a close! 🎉

We’re ending on a high, celebrating the incredible work of our poster prize winners:

🏅 Jerónimo Cifuentes-Anticevic
🏅 Rudvi Pednekar
🏅 Ronja Krüsemer
🏅 Kaitlyn Ho
🏅 Dongik Chang

Thanks to everyone who made this event so special!

Congratulations, Jenny!! 🥳🥳🥳

So well deserved! Thrilled for the three of you!! 🥳 🐌🐸🐜💧

Thank you, @metalichen.bsky.social, for your great talk! Here’s to crossing paths again soon! 🥂

And that's a wrap for #EESSymbiosis. Huge thanks to the organizers: @berasymbionts.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social, @floravincent.bsky.social, and Tom Richards! I love going to symbiosis conferences, looking forward to reconnect with symbiosis folks at future occasions!
@events.embl.org

Looking forward to welcoming @camilla-moli.bsky.social to the lab!! Here’s to the wonderful science ahead @thesainsburylab.bsky.social ! 🍄🦠🔬🪲

WEES March Seminar & Master Class: "Molecular evolution in a defensive symbiosis", Dr. Aileen Berasategui

📍 Master Class Time: 12 March, 14:00 Contact: b.taboada@nioo.knaw.nl (for details)

📍 Seminar Time: 12 March, 16:00 Location: Orion C1040, WUR

VACANCY - We’re searching for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the newly appointed group of Dr @hassansalem.bsky.social, to explore the developmental biology of host-microbe symbiosis

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

Deadline - 25 March 2026
Salary - £37,500 - £45,350
Contract - 3 years, full-time

Excited to collaborate with @hassansalem.bsky.social and @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social on this new Postdoc opportunity!

If you're interested in the developmental biology of symbiosis, apply and join us @johninnescentre.bsky.social and @thesainsburylab.bsky.social 🪲🦠🔬

Studying adaptation at the invisible scale | PNAS In order to understand adaptation by natural selection, it is necessary to observe organisms in their natural habitat. For this reason, the field o...

How to study adaptation in organisms that we can’t see, living in environments that we can’t visit? Some thoughts in our perspective piece out today in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @biology.ox.ac.uk @stuwest.bsky.social

📣 Our latest story just dropped on bioRxiv:: A structurally unique effector shared between Verticillium dahliae and Fusarium oxysporum is involved in cotton defoliation and virulence on other hosts www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵

Thrilled to share our work in @natcomms.nature.com!

Thankful for a great collaboration ☺️

Grateful for the support of the @humboldt-foundation.de and the @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

More details below.

Revitalizing actinobacteria research: an urgent response to the antimicrobial resistance crisis - Natural Products and Bioprospecting Abstract The crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is escalating while the antibiotic pipeline remains stagnant. Our bibliometric analysis of eight decades of literature reveals a critical imbalanc...

Research into filamentous actinomycetes, the antibiotic producers, is in steep decline. Loads of natural products chemistry research worldwide but not much aimed at understanding their biology and ecology. The latter is key to unlocking their specialised metabolism

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#SneakPeek 👀 Step inside the #Microbe Zoo at Norwich Science Festival 🌟🧪

🗓️ 14 - 21 February
📍 @theforumnorwich.bsky.social

Get ready to shrink down to learn some BIG, fascinating facts about microbes 🦠

@norwichmicro.bsky.social @sawtrust.bsky.social

How specific are heritable symbioses?

And what can we learn from swapping obligate symbionts across host species?

We address this in our latest, led by @inespons.bsky.social & in our collaboration w/ @microbiome.bsky.social 🦠🪲 Out today in @natcomms.nature.com!

1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Please share!

PhD position at the University of Copenhagen. Start date: 1st of June!
 
The project integrates field work, RNAseq, MALDI-MSI & FISH to explore composition, regulation, and resilience of termite host-gut symbiont metabolism.
 
👉 employment.ku.dk/phd?show=156...
 
⏳ Deadline 23/2/26

Postdoctoral Researcher (Charpentier Group) | John Innes Centre An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Charpentier Group at the John Innes Centre, working on cutting-edge science in the field of plant calcium signalling.

My lab at the JIC is recruiting 3 PDRA:
🔹 Bioinformatics / AI
🔹 Molecular Biology / Genetics
🔹 Proteomics
Programme funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
📅 Closing date: 27 February
Apply via JIC website:
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/
Please share with outstanding candidates. 🙏

Had a blast nerding out about beetles (& The Beatles) on Switzerland’s daily news program/Tagesschau 🪲

Thankful for the chance to wax lyrical about our favorite bugs at the Aha Festival, and with the wonderful folks of Lucerne 🇨🇭