A table set up for a PhD celebration with a handmade card reading “Congratulations Dr Gillman!!” showing a collage of photos, alongside a decorated cake that has been cut into. A gift bag, flowers, and drinks are visible, with people standing around the table.

Miniature blonde ceramic dog laying down, resting its face on its front paws in a red coat.

A framed illustration including “Dr Victoria Gillman“ in decorative calligraphy and drawings including a freshwater mussel shell, a tree, leafy motifs, a net and a dog collar.

Thanks also to @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social for the fab cake, @ethan-ross.bsky.social for organising a lovely card, @ellalillyy.bsky.social for the mini Ziggy, @tillysscott.bsky.social for her art and @meta-kittiwake.bsky.social and many others for their support. Grateful to have an ace network 🥰

Modulating splicing in five prime untranslated regions to treat rare haploinsufficient disease Rare genetic disorders collectively impact over 300 million people worldwide, yet around 95% have no specific treatments. For the many rare disorders caused by haploinsufficiency, effective therapies ...

*A new pre-print on increasing gene expression!* 🧬📈

doi.org/10.64898/202...

The hidden danger of Biorender

(& the death of scientific illustration)

A short thread 🧵

First preprint from my PhD is out!
If molluscan developmental biology and genetics, gene-editing methodology in non-traditional model systems, or the function and conservation of pax6 interests you, please give it a read! 🐚🎉

TE-SCALE: a comprehensive database for exploring transposable element expression across human cancers at single-cell resolution Abstract. Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive DNA sequences typically silenced in normal tissues. Their dysregulation in cancer can significantly im

#TEsky TE-SCALE: a comprehensive database for exploring transposable element expression across human cancers at single-cell resolution doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

For today's quick sketches I got to draw sonic the hedgehog (which is a fabulous gene name)

It was great to hear about Dr Peng (Alex) Liu's research today, finding out how black carbon pollution affects developing fetuses. Many methods were featured, including proteomics to identify potential reactionary metabolites, single cell transcriptome sequencing (done by our CGEBM team) and more.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the SBS seminar from @robwilsonmncn.bsky.social , looking at over 20 years of butterfly data. In Spanish mountain ranges, cold specialised species are going locally extinct and are being replaced by warmer habitat species

#UniofAberdeen #Biology #SciArt

Aaaaand I'm back drawing 😊

The 2025/2026 CGEBM Bioinformatics Courses have been announced: #genomics Courses 1-2 days, taught in person (by me!), training in #Unix/cluster computing, #genomeassembly , #RNAseq , #microbiome, other applications of short read sequencing. Full details on CGEBMs training page: tinyurl.com/c5n9n6p4

Here are all the talks I attended and sketched at #ESEB2025 ! Only a fraction of the 642 speakers at the conference 😮

I had an absolutely amazing week chatting about lots of fascinating science

#sciart #eseb #esebcongress @eseb2025.bsky.social

Case and point that simple drawings are the best drawings!

Trans rights are, in fact, human rights. Pass it on. 🏳️‍⚧️🫂

I attended three great talks from the cancer in an evolutionary framework symposium this morning. Cancer therapies from nature, population genomics of Tasmanian devil cancer, and the tug of war of cancer resistance

#eseb2025 #eseb #sciart

TIR elements in the centromere of brown algae, chromosome breakage and repair in bdelloid rotifers, chromosome number in beetles, chromosome restructuring in nematodes, and finally chromosome interactions in non-marine annelids
🧵2/2

#eseb2025 #conferenceart #sketchnotes #eseb

We started today with a wonderful talk on how cordyceps fungus generates zombie ants. Then on to modelling, egg laying timing & brood number, white clover in rural and urban environments, young active SINEs in Italian sparrow, TE content in ferns
🧵1/2

#eseb2025 #eseb #sciart

ESEB Day 3! Molecular clocks & identifying ghost lineages; marrying micro & macro evolution; female polymorphism; balancing selection in round-nose grenadier; the genetics of guppy colour polymorphisms; modelling genetic interactions; antagonist selection in flying ants

#eseb2025 #eseb #sciart

That would be the result of speed posting so that I could go and eat lunch! 😂

There's going to be a lot of sketches by the end of this week! We're not even halfway though #eseb2025 and I've filled up my usual template of boxes! Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week's talks include

#eseb #sciart #sketchnotes

The day finished off strong with loads of great talks in the Genomics of Evolutionary Innovations symposium!

I'm pleased to report that my talk went well ☺️ 🎨🖌️

#eseb2025 #eseb #esebconference
@eseb2025.bsky.social @jfenn.bsky.social @timothyfuqua.bsky.social

A bunch of inspiring talks this morning! Chromatin loops (identified with Micro-C) in cephalopods; odorant receptors in slave ants; chromosome inversions in a beetle, the genetics of critically endangered bellinger river turtle +the importance of MHC; genetic load in the helmet honeyeater

#eseb2025

#eseb2025 #eseb #sciart

I'm excited for my @eseb2025.bsky.social presentation later today. I'm part of the symposium on the Genomic Basis of Evolutionary Innovations! I will have stickers to give out too (if bribery is required for attendance) 😁

#eseb2025 #sciart #eseb

@vicgillman.bsky.social

I've had a wonderful 1st day at @eseb2025.bsky.social Here are the sketches from some of the talks I attended today. My highlights include Tristan on the adaptive genomics of colour spots on owls, Vicky on pearl mussel's response to climate change & Rebekah on firefly TEs & TE-induced mutations

Barbara McClintock portrait

🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬

Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025

Today's seminar featured amphipods! David has been researching the tidal clock cycle in intertidal marine animals.

Parhyale (the #amphipod) has a 12.4 hour tidal cycle in the lab, tidal clock genes that play a role have been found - these genes are expressed in dorsal-lateral brain cells #sciart

Queer Animals of the World! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

For LGBTQ+ History Month, our PhD Society, Zoo&Roots, wanted to highlight how nature is filled with queer animals.

For sources & reading material, go to linktr.ee/gayanimals

Remember, spread your wings and F • L • Y!

#gayanimals #lgbt #citypop

Today's seminar featured amphipods! David has been researching the tidal clock cycle in intertidal marine animals.

Parhyale (the #amphipod) has a 12.4 hour tidal cycle in the lab, tidal clock genes that play a role have been found - these genes are expressed in dorsal-lateral brain cells #sciart

Two new drawings of my mascot Allie the Amphipod!
Hirondellea gigas, my main study species & the most abundant animal at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, withstands 1000x the pressure that we and shallow-water amphipods experience. It also has enzymes that show cellulase activity,... 🧵1/2