Asher Leeks (@asherleeks) Bsky

The Social Lives of Viruses is coming to Vancouver, Canada, from 4th-8th August 2026!

This is a free meeting dedicated to all aspects of virus-virus interactions & evolution.

To apply: socialviruses.zoology.ubc.ca

@sociovirology.bsky.social #socialviruses #evosky #lovevirology #virosky

6 days ago 55 43 0 1

2,599 applicants offered NSF GRFP awards! Congrats to all the NSF GRFP award winners and recipients of honorable mention. https://www.research.gov/grfp/AwardeeList.do?method=loadAwardeeList

Massive and important positive news...

#NSF #GRFP awards are out.

2,599 awards!
+
1,440 Honorable Mentions.

A significant boost from last year.

Congratulations to the winners (and HM-s)!

& many thanks to the reviewers & program officers who made this possible.

www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee...

1 week ago 175 54 0 2

Congratulations Santi! Very well deserved.

1 month ago 0 0 0 0

Species-specific prophage induction by ciprofloxacin in human gut metagenomes Antibiotics are known to trigger prophage induction in controlled laboratory settings, but it remains unclear whether this also occurs within microbiomes in nature. Current methods investigating the link between antibiotics and prophage induction within the human gut rely on in vitro culturing of human gut bacterial isolates. Using a metagenomic approach, we aimed to measure prophage induction and whether it is associated with antibiotic exposure. Across two independent human cohorts, we compared prophage to bacterial host read depth ratios (P:H) across known or measured antibiotic exposures. We found that induction is not broadly associated with antibiotic exposures at the level of the overall microbiome, but that ciprofloxacin increases P:H ratios in specific bacterial species. We documented heterogeneous trajectories of P:H ratios over the course of antibiotic exposure, sometimes increasing and remaining high, or returning to baseline. This study complements experimental models by providing in vivo evidence of induction in the human gut. Importance Bacteriophages are viruses that infect a bacterial host. The lytic and lysogenic cycles are the two classic outcomes of phage infection. In the lytic cycle, the phage immediately replicates and lyses its host to release new viral particles. In the lysogenic cycle, the phage, now called a prophage, integrates its genome into that of its host without killing it. Prophages can switch to the lytic cycle in a process called induction, in which the viral genome is replicated, the host cell is lysed, and viral particles are released. The most immediate consequence of induction is host cell death which can impact bacterial populations and communities. Since prophages are mobile genetic elements that can move between bacteria, they are also an important vehicle for horizontal gene transfer. While induction has been well studied in vitro , whether and how induction occurs within the complex microbial ecosystem in humans is less well characterized. Understanding prophage induction in vivo is therefore critical in corroborating in vitro observations. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. NIH Common Fund, https://ror.org/001d55x84 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council

In the lab, antibiotics can make integrated viruses (prophages) pop out of bacterial genomes. In this (short!) preprint, we asked a simple question: how much does this happen outside the lab, in the human gut?

TLDR: Not much overall, in specific bacterial species.
🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

1 month ago 58 30 1 0

Fantastic collaboration w/ @dbikard.bsky.social @audeber.bsky.social @rayanchikhi.bsky.social labs led by @jmouradesousa.bsky.social : We assessed the rates of variation of anti-phage systems in P4-like satellites and P2 helper phages. Quick conclusion: Huge variation! We focus on 4 key questions/5

1 month ago 48 22 1 1

PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Many organisms, including humans, reshape their environments in ways that influence the conditions faced by future generations. We ask whether this can favour biological variation with @irisprigent.bsky.social in our new paper. Thanks to @dee-unil.bsky.social @snsf.ch
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

1 month ago 27 17 0 1

Integrating the Microbiome Into Infection Ecology and Evolution in Wild Animals Parasites are a ubiquitous force in nature threatening wildlife populations and ecosystems. Interactions between hosts and their parasites are impacted by host-associated microbiomes, which are essen...

A nice collaboration from post-docs in my lab 😊 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @jingdi.bsky.social @luismsilva.bsky.social @paradyseb.bsky.social @molecularecolup.bsky.social

1 month ago 34 11 0 1

Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review The process of peer review is vital to contemporary science, but is also under enormous strain. This study uses mathematical models to dissect the threats to the long-term viability of peer review, su...

1. Kevin Gross and I have a new paper out today PLOS Biology.

We used economic models based around screening games and the market for unpaid labor to highlight a meltdown cycle threatening peer review.

1 month ago 324 132 8 17

Excited to share a preprint of work from my postdoc with @paulturnerlab.bsky.social exploring how prophages can impact host thermal ecology and evolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

2 months ago 34 9 1 3

Assistant Professor-Department of Biology (Zoologist) Assistant Professor-Department of Biology (Zoologist)

New Faculty Positions opening up at Wilfrid Laurier University!
Integrative Organismal Zoologist:
careers.wlu.ca/job/Waterloo...

Microbial Systems:
careers.wlu.ca/job/Waterloo...

Computational Ecology/Modelling Biologist:
careers.wlu.ca/job/Waterloo...

Biochemistry:
careers.wlu.ca/job/Waterloo...

2 months ago 15 16 0 0

SFI External Professor Santiago Elena elected to the American Academy of Microbiology SFI External Professor Santiago Elena has been elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, joining 62 other fellows in the class of 2026, each selected for their contributions in the ...

SFI’s Santiago Elena has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

He joins 62 fellows in the 2026 class. His work explores how RNA viruses adapt to hosts and manipulate cellular resources. Since joining SFI in 2008, he has organized several working groups on virus evolution.

2 months ago 43 10 0 0

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...

2 months ago 117 70 3 3

Co-occurrence is associated with horizontal gene transfer across marine bacteria independent of phylogeny Abstract. Understanding the drivers and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a key goal of microbial evolution research. Although co-occurring

Now out & nicely formatted in @isme-microbes.bsky.social

A big analysis of ocean genomes & metagenomes co-led by former postdocs, now PIs, @gmdouglas.bsky.social & @cyanophage.bsky.social along with co-PIs @lbobay.bsky.social & Samuel Chaffron.

A few highlights... 🧵 (1/n)

doi.org/10.1093/isme...

2 months ago 78 38 2 0

Very excited for the upcoming seminars of the of the Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation STN @eseb.bsky.social!

Featuring @manishamuna.bsky.social, @mobilepurin.bsky.social, @joealcock.bsky.social, @asherleeks.bsky.social

Join the email list here:
internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com

2 months ago 13 6 1 1

How does population density affect evolutionary trajectory?

Microbes construct their own niche which in turn reshapes their evolution.

Preprint drop from grad student @noahhoupt.bsky.social whose evolution experiments featured blue/white colonies, 1000 generations, a lab move, and much more!

2 months ago 37 15 0 0

If you can only visit one place at Harvard, make it the glass flower exhibit at the Museum of Natural History.

4000 models, 847 species.

Commissioned by the university for teaching botany and created by the Czech father and son Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka 1887 through 1936.

2 months ago 49 18 2 1

Mutations in filamentous bacteriophages spark eco-evolutionary feedbacks in Pseudomonas aeruginosa www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

2 months ago 7 4 0 0

Check out our new print that combines dense sequencing and phylodynamics to uncover a bunch of 😎 things about an understudied virus.

- Doesn't evolve for 10 months a year ✅
- Uses some mossies for maintenance, others for spread ✅
- Established in Northeast for ~300 years ✅

3 months ago 37 19 0 0

Agrawal lab logo. A fly in the UBC colors, with dots framing its body.

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!

6 months ago 113 45 16 4

Job profile

🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.

Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠

3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

3 months ago 40 54 0 1

Call for Applications, Postgraduate Diploma Programme | ICTP Are you a student who dreams of earning a PhD in physics or mathematics, but who lives in a country lacking such opportunities? ICTP could be your first step on the path to attaining a PhD.

An incredible ICTP initiative is our Postgraduate Diploma Programme. Rigorous one-year pre-PhD training for students from the Global South. I have personally seen this program transform the lives of those in the quant life sciences.

Due Feb. 28 2026. Please share widely.
www.ictp.it/news/2025/11...

4 months ago 7 7 0 0

Congratulations to @alexrob.bsky.social , @alisonfeder.bsky.social , and Ben Kerr on this beautiful study, using evolutionary theory to study antiviral resistance dynamics when resistance is social...

#socialviruses #evosky 🧪

4 months ago 12 0 1 0

University of Florida - Details - Assistant Professor in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease

UF Biology is searching for an Asst Prof in Evolution, Ecology of Infectious Disease - spread the word! @ufresearch.bsky.social @ufgeog.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social

explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...

4 months ago 17 32 0 0

Excited to see it!

4 months ago 1 0 0 0

I want to selfishly plug that there's more to this story that we hope to share soon! (Wildtype phage has a way to "fight back" cheater miniphage invasion.) We're currently working on the paper so stay tuned 😎

4 months ago 7 1 2 0

Phage–bacteria dynamics: The tragedy of the commons at hyperspeed A recent study found that apparently stable coexistence between a clinically important pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and its integrated prophages can break down, setting off an evolutionary cycle ...

It was great to write a brief commentary with @sociovirology.bsky.social on @nanamikubota.bsky.social and @vscooper.micropopbio.org's recent discovery of cheat-driven cycles in Pseudomonas (www.cell.com/current-biol... - amazing example of the tragedy of the commons!

🧪 #socialviruses #evosky

4 months ago 28 12 1 1

Testing the redox theory of aging under parasitism The redox theory of aging proposes that an oxidative imbalance, possibly amplified by infection, drives senescence. We experimentally evolved mosquitoes under early or late reproduction with or withou...

Thrilled to share my first preprint in my 2nd evo-passion: senescence and aging.

Here, we used experimental evolution to test the #redox theory of #aging under #parasitism.

Guess what: it is considerably different from what is expected 🤓 a thread 1/5 👇

#EvoSky #MicroSky #Aedes

4 months ago 12 2 1 1

Rowan standing in front of a title slide reading “defective viral genomes in natural infections”

Lavish standing in front of a title slide reading “trade-offs in bacterial evolution in the context of temperate phage infection”

We had two fantastic visiting speakers today

MERMan alumnus @rowancallumg.bsky.social spoke about his current work with viral cheating in influenza with @asherleeks.bsky.social

And @lavishaparab.bsky.social talked about phage infection trade-offs

Thanks to @microbesng.bsky.social for our snacks!

4 months ago 14 8 2 2

Employment - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

EEB Postdoctoral Fellowship @ U.Toronto app deadline Jan 15 2026. Opportunity for independent research, encourages collab across labs/disciplines. Lots of great folks to interact with, Come join us!
eeb.utoronto.ca/employment-2/

4 months ago 25 41 1 0

Great opportunity for those interested in fundamental questions in evolutionary biology and mathematical models: postdoc opening in Laurent Lehmann’s group @unil.bsky.social. We have a lively community of theorists here in Lausanne with good interactions across groups. Join us ! Please RP

4 months ago 18 22 0 0

Posts by Asher Leeks