Loveday Lewin, University Of Sussex and poster prize winner for the 2026 Understanding Life conference, standing on a stage receiving her award. She is accompanied by committee members Mark Blaxter, Molly Carter, and Kerstin Howe from Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK

We're delighted to announce the poster prize winner for our 2026 #Biodiversity25 conference🥇

Congratulations to Loveday Lewin, University Of Sussex for your work on: A comparative analysis of long-term effective population sizes across eukaryotes🌳👏

Join us to showcase your work: bit.ly/4nCc8Fl

We’re learning so much from these gull genomes, and there’s still plenty more to discover! 🪶✨🧬
Keep an eye on the #LarOmics project!
#Genomics #Evolution #Biodiversity25

We close the #biodiversity25 conference with a keynote presentation by Ute Hentschel Humeida about the basis of #sponge #symbiosis. “Life has evolved in a sea of microbes”. Microbial diversity already existed before the diversification of Eukaryotes. Host-microbes symbiosis appeared early in time.

Sam Speak closes the session at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about #tilapia and the gene positive #selection for saline environments. There are 70 tilapia species with variation in saline tolerance. They sequenced several genomes within this group finding twelve positive selected genes.

Beam Danneels continues at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about resistant chemical pollutants and induced defenses in #marine_mammals (#chemical_defensome, Chad). Cetaceans lost 2 keys TF involved in the ChD. They have developed a different path. Comparative genomics gave us some insights.

Ashwini V. Mohan follows at the #biodiversity25 presenting about the #limbless Layard’s snake skink. Snakes and caecilians lost their limbs due variations in one gene, but limbless #lizards have multiple evolutionary paths. They sequenced the Nessia layardi genome (1.55Gb) native to SriLanka.

Amanda Gardiner follows at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about #genetic_diversity in sharks, rays and other vertebrates. She analyzed ROH, homozygous regions in vertebrates genomes produced by the VGP. Critically endangered species have more frequently long ROH than other species.

Niklas Wahlberg opens last day session at the #biodiversity25 with a wonderful presentation about diversification in #Lepidoptera. More than 1000 Lepidoptera #genomes have been sequenced! Some families have more than 100 reference genomes. They have been able to learn many things from them.

🎉 Congratulations to our Understanding Life conference bursary winners! We’re proud to support this talented cohort of researchers.

🔍 Interested in future opportunities to join our conferences through bursary support? Explore more: https://bit.ly/3JpQNQR

#Biodiversity25 #ScientificConference

Simona Buonanno closes the 2nd day session at #biodiversity25 presenting benthic genomes in #ascidians. Botryllus schlosseri is a #species_complex. They sequenced 9 ascidian species, including 2 clades of B. schlosseri. BUSCO was higher than 90% for all the genomes.

Elisa Ramos brings us a presentation about #gulls at the #biodiversity25. The large white-headed gulls lineage has one of the faster #radiation processes of the birds of the northern hemisphere. LarOmics project aims to elucidate the genetic base of the gull #evolution.

Callum Thomas follows in the afternoon session at #biodiversity25 talking about the development of a #black_soldier_fly #pangenome. They can be used to produce protein for animals feeding. They can be fed by food waste. They are building a pangenome with individuals from different populations.

Camilla Mazzoni follows at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about #sloths. Analysis of these genomes revealed that sloths have the higher content of LTR/copia in mammals, some impacting metabolic mitochondrial genes. Genomic studies can help to implement more efficient conservation actions.

Claire Merot opens the afternoon session at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about the structural genetic diversity across the tree of life. Structural variants (SVs) are in order de magnitude higher than SNPs. TEs accounts for many SVs. SVs are different across different lineages.

Eniko Kiss closes the symbiosis genomics session at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about #convergent_evolution. Mycorrhiza symbiosis is a good example of convergent evolution. Gene family analysis failed to find gene gains rather than losses. PCOC & ESL-PSC methods were used to overcome it

Merce Montoliu brings us a presentation about wonderful #lichens at the #biodiversity25. Lichens are associations between mycobionts (fungi), photobionts (green algae or cianobacteria) and microbiomes. 38 different lichens were sequenced in DToL & ASH. Results show complex multiorganismal scenarios

Jose V. Lopez follows at the #biodiversity25 presenting about the giant barrel #sponge genome. We are facing massive extinction event in marine reefs so we need to study sponges before they disappear. Sponges have distinctive #symbiotic microbiomes providing important ecosystem services.

Amjad Khalaf follows the symbiosis genomics session at #biodiversity25 presenting about #microsporidia tetraploid genomes. Most of them are recent autotetraploids. An interesting model of reproduction is proposed with two different paths: sexual and asexual reproduction.

Symbiosis genomic session at #biodiversity25 begins with a presentation by Mike Sweet about the #coral genome project. The coral reef bleaching is growing at alarming rate reaching 84% this year. By 2030, they may disappear. Some tools have been developed to slow down the process and allow survival.

Start of the Symbiosis Genomics session at #Biodiversity25 !

Second day at the #biodiversity25 starts either a presentation by Arnau Sebe-Pedros about #cell_types. Cell types are functional and evolutionary units of animal multicellularity. Biodiversity Cell Atlas aims to scale up the application of single cell method across the tree of life.

Kai Ye closes the first session at the #biodiversity25 presenting about genome architecture evolution derived from 1000 species HiC data analysis. They use zoom-out approach. Checkerboard score (structural complexity) correlates with species complexity.

Nomar Waminal brings us a plant-based presentation at #biodiversity25 talking about a #crocus pan-repeatome. Crocus has an ancestral WGD prediversification. Then specific lineages have another more recent WGD. Repeats facilitated descending dysploidy and genome size expansion.

Tomas Hron follows at #biodiversity25 with a presentation about #avian evolution and #dot_chromosomes. Ten years ago new “hidden avian” genes appeared like the chicken genome. They are mostly associated to micro and dot chromosomes. Dot chromosomes are repeated-rich and a high gene loss rate.

Aleksandra Bliznina follows at #biodiversity25 with a presentation about the #evolution of the chromosomes in dark-winged fungus gnats. Autosome and GRCs chromosomes vary across different species. 3 genomes wasn’t enough to elucidate de origins of these chromosomes, so they went for 20!

The "Understanding Life: Using largescale biodiversity reference genomes" conference is kicking off! First talk on rediploidisation by Aoife McLysaght. #Biodiversity25

The “Understanding Life: using largescale biodiversity reference genomes” #biodiversity25 begins. Mark Baxter opens the conference with acknowledgments. Special event will be a quartet playing music inspired by biology.

Join us online to explore how to decode life through #biodiversity genomics 💻

Secure your virtual place by 20 October ⏰

Our online conference portal allows you to dip into the talks and sessions most relevant to your conservation and biodiversity research work.

📎 bit.ly/4j3vAZ9
#Biodiversity25

Join us at #Biodiversity25 !

Interested in Lepidoptera? There will be the session on @projectpsyche.bsky.social with project updates, the highly anticipated re-launch of Lepbase and discussions on the analysis of the first 1,000 lep genomes. Plus there's a keynote by @lepphylo.bsky.social!🦋

Understanding Life: Using Largescale Biodiversity Reference Genomes — 20251027 Understanding life: Using largescale biodiversity reference genomes

Last chance to join us next month for the #Biodiversity25 conference.

A fantastic set of speakers, mix of talks & focused workshops, and the chance to meet others in the field of biodiversity genomics 🧬

In-person registration closes next Monday 29th September!

Registration 🔗: bit.ly/4j3vAZ9