Fernando Villanea
He/Him. Assistant Professor of Anthropology at CU Boulder. March Mammal Madness Genetics Team. Population genetics of Neanderthals and other people. Latino in STEM 🇨🇷
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaInterested in using aDNA time-series datasets to estimate selection? Our study "Assessing Ancient DNA Sampling Strategies for Natural Selection Inference in Humans Using Allele Frequency Time Series Data" is now out in GBE! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... @genomebiolevol.bsky.social @cegamorim.bsky.social
- Honestly, yeah, LFG. Maybe this is meant to feed biotech AI slop but we can outcompete them with good scientific proposals. If you’re interested in a post-doc applying neural networks to better integrate ancient DNA to demographic models reach out to me. I’ll help you tool the application for “AI”.
- Holy shit: it's an RFP for the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB). Hello old friend www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaHoly shit: it's an RFP for the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB). Hello old friend www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
- For PIs hiring post-docs, do you usually as for a letter of recommendation (or letters) in addition to the CV and cover letter?
- Reposted by Fernando Villaneaanyone know if there is childcare at @official-smbe.bsky.social 2026 this year? #SMBE2026
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaAs per always on this most holy of mammal holidays, Groundhog's Day, March Mammal Madness launches our annual tournament page! #2026MMM @mmmletsgo.bsky.social libguides.asu.edu/MarchMammalM...
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- Reposted by Fernando Villanea🚨 Job alert! The University of Tübingen announces a W3 (Full) Professorship in Early Hominin Evolution in the framework of the DFG Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS': uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet... Application deadline: 11.03.2026 🚨
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaBuscamos una/un postdoc entusiasta y motivada para unirse al grupo de Paleogenómica y Biología Evolutiva en @liigh-unam.bsky.social para liderar un proyecto enfocado a muestras humanas prehispánicas. Interesadxs por favor enviar CV y carta de intención a fsanchez@liigh.unam.mx. Por favor #RT.
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaOur work on the generalizability of polygenic scores (PGS) from the @arbelharpak.bsky.social Lab is now officially out! We examine the accuracy of PGS predictions at the individual level. We make 3 observations that expose gaps in our understanding of PGS “portability.” rdcu.be/e0LAr (1/27)
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View full threadReposted by Fernando VillaneaWe discuss 3 key observations: (1) Genetic distance explains only a tiny fraction of the prediction accuracy; (2) Portability trends can be trait-specific, due to underappreciated factors; (3) The measure of prediction accuracy can alter qualitative trends of portability. (4/27)
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaOn the importance of preprints, regardless of whether you are Team Sponge or Team Jelly: 'King says that she wishes she had posted the study as a preprint so that the errors could have been caught sooner.' www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaFederal agents in Minneapolis wrestled Alex Pretti to the ground and secured the handgun he was carrying moments before shooting him multiple times, according to a Washington Post analysis of video footage. Read more: wapo.st/4qGOx8M
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaFootage taken moments before a struggle shows that the man was filming, holding a phone in his right hand, backing up. His left hand is up, visible, palm facing out, as he backs away from the area. An agent uses his right hand, on the torso of the victim, pushing him back, while the man complies.
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaA new preprint from the lab, with postdoc @deboraycb.bsky.social and collaborators @aidaandres.bsky.social and Tim Connallon: “Characterising the detectable and invisible fractions of genomic loci under balancing selection” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaBalancing selection alert!! 🧬🧪 New preprint where we try to quantify how likely (or rather, unlikely) it is for balancing selection to maintain stable polymorphism, and how easy (or rather, challenging) it is to identify its signatures in genomes. #Popgen #MolecularEvolution #EvoBio #Science
- A new preprint from the lab, with postdoc @deboraycb.bsky.social and collaborators @aidaandres.bsky.social and Tim Connallon: “Characterising the detectable and invisible fractions of genomic loci under balancing selection” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- @gokcumenlab.bsky.social I really like the spinning-top model for explaining the prevalence of auto-immune conditions!
- Pajic & @gokcumenlab.bsky.social synthesize the evolution of VNTRs in mammals, including mutational mechanisms and selective forces driving their evolution, and propose a theoretical framework for their persistence through evolutionary tradeoffs. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf250 #genome #evolution
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaPajic & @gokcumenlab.bsky.social synthesize the evolution of VNTRs in mammals, including mutational mechanisms and selective forces driving their evolution, and propose a theoretical framework for their persistence through evolutionary tradeoffs. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf250 #genome #evolution
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaNew preprint! and my first single-author paper, so bear with me. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Malaria population genetic studies have found some puzzling patterns: Ne estimates spanning orders of magnitude, genome-wide negative Tajima's D, and over a quarter of genes with πN/πS >1 1/n
- Pretty sure erosion makes us Boulder.
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaNew work from @miyapan.bsky.social and our team, bringing ant, bee, and wasp labs together. @chuanxinyu.bsky.social shows that the ANTSR locus we discovered in ants has determined sex for 150+ My across bees and stinging wasps 🐜🐝, despite virtually no sequence conservation 😮 doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
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- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaHere's my latest contribution to the @nytimes "Lost Science" series. Brenna Henn's sweeping study of African genetics has been frozen. Gift link: nyti.ms/3Ypmm1A
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaCome and join me and my colleagues at the Department of Biology, #LundUniversity in #sweden! We have am open position as Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Biodiversity. Apply here no later than February 11 2026: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:8…
- Reposted by Fernando Villaneawww.science.org/doi/10.1126/... It's finally out! Meriam Guellil expertly led this project from the first HHV6 detection to the final paper. We found both human herpesviruses 6A and 6B in ancient remains going back 2500 years.
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- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaDid you know there are 2 types of avocado varieties? A-types switch from female to male, B-types male to female, within a single day. This reciprocal sex alternation promotes cross-pollination and has a simple genetic basis. Read more in this recent preprint from the final chapter of my PhD thesis 🥑
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- Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains
- Make a bond movie academic: GoldenEye: Incomplete dominance of OCA2 in the melanin synthesis pathway.
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- Come be my colleague! The CU Natural History Museum has a welcoming community, great leadership, and connections with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. I believe museum faculty also get a summer stipend, in addition to the 9 month salary listed here.
- Curator of Education job (tenure-track Assistant Professor) at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Boulder! Salary $90-$100K, 9 month full time position. Apply by Jan 21. jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaCurator of Education job (tenure-track Assistant Professor) at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Boulder! Salary $90-$100K, 9 month full time position. Apply by Jan 21. jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...
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- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaIt's the scientific community's duty to fight misinformation, bioessentialism, and eugenics That's why we're launching Beyond X&Y, an educational campaign combating the rise of unscientific political propaganda used to attack trans and intersex people Subscribe to our newsletter at beyondxandy.org
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaIn fact, they appear to be eerily similar. The per generation mutation rate seems to lay between 10-9 and 10-8 per bp in all animal taxa surveyed to date–despite vast differences in environments, life histories, and three orders of magnitude variation in the generation time: 4/n
- It’s almost 70 degrees on December 22nd in Colorado but NCAR is the problem????
- bsky.app/profile/ferv... Called this one three months ago. It is just an insane paper. The fact that the stolen clonal line is morphologically similar but different implies an unique evolutionary trajectory. Two species evolving from one mom.
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- This is a good time to talk about the TRUE genetics revolution brought in by sequencing the human genome: The genetic underpinning of traits is not simple, will never be simple. Complex gene-gene interactions are the rule, not the exception 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaOur findings resonate with important prior work by @kuhlwilm.bsky.social & @cedricboeckx.bsky.social which argued that evolution of human-specific traits involved cumulative changes across gene networks, encompassing not only fixed sites but also variants at high frequency in present-day humans.14/n
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaNSF bio hour - NSF BIO lost 40% of its staff 😑
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- Reposted by Fernando Villanea🧪Calling all scientists, farmers, pilots, and everyone who benefits from weather and climate predictions: help save NCAR! Call your reps. abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics...
- When I tell people I'm a geneticist
- You had me at Müller’s Ratchet
- Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA? Well, wonder no more! (Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social) "No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- On the same night NCAR is being defunded, Boulder county is cutting power as a precaution because of the dry and windy conditions today. Last time we had similar conditions a thousand people lost their homes in the Marshall fire. The irony could not be more poignant.
- Reposted by Fernando VillaneaPreprint online right before the holidays! Excited to share the first piece of work from the Zhang Lab, led by my absolutely stellar postdoc Michelle Kim! In this work, we ask how admixture, selection and demography shape complex trait genetics and GWAS performance www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Once I had a reviewer (of 3-4) whose only feedback was “I don’t believe in Bayesian statistics” and gave my proposal a “poor”. Now with a little bad luck this could be your only reviewer and your only feedback.
- NSF plans to streamline merit review to heal self-inflicted staffing wound www.science.org/content/arti...
