Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)
This is the professional account for the Evolutionary Cell Biology lab of Prof. Joel Dacks.
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Thank you @mollyherring.bsky.social for the stunning showcase 😍 Like what you see? Come ExM with us! Let’s flood the internet with microbial marvels 🦠 #ProtistsOnSky #MicroEvoSky 🧪🔬🌍 @dudinlab.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @embl.org @erc.europa.eu @embo.org
- Even with the largest zoom on a classic compound optical system, scientists struggle to make sense of finer details. Microbiologists are turning to an unexpected source to clear things up: a moisture-absorbing material found in diapers. www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-mi...
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)The Microbiome Within a Microbe: Rethinking Blastocystis Biology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #protists #microbiome
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- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)The Romantic Discovery of Radiolaria in the Ocean #microbiology #Radiolaria #protists #MicroSky doi.org/10.1111/jeu....
- My first bluesky post of 2026. I was away in the UK, for meetings with colleagues but also got to sneak in a few visits with more friends, old and new alike. In what has been a turbulent and disquieting year across the world already, personal connections and support are more important than ever.
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)🎄 Just published 🎉! Our ongoing genome sequencing of the basal dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina uncovered a new lineage of endogenized Polinton-like viruses, OmPLV. Notably, OmPLV encodes ... [cont] #VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky
- What a great way to end the year! This work, with a superb team, gave us the chance to put out some ideas about the evolution of meiosis (and other organellar systems) during eukaryogenesis. Congratulations especially to our undergrad Lisa Matsuo on her first ever paper:) @cloeucl.bsky.social
- Wow! Super exciting science:)
- Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- The first candle of Channukah; the lights on a Christmas tree; the solstice as the time when the days get brighter; they are about finding a light in the darkest of times. Intentionally looking for, and appreciating something positive, when things seem dire can be a powerful act. Now and always.
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)And another Asgard paper. Cells in motion! Wow! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Haven't posted here in a bit. But the public school teachers' strike is over, my program grant is submitted, and our household is now COVID-free. Heard a great seminar today, had a catch up with a long-time collaborator, and taught a grad class to a very talented set of students. Happy Friday!
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Our paper on the #genome of the Trebouxia #photobiont from Xanthoria is now out in @newphyt.bsky.social! Check below for a near-chromosome level assembly, secretome analysis, evidence of ancient HGT, and transcriptomic comparison of the alga in symbiosis and in pure culture doi.org/10.1111/nph.70728
- Holy smokes!!!!
- An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n #ProtistsOnSky tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Excited to share our new paper! Tepsin and AP4 mediate transport from the trans-Golgi to the plant-like vacuole in Toxoplasma gondii. A great collaboration between the Meissner, Jiménez-Ruiz, and Dacks labs 🙌 #Toxoplasma #Apicomplexa #Golgi #CellBiology #Parasites
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)See companion study from Grech et al. @jimenezruizlab.bsky.social @meissnerlab.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/...
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)🔎Check out this image from one of the articles in our Sept/Oct issue: 🔬Two Nanochloropsis gaditana cells visualized by quick-freeze deep-etch electron ▶️Read the article: Goodenough & Roth. Ultrastructure of the Endoplasmic Reticulum in Eukaryotic Microalgae. doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #protistsonsky
- Always happy to be involved in work that better explains how parasite cells function. Especially in a group like apicomplexans with such a global health impact (Malaria, Theileria, Cryptosporidium). The more we know, the better people are able to find ways to combat them. doi.org/10.1083/jcb....
- Getting to do the work with friends in the Meissner lab and my talented student @abhi-parabasal.bsky.social is just a great bonus:) @jcb.org @czechacademy.bsky.social @ualbertadom.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social #protistsonsky
- OK sure, it started out as a typo, but I d like the idea measuring of a gene or protein's "Conswervation". Just feels more groovy and less judgemental than 'divergence".
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)What you're looking at is a brand new protist species! 🤯🔬 Isn't it beautiful? This image is just a glimpse of what's to come. We can't wait to share our full findings soon, in partnership with Guifré @beaplab.bsky.social @luisjagago.bsky.social. Stay tuned! #NewSpecies #protistsonSky #diversity
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)One is the best EMBO/EMBL symposium is coming up and it’s going to be AWESOME. Save the date !
- 🚨 Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (📅 March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards. www.embl.org/about/info/c... #EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky 🦠
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)New #ISEPpapers! Towards a trait-based framework for protist ecology and evolution: Mahwash Jamy et al. www.cell.com/trends/micro... #protists #algae #microbes #ecology #evolution
- I reflect on the changes in the past year and introduce and explain the rationale for JEM's newly established AI guidelines. Most importantly, this piece discusses what I see as the core mission of the journal: to provide a venue for the voices of Protistologists. Hope you like it.
- Editor-in-Chief Joel Dacks looks back on the year and shares some of our new initiatives, including "Issue Highlight" image and AI use guidance. Read about these initiatives and more in the Editor's Message onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #protistsonsky
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- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)The first paper from my PhD is out now! doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... We describe a new photosynthetic #Paulinella species from a brackish beach in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Big thanks to the co-authors Maia Palka and @alive-in-the-ocean.bsky.social, and my supervisor @fburki.bsky.social #protistsonsky
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- Moving fast and stressing hard about getting things done before vacation (and being grumpy about it). Then I opened my laptop to the news of the passing of a mentor and colleague. Her memory will be a blessing and guide. Good reminder about priorities today, though. Connections over check-lists.
- Really interesting work!!
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)We have a postdoc opening for a protistologist with biophysics inclinations to join our @hfspo.bsky.social project! (focus will be on characterising the morphology, ultrastructure and behaviour of excavates) #protistsonsky Apply by Sept 17th (RTs appreciated!) jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
- Drafting a budget for an upcoming grant and asked a colleague how much lab space I'd need to culture the fungi I plan to study. They said as mushroom as possible. ...I regret nothing.
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- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)✍️ The Jackson/Verbavatz Lab contributed to the publication of a new article 📖 @traffic-journal.bsky.social 📃 Eukaryote-Wide Distribution of a Family of Longin Domain-Containing GAP Complexes for Small GTPases 🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- Wanna read about ARFGAPs, protists, Asgards, and the evolution of the endomembrane system? Have I got a paper for you! This was a pleasure to work on with two great collaborators, Cathy Jackson (@ijmonod.bsky.social) and Anna Novák Vanclová. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- I love the image of the eukaryotic tree!
- New protist supergroup: Promethea! From @zlatogursky.bsky.social et al #ProtistsOnSky
- Wanna read about ARFGAPs, protists, Asgards, and the evolution of the endomembrane system? Have I got a paper for you! This was a pleasure to work on with two great collaborators, Cathy Jackson (@ijmonod.bsky.social) and Anna Novák Vanclová. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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- Congratulations Monica!!
- Happy to be the next (and 1st female) @crg.eu director. The CRG always stood out to me, for its excellence in understanding life's principles, with implications for health and biodiversity, & its collaborative, open and innovative way of doing science. Thrilled to join its amazing community in 2026!
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Exciting news: our Board of Trustees has appointed @monicabettencourt.bsky.social as the CRG's new Director. Prof Bettencourt-Dias is expected to take up the post in 2026, replacing Dr. Luis Serrano, who will continue to maintain a research group at the institute. www.crg.eu/en/news/moni...
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Please Re-Post. Our global GRUMP microbial ocean database is out in Scientific Data! Unfractionated, single universal PCR, with Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes all on the same scale with the same denominator. Pole to pole, depths to 6000m. Lots of metadata. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Congratulations! Great to see this work already making an impact. We've included it in the recent JEM Special Collection on Parasitology too! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
- 🥳Congratulations to Monica Santin and colleagues for winning the Trager Award for the most cited paper in the past two-year period. ➡️Check out the paper: Division of Blastocystis ST10 into three new subtypes: ST42-ST44 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal... #protistsonsky
- Though taxonomy, species description, or evolution might (rightly) spring to mind when you think of JEM, we also publish tons of super parasitology papers! Here are a few of the greatest hits from the past 5 years. If you've got a protist parasite manuscript to go out, consider JEM😀
- We're highlighting some of the best #parasitology papers we've published in the last 5 years. Check out this special collection. #protistsonsky onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
- Such a pleasure to accept the Department of Medicine Basic Science Publication Award for 2025, for our paper, "https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2403601121", on behalf of all co-authors.
- On top of the honour of the award, I want to say how great the awards dinner was. The genuine joy that the attendees had for their colleagues' achievements and recognitions was palpable and striking. I feel very lucky to have such great Departmental colleagues:)
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Excited to share our new paper in @cellreports.bsky.social that reshapes our understanding of chromosome organization's deep evolutionary roots! Our work dives into the origins of the machinery that structures our very genomes. 🔗: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... #Genomics #Evolution #CellBiology #LECA
- Oh sure, because my 'cool papers to read when I get a chance' pile wasn't big enough. Thanks a lot! ...No seriously, thank you. This looks excellent. @deemteam.bsky.social @lauraeme.bsky.social @andrewjroger.bsky.social
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- I am so looking forward to reading this!
- Happy to have contributed to this great article: #Protist genomics: key to understanding eukaryotic evolution. Congrats Alexandra Schoenle et al. #ProtistsOnSky authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
- Attention Protistology Hive MInd: Looking for suggestions for the best/most complete/not divergent Rhizarian genome to search. B. natans is missing something and we'd like to double check if this is a real loss or just false negative.
- I love the Protistology Community! Four separate groups reached out and offered to share their unpublished data with us. What a wonderful, supportive, scholarly environment that we get to share! I'll check back with my student and see where we go, but thank you all for restoring my spirit today.
- This is the paper with the highlighted image for the new issue of JEM, now that we've changed from a different cover image every time. Congratulations to the authors!
- Highlighted paper! Daisuke Yamagishi, et al. open a new front in the drive to understand photosymbiosis in protists. Article➡️ doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #protistsonsky
- Thrilled to announce this work on an under-appreciated molecular complex in marine algae! Congratulations to all co-authors: past, visiting, and long past (Richard😜) *Longer thread on the big picture impact of 'Jotnarlogs' for cell biology forth-coming* #protistsonsky www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
- @isepprotists.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social @ualbertadom.bsky.social atRichard, Mathias, Mandeep, Kelly, Raegan@wheneverIcanfindtheirBlueskyhandles.
- Beautiful!
- Dose of Protist Art: Chatton's chapter 1952 "Classe des Dinoflagelles ou Péridiniens" in Traité de Zoologie, Tome 1A. Fig. 1 Euglena intermedia; Fig. 2 Gyrodinium melo; Fig. 3 Amphidinium corpulentum; Fig. 4 Warnowia maculata; Fig. 5 radiolarian Auloceros elegans #protistsonsky
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- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Parasites need mitochondrial respiration to infect and spread. Effective anti-malaria and ani-toxoplasmosis drugs target respiratory complexes (e.g. atovaquone)! But how do the parasite complexes work and how do drugs inhibit them? Read Andrew Maclean and Alex Mühleip phenomenal work on this! 👇
- Happy to share our latest paper. Result of a great collaboration between @sheinerlab.bsky.social @oninopantsu.bsky.social and Alexander Mühleip’s new group. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- With the move to a permanent cover for @jeukmicro.bsky.social, we've not forgotten the thrill of an article 'getting the journal cover"! We're happy to introduce Highlight Images, one per issue. This is our stunning choice for the March/April Issue! Congrats to @mixotrophe.bsky.social and team:)
- Check out exciting protist research in JEM! Holly Moeller et al. explore the feeding habits of Mesodinium rubrum and provide a tool for studying its cell biology and photophysiology in their open access paper in our March/April issue! doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #protistsonsky
- With the move to a permanent cover for @jeukmicro.bsky.social, we've not forgotten the thrill of an article 'getting the journal cover". We're happy to introduce Highlight Images, one per issue. This Highlight from our January/February issue shows the beauty and complexity of protists!
- We’ve published some incredible protist research in the first quarter of 2025! Julia Packer, et al. describe two new species of free-living bacterivores including the one pictured here Novijibodo darinka. Check out the open access paper from our Jan/Feb issue. doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #protistsonsky
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- Congratulations Max! Quite an accomplishment :) I am looking forward to reading it.
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- Names are very personal and powerful. We hope that authors being able to add their names in whatever characters are most meaningful to them will let us better know one another as a readership and as a scientific community.
- Protistologists work around the world in many languages and alphabets. At JEM, we want to meet you as you see yourself. Now authors can also include their names in any script they want in published papers at JEM. Learn how in our Checklist for Manuscript Preparation: bit.ly/3G3PANH #protistsonsky
- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)🚨New preprint out! We show that Arcella spp., a shell-bearing amoeba, controls the abundance of the filamentous bacterium Ca. Microthrix parvicella, the main culprit behind sludge bulking in wastewater treatment plants. Interested in applicability of protists? Read along! #protistsonsky #microsky 🧵👇
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- Reposted by Dacks Lab (Evolutionary Cell Biology)Excited and honored to receive the Holz-Conner award and to present my research at the upcoming #ICOP2025 / #ISOP2025 in Seoul! Looking forward to sharing insights on Rhizarian genomics & metabolism. Join me June 22-27 at Sungkyunkwan University. #protistsonsky #SciComm
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