Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins studying human evolutionary and reproductive genetics https://mccoy-lab.org
Rajiv McCoy
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I wrote about AI in academia. "PhD-level thinking", LLM bias, grunt work, alignment, AGI, data center water use, AI politics -- something for everyone.
Our paper is now out in Nature:
“Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres.
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PhD-level thinking, LLM bias, alignment, AGI, data centers, and AI politics
open.substack.com
Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with re...
Our preprint on the genetic regulation of mtDNA gene expression in collaboration with @shwetaramdas.bsky.social and @rajivmccoy.bsky.social .
The last chapter of my PhD is finally out !!!! In the same species, on neighboring islands, we see radically different warning colors emerge. Evolution in action:
Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.biorxiv.org
📣Our paper is out! 🤩 We found that local modification of H3K9me3 using CRISPR/dCas9 at hotspots changes crossover activity, bringing us closer to targeted recombination in plants.🌱
Huge thanks to @szymanskalejman.bsky.social, Wojtek, Ania, and Karolina!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Targeting chromatin modifiers to DNA hotspots reveals causal link between histone marks, transcription, and meiotic recombination.
Today we launch The Australian DNA Bridge, a study focused on individuals with mixed ancestries to help us make genetic discoveries that are more accurate, inclusive, and equitable across all populations.
Want to learn more? Follow the link.
[https://australiandnabridgestudy.org/]
Piotr Ziolkowski
I am seeking a postdoc to join my group at UCLA -- ideally the candidate would have some experience in either population genetics or microbes/microbiome (computational background needed). We have a range of projects and are happy to tailer to your interests. Please dm/email me if interested.
A few years ago, using palaeoproteomics, we identified a tiny hominin bone from Denisova Cave and named it Denisova 17 (D17).
A rather unremarkable sliver.
At the time, I wondered, could it be Denny’s sibling (the Neanderthal/Denisovan hybrid we had just reported)?
Well, turns out: no. 🧵1/4
