Chris Jiggins

4 years fully funded in a very fun department!

They need reform

Congrats to @ssorkhabi.bsky.social on their first manuscript — a perspective that asks ‘What, if anything, can studies of adaptation to altitude reveal about responses to climate change?’ It was great fun to think about this with @gmkov.bsky.social, @chrisjiggins.bsky.social and Marianne Elias 🏔️

I also worked out some kinks in the country- and institute- assignments (mostly variants of 'the Türkiye problem'). The @sangerinstitute.bsky.social effect is wild: 15 genomes per day from the UK (vs 30 genomes per day worldwide):

Such an essential piece. To share with students, trainees, and colleagues all around. (from 7 years ago) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Western Europe must prevail

Super cool speciation story in marine midges with complicated breeding patterns associated with lunar cycles. A magic trait?

Solidarity with this Piddington resident ♥️✊ #Newsnight

Having an external locus of control—believing that you are shaped by luck and fate rather than influencing events—can hold individuals back. Register for free to read why children and companies might benefit from developing an internal locus

The lab is growing 🤩 exciting times ahead

The Gabor Medal 2026 is awarded to Professor Sarah Amalia Teichmann FMedSci FRS for fundamental contributions to deciphering the molecular and cellular basis of living systems by combining biophysics, genomics and data science. #RSMedals https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/gabor-medal/

Pinheiro de Castro et al. trace the evolution of cyanogenic glucosides biosynthesis in Heliconiini butterflies, providing evidence for the genetic basis of this phenotype and empirical evidence for plasticity-first evolution. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #societyjournal #evobio #molbio

We had a great time visiting Xiao Yutao’s amazing new lab in Hainan, China

This is AMAZING

Excellent opportunity here: a 5 year senior research fellowship in Life Sciences (broadly defined) at All Souls College Oxford. Many opportunities to work with the diverse & inclusive community here in @biology.ox.ac.uk here in the brand new Life & Mind Buiilding www.asc.ox.ac.uk/post-doctora...

The spreadsheet for inputting these suggestions can be found here. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

We are proud to share that Ruth Ley @microbiome.bsky.social , Director of the Department of Microbiome Science, has been elected Fellow of The Royal Society @royalsociety.org . Congratulations!!!

Thanks Chris 🙏 Beautiful work. Somehow I'm finding myself blogging more and more about lepidoptera :) kamounlab.medium.com/postcard-fro...

Nice to see mention of Anna Orteu’s work on genetics of colour and mimicry in Hypolimnas butterflies!

🚨Job claxon🚨 4-year #Postdoc available in our lab in @camzoology.bsky.social developing molecular and anatomical approaches to mapping evolutionary changes in the brain, using #Heliconiini butterflies. Come join us, we are nice. 🧪 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Excited to see this out!

Generalovic et al. studied the genetics of the black soldier fly, finding two highly divergent genetic clusters and signatures of domestication bottlenecks in this key species for the global industry of insects food and feed. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag097 #genome #evolution

Excited to be awarded a BBSRC grant with @henrylnorth.bsky.social to study pangenomes of hybridising Lepidoptera species

Voted

Human-potato coevolution

Read ‘Genetic parallelism underpins convergent mimicry coloration in Lepidoptera across 120 million years of evolution' from @york.ac.uk @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @joanameier.bsky.social, et al., in @plosbiology.org ⤵️ journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

No surprise - its Optix and Ivory again - amazing predictability of gene re-use in convergent mimicry phenotypes across amazonian mimicry rings @joanameier.bsky.social @wtf-r-species.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Wrote a fun little thing on gene tree discordance: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mzPI3QW8S...

If you are researcher or student in Latin America apply for our Biodiversity Genomics course in Colombia from 27th-31st July 2026 (10 days left for registration) biodiversitygenomicslatam.weebly.com

Back in the noughties when I was an academic, my lab did quite a bit of work on (conserved) alternative transcripts. This study in @plosbiology.org presents compelling evidence that most alternative transcripts are deleterious noise journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

I am advertising PhD opportunity with Syngenta to discover enzymes using microfluidics - an exciting collaboration with Florian Hollfelder in Biochemistry www.heliconius.zoo.cam.ac.uk/jobs/phd-ica...

Congratulations to Prof Ed Turner who has won a Pilkington Prize for excellence in teaching! He is recognised for his transformative and innovative teaching, as well as his outstanding outreach work with students from under-represented backgrounds. Read more: bit.ly/4lGKuYw

Excited so share our newest study using a single-library HiFi-CiFi approach to generate chromosome-scale diploid assemblies of two vole genomes, identifying putative drivers of divergent pair-bonding behavior, namely a prairie-vole-specific duplication of Avpr1a gene, led by @mabuelanin.bsky.social

I've just had a jaw-to-the-floor moment with this new paper from the Hines lab. They describe a yellow-white switch in bees, which maps to the same TF as the yellow-white switch in Colias butterflies, previously described by the @chriswheat.bsky.social lab. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

We are thrilled to announce the next ECR (and apparently butterfly)-themed session of the Integration of Speciation seminar, featuring @charlottewright.bsky.social and @thymelicus.bsky.social + careers Q&A with Dr Sally Potter. Find the link on the Ios website & mailing list.

The #PestSurveyCard on Helicoverpa zea is now available! ➡️ link.europa.eu/GHgFVW EFSA ranked Helicoverpa zea among the EU candidate #PriorityPests: ➡️ bsky.app/profile/efsa... @chrisjiggins.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

This has been a great meeting, lots of exciting new genomics advances #AGBTGM26

EVOLUTIONARY GENOMICS: @chrisjiggins.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org talks about genomes and the network of life at the 2026 AGBT General Meeting. #AGBTGM26 #genomics #evolutionarygenomics

Mark Blaxter from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social describes the ambition of the @ebpgenome.bsky.social to #Biology26 in Switzerland

JOB ALERT! We are excited to announce that we are recruiting three new academics at lecturer level! Click the link below for more info on how to apply, and don’t forget to explore our research themes too! We look forward to receiving your applications! www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

A real pleasure to meet George Clarke and hear about his experiences growing up on a council estate. We both know the positive impact social housing can have on families’ lives. That’s why I’m determined to continue delivering more council homes as we build a fairer London for everyone.

Letter in Times today

Our new 416pp #FliesofBritainandIreland covering over 1300 species & with over 1500 photos is now being printed - due mid Feb 2026. You can still pre-order until 31 Jan bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social