Jun B. Cai

PhD ✅ → New job ✅ → ✈️🇩🇪 Excited to share that I’ll be starting a postdoc in @radecker.bsky.social's lab at @hifmb.de, University of Oldenburg in Germany in November! Looking forward to continuing my research on marine symbiosis 🪸🔬 and learning some new techniques along the way!

🪸 Life is better in color! September is Coral Bleaching Awareness Month. We’re joining the Coral Reef Alliance and organizations worldwide in bleaching our logo to raise awareness of coral bleaching, one of the most visible signs of reef stress. 🔗 go.coral.org/coral-bleach...

Defending my dissertation in five days 🎓🪸 September 11 at 1 PM (PST) In-Person: Cordley Hall 1316 Zoom: beav.es/JunCai YouTube: beav.es/IBLive

My lab is HIRING - we have an opening for a #postdoc focused on marine invertebrate symbioses & evolution (heavy focus on microbial -Omics and bioinformatics, but lots of fun fieldwork opportunities too!) Full position info here: www.biklab.org/join-the-lab Please help spread the word! #SymbioSky

Recent work from the lab. Even after hundreds of generations of intense directional selection at relatively small Ne, substantial genetic variation persists, and can be rapidly redeployed when the direction of selection reverses. Results are suggestive of balancing selection. doi.org/10.1093/molb...

Very excited that I got to present on some of my dissertation research at #ICRS2026! This study looked at changes in lipidomic profiles in Aiptasia based on life stages and symbiotic state. Thank you to everyone who came, asked questions, and helped make this moment possible. Kia ora!

Looking forward to presenting at #ICRS2026 tomorrow. I'll be speaking about our work on the functional role of sphingosine kinase in cnidarian–algal symbiosis during the cell and molecular session at 10:30 AM in Room 516.

Oregon State University's Department of Integrative Biology is currently hiring up to three tenure-track faculty members, with an emphasis on organismal biology. Note: Previous links are no longer active due to a change in our hiring system. oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com/OSU_Careers_...

Excited to share that my postdoc work is now out @cp-cell.bsky.social! A collaborative work with co-lead author Catherine Henderson and others in the lab of @pcleves.bsky.social A deep look into how algae form symbiosis with corals and anemones. 🧵 (1/7) www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Happy to share that this year’s OSU Biology Graduate Student Symposium (BGSS) was a success! Thanks to everyone that helped put this together and the hundred people in attendance! @osubpp.bsky.social @osuscience.bsky.social @bb-osu.bsky.social

Congrats to my honors student mentee Carla on a great defense! Always rewarding to see students grow into confident scientists. Excited to see where she goes next!

Update: I am definitely hiring 2 PhD students; preference to those who can start spring 2027, but reach out if you’re looking to start in Fall 27. Want to start earlier? Reach out and we can talk about technician positions starting as early as this summer.

The cool part of microscopy is that even when you don't get good data, you can still get cool images. Aphid embryos labeled with DAPI, antibody and WGA. Imaged on an epifluorescence scope.

Great people and amazing talks at #SICB2026 @sicb.bsky.social @sicbjournals.bsky.social @junbcai.bsky.social @maria-ruggeri.bsky.social

Having an awesome time at SICB so far! @sicb.bsky.social @sicbjournals.bsky.social @junbcai.bsky.social @maria-ruggeri.bsky.social

First publication with lpita.bsky.social looking at Aiptaisia oral regeneration! link.springer.com/article/10.1...