Kathy Darragh

The flies arrived in Cambridge this morning—healthy and happy! So nice to see another successful shipment! And great to draw one of our all-time-best customers out of retirement long enough to recreate our first order! Here’s to another 40 years of the BDSC helping to make fly genetics happen!

One month left to apply to our FREE Crash Course in Evolutionary Biology! Our mission is to make evolutionary biology a more inclusive, representative and accessible field by increasing our participant's chances of accessing to top master's programmes. Register at evobiocrashcourse.github.io ✨🐞🦎🌏

I'm hiring a postdoc in population and evolutionary genetics at Indiana University Bloomington! We're a computational lab working on spatial demographic inference using genomic data and machine learning. You can apply here: indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/34508

Ruibao's first paper from the lab is out in @nature.com . www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Collab with @multicellgenome.bsky.social & @jennahed.bsky.social. How did cells stick together and form the first animals? The protist Ministeria suggests cellular aggregation had a role. @iuqcb.bsky.social

In my lab's latest, we experimentally test the decades-old idea that plants switch from bee to hummingbird pollinators in tropical mountains because bee activity declines in cool cloud forest conditions nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Very happy to announce a big new paper from the lab, led by grad students @smishra677.bsky.social and Laia Pomar-Pallarès (in collaboration with @roblanfear.bsky.social). We introduce a new way to study introgression, with accompanying software (DAFT) 1/n 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thanks for having me - I had a great time meeting so many of you!!

3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama! Three positions, each including salary & a research budget. Applications due April, 15th. DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us! stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

Looking forward to #Dros26 this week. My lab is recruiting and I would be delighted to chat with anyone interested in grad school/postdoc positions in evolutionary cell biology and developmental genetics. Please reach out if interested!

💡Online now - the Spotlight "Ancient enzyme diversification underpins octocoral chemical diversity" from @kdarragh.bsky.social. #TerpeneSynthase #Diterpenes #BiosyntheticPathway #Octocorals #Evolution Read it here 👉 authors.elsevier.com/a/1mURq3S6Gf...

What a way to start the year!! Really enjoyed the usual friendly atmosphere at PopGroup and all the research shared. Many thanks to the organisers @popgroup2026.bsky.social If anyone is interested in joining my group or coming to Sweden please get in touch 🧬❄️

Always inspiring to start the year at @popgroup2026.bsky.social ! If you were there and want to learn more about pangenomes, there’s still time to register for our meeting in Edinburgh in June, co-organised with @charlottewright.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social royalsociety.org/science-even...

So excited to read this!!

#NSF funding is crucial for uncovering and developing new engineered solutions to our probleme based on plant and animal biology. #saveNSF www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Hi Folks ! Just a few more days to register for the POPGROUP meeting (deadline = this Monday 10/11/2025). Join us in the beautiful city of #Lille just across the Channel for three exciting days of science and more ! www.hautsdefrancetourism.com/destinations... --> populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk

Darragh lab ready for Halloween! @zar-rebholz.bsky.social

Just a few days left to apply to our TT position in Plant Physiology in the Dept. of Biology @UMassAmherst! Join a great group of plant scientists (and physiologists 😉) AND fall in love with small town New England! Please repost. careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-u...

The Hopkins Lab (hopkins-lab.com) at the University of Florida is looking to recruit a postdoc to work on the genetics of organ function and evolution across Drosophila and beyond. Please visit tinyurl.com/vcsjpmzz or email me for more info. And please RT or send to anyone who might be interested!

If you are a plant biologist interested in collaborating on an evolutionary floral scent/plant volatile project please reach out! www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Very happy to announce that the next POPGROUP meeting will take place in Lille on 7-9 January ! Follow ‪@popgroup2026.bsky.social for all updates. 📢 Please share widely ! 📢‬

Exciting news! The next #PopGroup meeting will take place in Lille 🍟, France, 7–9 January 2026 – just 1 hour by train from London, Brussels, and Paris. This year, PopGroup will also host ALPHY, the annual meeting of Evolutionary Genomics. More info: populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk See you there !

Considering submitting to Evolution? The EELS program offers free, light-touch English language editing for prospective authors. Learn more: www.evolutionsociety.org/publications...

I am delighted to be starting as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at the University of Florida in January 2026. The lab is broadly interested in the functional, developmental, and evolutionary genetics of cell types and organs across flies and beyond 🪰🧬

The @labschulz.bsky.social worked out how to make HNDB, a species-specific perfume compound of the orchid bee Euglossa dilemma - and here they are collecting their freshly synthesized compound of choice!! Now published in Synlett: www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejo... #natprod

“This grant means freedom… I can take more risks.” Join us in congratulating the 2025 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award recipients, @aiinglim.bsky.social, Pavitra Muralidhar & Kavita Rangan 👏 1/2🧵

What happens to floral scent when it is no longer needed? At the genetic level, are genes lost or down-regulated? Fun new open access paper in MBE! #evosky #PlantScience

Hey if anyone is considering backing up any datasets for some reason today, the Open Science Framework has free storage up to 5G/private repository, and up to 50G/public repository. (The OSF is run by a 501c3 (Center for Open Science), so if you do this you might also consider making a donation.)

The OSF is available for preservation of datasets that need saving. osf.io Contact support@osf.io if you need assistance

🚨🚨🚨Jobs at IU!🚨🚨🚨 Multiple positions in computational biology, broadly interpreted. Positions can be in multiple depts, including Biology, Informatics, and CS. Please apply--we want new colleagues! jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/664327/m...

Save the date! 🚨🚨🚨 The annual Midwest Population Genetics meeting will be held here at Indiana University, Bloomington on August 9-10. Stay tuned for more info #MWPG24

AmNat fact 1: Did you know that you can publish bilingual abstracts & titles (i.e. other than English) in The American Naturalist? This increases the visibility & inclusivity of your work, by making it accessible to non-English speaking communities. (3/5)

Male orchid bees collect compounds to use as pheromones, a behaviour with cognitive and physiological demands. We detected associated gene expression changes in the Malpighian tubules but none in the brain or hind legs. @kdarragh.bsky.social & Santiago Ramírez academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

¿Cómo afecta el comportamiento a la expresión génica? Investigamos los cambios en a expresión génica después de la recolección de perfume en abejas de las orquídeas y no encontramos ninguna diferencia en los tejidos que esperábamos.

How does behaviour affect gene expression? We investigated changes in gene expression following perfume collection in orchid bees and didn't find any differences in the tissues we expected!

We are hiring faculty at the associate and full professor level in Synthetic Biology. Come join us at Indiana University's beautiful Bloomington campus. indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/22006