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Cauã Westmann

@cauawest.bsky.social

220 followers 720 following 4 posts

Deeply curious about Life, the Universe and Everything Evolution · SynBio · Gene Regulation · Microbes Group Leader @EPFL.bsky.social ELISIR Scholar - Systems and Synthetic Evolutionary Biology Lab PostDoc @Wagner Lab UZH 🇧🇷🌈 he/him

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Reposted by Cauã Westmann

Timothy Fuqua 🏳‍🌈 @timothyfuqua.bsky.social · 7d

A fun little side project I've been working on with @stepadenisov.bsky.social , Mato Lagator, and Andreas Wagner: "Strong promoters are mutationally robust". Briefly...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Strong promoters are mutationally robust

Mutational robustness is the persistence of a phenotype upon mutation. It facilitates molecular evolution and has been characterized in a variety of biological systems, but studies of prokaryotic prom...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Cauã Westmann

Timothy Fuqua 🏳‍🌈 @timothyfuqua.bsky.social · 5d

Forgot to add the graphical abstract :)

Diagram illustrating promoter architecture and factors influencing mutational robustness.
Top panel: The promoter sequence is shown with a -35 box (orange, labeled “TTG...”) and a -10 box (purple, labeled “TATA...”), separated by 17 ± 1 bp. Sequence logos above each box indicate conserved nucleotides.
Bottom panel: Titled “Mutational robustness influenced by:”, it shows four numbered factors:

Strength – represented by an upward diagonal arrow.

Box position – two colored bars (orange and purple) aligned on numbered positions (1–6), with a dashed box highlighting overlapping regions.

Box overlap – orange and purple boxes partially overlapping.

Spacer length – orange and purple boxes separated by a double-headed arrow labeled “17 bp.”

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Reposted by Cauã Westmann

José Aguilar-Rodríguez @jaguilarrod.bsky.social · 5d

One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation

The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...

www.biorxiv.org

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Cauã Westmann @cauawest.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you so much ☺️

Cauã Westmann @cauawest.bsky.social · 7d

I’m excited to announce the launch of my lab at EPFL in Jan 2026 🎉. We’ll combine evolution & synthetic biology to study and (re)engineer bacterial communication.
I’m recruiting PhD students to start in the first semester of 2026.
Apply via EPFL PhD programs by Nov 1
drive.google.com/file/d/1cm-t...

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Reposted by Cauã Westmann

Nikos Vakirlis @vakirlis.bsky.social · Jul 14

Why do yeast #de_novo genes have so many transmembrane domains? It's because the genomic regions from which they evolved are super enriched in stretches of A's and T's ! Our work with @timothyfuqua.bsky.social is now published in @jevbio.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Intergenic polyA/T tracts explain the propensity of yeast de novo genes to encode transmembrane domains

Abstract. New genes can emerge de novo from non-genic genomic regions. In budding yeast, computational predictions have shown that intergenic regions harbo

doi.org

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Reposted by Cauã Westmann

Timothy Fuqua 🏳‍🌈 @timothyfuqua.bsky.social · Jun 24

Hey y'all, grant-pending, I may be unemployed starting from October. If you have any leads on biotech / postdoc positions in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, I'd greatly appreciate a message. I'm great with Data Analysis, Molecular Biology, and Teaching. (Plz RT!)

More at timothyfuqua.com

Home | Timothy Fuqua

timothyfuqua.com

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Cauã Westmann @cauawest.bsky.social · Jun 23

Começando com a divulgação do EVOSUR 2025 - uma Escola Sul-Americana de Biologia Evolutiva que estamos organizando no Uruguai, em novembro!
As inscrições estão abertas até 15 de agosto.
Se puderem divulgar entre redes e grupos da América do Sul, agradecemos muito!
sites.google.com/view/evosul2...

EvoSur

sites.google.com

Cauã Westmann @cauawest.bsky.social · Jun 23

Better late than never - Hello world and hello Bluesky! :)

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