Fabien Burki
@fburki.bsky.social
Exploring the great microbial eukaryote diversity and evolution, one protist at a time. I’m fascinated by this question: how have #plastids evolved? #ProtistsOnSky | Associate Prof at Uppsala University. My lab: https://www.burki-lab.net/
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Reposted by Fabien Burki
A Mitochondrially Related Plastidial Transporter Regulates Photosynthesis in the Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A Mitochondrially Related Plastidial Transporter Regulates Photosynthesis in the Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Eukaryotic phototrophs depend on the activity of two engines (the plastid and the mitochondrion) to generate the energy required for cellular metabolism. Because of their overlapping functions, both ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
A Mitochondrially Related Plastidial Transporter Regulates Photosynthesis in the Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Fabien Burki
🎉 There are currently 4 opportunities to join the Holt lab in beautiful Bath! 🎉
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
November 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
🎉 There are currently 4 opportunities to join the Holt lab in beautiful Bath! 🎉
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Fluorescent microscopy is beautiful🔬✨
People who are pushing the envelope will not only uncover new biology, but captivate (and entice!) new generations of brilliant minds to love biology the same way we do
People who are pushing the envelope will not only uncover new biology, but captivate (and entice!) new generations of brilliant minds to love biology the same way we do
November 23, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Fluorescent microscopy is beautiful🔬✨
People who are pushing the envelope will not only uncover new biology, but captivate (and entice!) new generations of brilliant minds to love biology the same way we do
People who are pushing the envelope will not only uncover new biology, but captivate (and entice!) new generations of brilliant minds to love biology the same way we do
Each such discovery is a game changer for our understanding of eukaryote evolution, and this paper is no exception. Meet Solarion, which displays yet again novel types of subcellular structures. Congrats to all authors on a fascinating story. #protistsonsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup - Nature
The discovery of an unusual protist named Solarion arienae, which has a mitochondrial genome with some intriguing features, provides insight into the early radiation of eukaryotic groups.
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Each such discovery is a game changer for our understanding of eukaryote evolution, and this paper is no exception. Meet Solarion, which displays yet again novel types of subcellular structures. Congrats to all authors on a fascinating story. #protistsonsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Weird word of the day: "kleptosquamy." The testate amoeba Awerintzewia cyclostoma steals scales from other amoeboid organisms to build its own shell. This one has robbed Quadrulella, Netzelia, various euglyphids, and even an Acanthocystis. Kleptosquamy! #amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #biology #nature
November 21, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Weird word of the day: "kleptosquamy." The testate amoeba Awerintzewia cyclostoma steals scales from other amoeboid organisms to build its own shell. This one has robbed Quadrulella, Netzelia, various euglyphids, and even an Acanthocystis. Kleptosquamy! #amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #biology #nature
Reposted by Fabien Burki
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor
Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.
yawak.jp
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 AM
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/
Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Come and Join Us.
Not only will it be fun, but you will be learning a lot of methods & travel some more ;)!
Not only will it be fun, but you will be learning a lot of methods & travel some more ;)!
It is a collaboration between my lab (Uppsala U) and the labs of @dudinlab.bsky.social (Geneva U) and @filiphusnik.bsky.social (OIST). More info and how to apply here:
uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
PhD student in systematic biology
The Department of Organismal Biology teaches and explores the evolution, development and function on the organismal level. For more information see Department of Organismal Biology - Uppsala Universit
uu.varbi.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Come and Join Us.
Not only will it be fun, but you will be learning a lot of methods & travel some more ;)!
Not only will it be fun, but you will be learning a lot of methods & travel some more ;)!
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
November 12, 2025 at 9:50 AM
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
We've used this pipeline a lot (and will continue), and I can only highly recommend it
Oligonucleotide design meets big data:
We present oligoN-design, a simple, reproducible and versatile open-source tool to design specific primers and probes directly from large environmental DNA datasets.
🔗 DOI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👉 github.com/MiguelMSandi...
We present oligoN-design, a simple, reproducible and versatile open-source tool to design specific primers and probes directly from large environmental DNA datasets.
🔗 DOI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👉 github.com/MiguelMSandi...
November 7, 2025 at 2:06 PM
We've used this pipeline a lot (and will continue), and I can only highly recommend it
Reposted by Fabien Burki
The amoeba Difflugia bacillifera builds its shell from things that contain silica, and it is not particular about the source. These ones have incorporated whole shells from another testate amoeba (Euglypha), along with diatoms, algal cysts and chunks of rock. #Amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #peatlands
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
The amoeba Difflugia bacillifera builds its shell from things that contain silica, and it is not particular about the source. These ones have incorporated whole shells from another testate amoeba (Euglypha), along with diatoms, algal cysts and chunks of rock. #Amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #peatlands
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Europe's MSCA postdoctoral fellowships are now attracting many researchers who would have gone to the US. So the payline has dropped below 10% (~1,600 fellowships to 17k applicants). Super tough situation. One more reason to double the next Horizon budget, as proposed by the EU Commission.
Applications for MCSA are up 64%! 50% now come from outside the EU. Trump effect?
The European Research market just got a hell of a lot more crowded.
EU should turn on the tap
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...
The European Research market just got a hell of a lot more crowded.
EU should turn on the tap
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 receives record number of 17,058 proposals
This year’s annual MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call has attracted considerable interest from the research community with 17,058 proposals submitted.
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
November 3, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Europe's MSCA postdoctoral fellowships are now attracting many researchers who would have gone to the US. So the payline has dropped below 10% (~1,600 fellowships to 17k applicants). Super tough situation. One more reason to double the next Horizon budget, as proposed by the EU Commission.
Congrats on the paper, and beautiful cover
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
November 3, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Congrats on the paper, and beautiful cover
Reposted by Fabien Burki
✨X-ray crystallography reveals surprising twist in how proteins enter the unique photosynthetic organelles of Paulinella. The chromatophore targeting peptide (crTP) folds into a 3D structure, hinting that folded proteins cross peptidoglycan and inner membrane. (1/2)
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
November 1, 2025 at 7:34 AM
✨X-ray crystallography reveals surprising twist in how proteins enter the unique photosynthetic organelles of Paulinella. The chromatophore targeting peptide (crTP) folds into a 3D structure, hinting that folded proteins cross peptidoglycan and inner membrane. (1/2)
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
Mind blowing
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
October 31, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Mind blowing
Super, congrats Flora et al
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
October 31, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Super, congrats Flora et al
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Thirty novel fungal lineages: formal description based on environmental samples and DNA mycokeys.pensoft.net/articles.php...
Thirty novel fungal lineages: formal description based on environmental samples and DNA
Molecular analyses of soil and water commonly reveal large proportions of fungal taxa that cannot be assigned to any taxonomic or functional groups. Some of these so-called dark taxa have been encoded...
mycokeys.pensoft.net
October 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Thirty novel fungal lineages: formal description based on environmental samples and DNA mycokeys.pensoft.net/articles.php...
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Please join us next week for the second iteration of the DinoSphere Seminars! This time our two speakers will talk about host-associated dinoflagellates and any challenges they might have encountered when working with them. All current and future friends of dinoflagellates welcome!
#ProtistsOnSky
#ProtistsOnSky
We’re back with the next DinoSphere Online Seminar!
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
October 29, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Please join us next week for the second iteration of the DinoSphere Seminars! This time our two speakers will talk about host-associated dinoflagellates and any challenges they might have encountered when working with them. All current and future friends of dinoflagellates welcome!
#ProtistsOnSky
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Fabien Burki
We’re back with the next DinoSphere Online Seminar!
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
October 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
We’re back with the next DinoSphere Online Seminar!
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting:
Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids
📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
Please spread the word!
#protistonsky
Reposted by Fabien Burki
Do you want to do a Masters in Evolutionary Biology? The call for applying to the MEME program is now open! MEME is a fantastic 2-year MSc between four European Universities on all areas of Evolutionary Biology. Apply and study in Sweden/France/the Netherlands/Germany/USA/Switzerland! www.evobio.eu
October 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Do you want to do a Masters in Evolutionary Biology? The call for applying to the MEME program is now open! MEME is a fantastic 2-year MSc between four European Universities on all areas of Evolutionary Biology. Apply and study in Sweden/France/the Netherlands/Germany/USA/Switzerland! www.evobio.eu
Reposted by Fabien Burki
📢 We have an open position for a postdoc to join my lab. It's a great position @animecol-uu.bsky.social, fully salaried for 2.5 years with all benefits.
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)
Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology - Uppsala University
Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University
www.uu.se
October 27, 2025 at 7:43 AM
📢 We have an open position for a postdoc to join my lab. It's a great position @animecol-uu.bsky.social, fully salaried for 2.5 years with all benefits.
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)