Peter Laurin
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peterlaurin.bsky.social
Peter Laurin
@peterlaurin.bsky.social
PhD Student at UCLA studying the genetics and evolution of bacteria in the gut microbiome.

peterlaurin.github.io
Reposted by Peter Laurin
How is functional variation at large-effect loci maintained in natural populations, even as environments change? In a paper led by @mkarag.bsky.social, we tracked known pesticide resistant alleles in outdoor 𝘋. 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 cages & inferred selection and dominance from temporal sequencing data.
November 6, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Community coalescence reveals strong selection and coexistence within species in complex microbial communities https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.06.687011v1
November 8, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
🧬 🦠 🏙️
Urban vs rural lifestyles create dramatically different gut microbiomes. But how do these different gut microbiomes affect the host?

Excited to share our new paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 5, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Is the human microbiome a source for hospital-associated infections (HAI) and are any genetic changes associated with HAI? In our new preprint, we longitudinally reconstruct the evolutionary processes within the human microbiome leading up to HAI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Colonization, translocation, and evolution of opportunistic pathogens during hospital-associated infections
Many commensal bacteria that peacefully reside in the human microbiome are also able to cause acute opportunistic infections. Emerging evidence suggests that within-host evolution contributes to infec...
doi.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Why do complex traits differ in their genetic architecture?
In our new PLOS Biology paper, we will try to convince you that two simple scaling laws drive differences in the number, effect sizes and frequencies of causal variants affecting complex traits.

Thread:
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Simple scaling laws control the genetic architectures of human complex traits
Genome-wide association studies have revealed that the genetic architectures of complex traits vary widely. This study shows that differences in architectures of highly polygenic traits arise mainly f...
journals.plos.org
October 24, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
We couldn't not rate this classic early DAG by our beloved collective granddagy, Sewall Wright.

14/10. Ten for the DAG, plus one for each cute guinea-pig node.

From Wright (1920) "The Relative Importance of Heredity and Environment in Determining the Piebald Pattern of Guinea-Pigs"
October 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
October 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Here are some thoughts about higher education - specifically statistics & research methods - after grading some more papers written with "assistance" from LLMs.

🧵
October 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Genetic architectures of #ComplexTraits vary widely. @yuvalsim.bsky.social @jkpritch.bsky.social @gs2747.bsky.social &co show these diffs arise from mutational target size & heritability per site; when controlled for, all tested traits have similar architectures @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/47mZXqT
October 14, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
The first Aguillon Lab paper is officially out in early view at Evolution!! Led by postdoc @devonderaad.bsky.social, we’ve explored the hybrid zone between black-headed and rose-breasted grosbeaks in the Great Plains. #ornithology #hybridization #speciation #evolution doi.org/10.1093/evol...
September 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
What was antibiotic resistance like before we ever used antibiotics? How did we change what antibiotic resistance genes looked like over 100 years?

Our paper looking at resistance genes from a century of NCTC historical isolates now out in mGen:
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
Genomic resistance in historical clinical isolates increased in frequency and mobility after the age of antibiotics
Antibiotic resistance is frequently observed shortly after the clinical introduction of an antibiotic. Whether and how frequently that resistance occurred before the introduction is harder to determin...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
September 1, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
the crisis in which the University of Chicago is now engulfed -- one entirely of its own making, and which has led to the (hopefully temporary) suspension of admissions into numerous PhD programs in the humanities -- represents I think a seismic event in the history of American higher education

1/
August 23, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
New paper out @molbioevol.bsky.social on antimutator Ecoli, mutational spectra and the distribution of fitness effects of antibiotic resistance with @knightjar.bsky.social @rokkrasovec.bsky.social and others @mermanchester.bsky.social doi.org/pzfm
Read🧵for highlights and fun stats (1/13)
Antimutator and Mutational Spectrum Effects Can Combine to Reduce Evolutionary Potential in Escherichia coli ΔnudJ
Abstract. The rate of spontaneous mutation is a key factor in determining the capacity of a population to adapt to a novel environment, for example, a bact
doi.org
August 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Excited to share a new preprint w/ the Sonnenberg lab, led by Matt Carter, @zzzhiru.bsky.social & @mattolm.bsky.social. We analyzed the microbiomes of two non-industrialized populations from opposite sides of the globe to try to reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of our gut microbiota.
Prehistoric Global Migration of Vanishing Gut Microbes With Humans
The gut microbiome is crucial for health and greatly affected by lifestyle. Many microbes common in non-industrialized populations are disappearing or extinct in industrialized populations. Understand...
www.biorxiv.org
August 16, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Hypermutable hotspot enables the rapid evolution of self/non-self recognition genes in Dictyostelium
Cells require highly polymorphic receptors to perform accurate self/non-self recognition. In the amoeba Dicytostelium discoideum, polymorphic TgrB1 & TgrC1 proteins are used to bind sister cells and e...
www.biorxiv.org
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
It is depressing, but all too predictable, how swiftly we’ve gone from the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium offering reassurances about the uses of behavioural polygenic scores to one of their lead authors marketing embryo selection for IQ
August 2, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Breaking: NSF is suspending roughly 300 grants with UCLA, following a DOJ finding on Tuesday that the university violated Title VI by "creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students."
July 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Network, we are looking for PhD students and Postdocs on evolutionary and ecological genomics in 2025/2026

Join our diverse and welcoming lab at UC Berkeley & HHMINEWS!

Check job ads-> www.moilab.science/team/join-us
M O I L A B - Join us!
Join us! Our lab is based at the University of California, Berkeley, embedded in the vibrant and multicultural San Francisco Bay Area, surrounded by astonishing nature!
www.moilab.science
July 22, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome.

See thread for more information and reach out!
July 22, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
I am seeking a postdoc for my group at UCLA. We work at the intersection of population genetics x microbiome (garud.eeb.ucla.edu). If interested, please message me!
Garud Lab
garud.eeb.ucla.edu
July 22, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Consider supporting WVPB, with 19% of its funding at risk, and the very endangered WVMR, with over 60% of its funding at risk!

Both operate close to my partner's hometown, and WV is important to both of us ❤️

wvpublic.org/ways-to-give...

www.alleghenymountainradio.org
July 22, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
Dozens of Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Sunday as they tried to get food aid, according to local health authorities, one of the deadliest days in recent months for those seeking assistance.

By Joe Hernandez, @danielestrin.bsky.social and Anas Baba
Nearly 100 people killed seeking aid in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian officials say
Dozens of Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Sunday as they tried to get food aid, according to local health authorities, one of the deadliest days in recent months for those seeking assistance.
n.pr
July 20, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
The Xue lab at UC Irvine is looking for a staff scientist to support our work investigating how microbes interact and evolve in the gut microbiome! Open to a wide range of previous experience levels, see ad for more.
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
Junior, Assistant, or Associate Specialist – Xue Lab
University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.uci.edu
July 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Peter Laurin
News article covering our story/research here from Matt Wood!
biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/soil-mi...
July 16, 2025 at 4:25 PM