John Burns
@burnsajohn.bsky.social
I like to think about how cells work, especially among #protists. Driven by curiosity and a love to share detailed research and odd observations. Senior Research Scientist, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. He/him. https://www.protistsystems.org/
Reposted by John Burns
In this piece, we combined a traditional watercolour-style view of the outer shell of each species, inspired by Heckel’s beautiful illustrations of the natural world, with a sci-fi-style inner structure.
January 4, 2026 at 11:35 AM
In this piece, we combined a traditional watercolour-style view of the outer shell of each species, inspired by Heckel’s beautiful illustrations of the natural world, with a sci-fi-style inner structure.
Reposted by John Burns
@echinoblog.bsky.social that's a beautiful sea star! Also crab and urchin. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 892. #argentiniandeepseeps #CONICET #MarineLife
January 4, 2026 at 5:14 AM
@echinoblog.bsky.social that's a beautiful sea star! Also crab and urchin. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 892. #argentiniandeepseeps #CONICET #MarineLife
Reposted by John Burns
Marine functional #connectivity matters—from genes to energy flows. This synthesis clarifies concepts, unifies fragmented approaches, and proposes a global framework to better link science, #SpatialPlanning, and #policy in a changing ocean. doi.org/10.1002/brv....
#MarineEcology 🌐🌍🧪🌊
#MarineEcology 🌐🌍🧪🌊
January 3, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Marine functional #connectivity matters—from genes to energy flows. This synthesis clarifies concepts, unifies fragmented approaches, and proposes a global framework to better link science, #SpatialPlanning, and #policy in a changing ocean. doi.org/10.1002/brv....
#MarineEcology 🌐🌍🧪🌊
#MarineEcology 🌐🌍🧪🌊
Reposted by John Burns
Benthic siphonophore. I would love if that was the size of the ROV. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 890. #argentiniandeepseeps #CONICET #MarineLife
January 3, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Benthic siphonophore. I would love if that was the size of the ROV. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 890. #argentiniandeepseeps #CONICET #MarineLife
Reposted by John Burns
ROV pilots filmed this giant phantom jelly, or Stygiomedusa gigantea, at 253 meters during an ROV descent to explore the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon wall. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps
January 2, 2026 at 12:07 AM
ROV pilots filmed this giant phantom jelly, or Stygiomedusa gigantea, at 253 meters during an ROV descent to explore the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon wall. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps
Reposted by John Burns
Let your party streamers fly like a ctenophore! As the year draws to an end, we’re celebrating a year of supporting international teams of scientists on board R/V Falkor (too) off the coasts of Antarctica, the South Sandwich Islands, Argentina, & Uruguay. Happy New Year to all!
January 1, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Let your party streamers fly like a ctenophore! As the year draws to an end, we’re celebrating a year of supporting international teams of scientists on board R/V Falkor (too) off the coasts of Antarctica, the South Sandwich Islands, Argentina, & Uruguay. Happy New Year to all!
Read through this preprint this morning and LOVE it. A beautiful use of single/low cell number methods plus use of our growing pool of global bio-information to answer a *very* long-standing question. The basis of the discovery was 20 single cell transcriptomes and mass spec data from 1,700 shells!
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 29, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Read through this preprint this morning and LOVE it. A beautiful use of single/low cell number methods plus use of our growing pool of global bio-information to answer a *very* long-standing question. The basis of the discovery was 20 single cell transcriptomes and mass spec data from 1,700 shells!
Reposted by John Burns
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by John Burns
ER-associated single-capped vaults are surprising and really cool!🤩 Some even contain ribosomes. Vault function is still mysterious but a role in protein quality control seems plausible.
Also great to see Dicty in the #TeamTomo spotlight! #ProtistsOnSky @kgeissler.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social 🧪
Also great to see Dicty in the #TeamTomo spotlight! #ProtistsOnSky @kgeissler.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social 🧪
December 28, 2025 at 12:54 PM
ER-associated single-capped vaults are surprising and really cool!🤩 Some even contain ribosomes. Vault function is still mysterious but a role in protein quality control seems plausible.
Also great to see Dicty in the #TeamTomo spotlight! #ProtistsOnSky @kgeissler.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social 🧪
Also great to see Dicty in the #TeamTomo spotlight! #ProtistsOnSky @kgeissler.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social 🧪
Reposted by John Burns
New biomaterial just dropped!
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 27, 2025 at 2:21 PM
New biomaterial just dropped!
Reposted by John Burns
So happy for you @archaeon-alex.bsky.social !
Fully deservd ! & more awesome science to come!
Fully deservd ! & more awesome science to come!
I am beyond excited to announce that the Bisson Lab has a new home!!! Starting January 2026, I will join the Biology Department at Indiana University Bloomington as Associate Professor with tenure.
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
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I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
December 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
So happy for you @archaeon-alex.bsky.social !
Fully deservd ! & more awesome science to come!
Fully deservd ! & more awesome science to come!
Reposted by John Burns
Another #notTHECover unfortunately.
But this gorgeous, Tron-like vibe, drawn by the amazing @munafomarzia.bsky.social for our recent #ExM work with @gautamdey.bsky.social & @centriolelab.bsky.social will still be printed out in the lab.
Read here: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
But this gorgeous, Tron-like vibe, drawn by the amazing @munafomarzia.bsky.social for our recent #ExM work with @gautamdey.bsky.social & @centriolelab.bsky.social will still be printed out in the lab.
Read here: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
December 26, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Another #notTHECover unfortunately.
But this gorgeous, Tron-like vibe, drawn by the amazing @munafomarzia.bsky.social for our recent #ExM work with @gautamdey.bsky.social & @centriolelab.bsky.social will still be printed out in the lab.
Read here: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
But this gorgeous, Tron-like vibe, drawn by the amazing @munafomarzia.bsky.social for our recent #ExM work with @gautamdey.bsky.social & @centriolelab.bsky.social will still be printed out in the lab.
Read here: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
In my queue! I just hope one of the questions is: how satisfied are you with the name "Incendiamoeba"? Bc I am stuffed 😃
🚨 Surprise podcast episode alert! 🚨
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
Introducing the Fire Amoeba
open.spotify.com
December 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM
In my queue! I just hope one of the questions is: how satisfied are you with the name "Incendiamoeba"? Bc I am stuffed 😃
Reposted by John Burns
🚨 Surprise podcast episode alert! 🚨
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
Introducing the Fire Amoeba
open.spotify.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:01 PM
🚨 Surprise podcast episode alert! 🚨
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
This week on Tiny Living Beings, I interviewed @oliverio.bsky.social and @hbrappap.bsky.social who led the discovery of the ‘fire amoeba’, that can reproduce at the highest temperature ever recorded for a eukaryote! 🌋 #protistsonsky
Reposted by John Burns
🎄 Just published 🎉! Our ongoing genome sequencing of the basal dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina uncovered a new lineage of endogenized Polinton-like viruses, OmPLV. Notably, OmPLV encodes ... [cont]
#VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky
#VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky
Endogenized polinton-like viruses in the dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina uncover novel PolB fusion
Marine viruses are ubiquitous entities that impact the biology of a large fraction of prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversity. Dinoflagellates are heterotrophic, mixotrophic and photosynthetic eukaryotes...
doi.org
December 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM
🎄 Just published 🎉! Our ongoing genome sequencing of the basal dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina uncovered a new lineage of endogenized Polinton-like viruses, OmPLV. Notably, OmPLV encodes ... [cont]
#VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky
#VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by John Burns
End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
December 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Amazing several millimeters diameter single* celled acantharian. It is huge.
*presumably it is multi-nucleated and has hundreds of symbionts, but still! Way bigger than the ones I see locally. Only one set of spikes!
*presumably it is multi-nucleated and has hundreds of symbionts, but still! Way bigger than the ones I see locally. Only one set of spikes!
This is what I’m really here for :) These are the radiolarians we have been finding. Chock full of photosynthetic symbionts in a very interesting pattern- but no idea on the species. Doing some oxygen experiments and will sequence! #oceanography #zooplankton #christmasatsea ❤️🌊 #microsky
December 23, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Amazing several millimeters diameter single* celled acantharian. It is huge.
*presumably it is multi-nucleated and has hundreds of symbionts, but still! Way bigger than the ones I see locally. Only one set of spikes!
*presumably it is multi-nucleated and has hundreds of symbionts, but still! Way bigger than the ones I see locally. Only one set of spikes!
Reposted by John Burns
Discovery of the most intron-rich eukaryotic genome phys.org/news/2025-12...
New #ISEPpapers: Nuclear #genome sequencing reveals the highly intron-rich architecture of the chlorarachniophyte alga Amorphochlora amoebiformis academic.oup.com/dnaresearch/...
#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Genomics
New #ISEPpapers: Nuclear #genome sequencing reveals the highly intron-rich architecture of the chlorarachniophyte alga Amorphochlora amoebiformis academic.oup.com/dnaresearch/...
#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Genomics
December 21, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Discovery of the most intron-rich eukaryotic genome phys.org/news/2025-12...
New #ISEPpapers: Nuclear #genome sequencing reveals the highly intron-rich architecture of the chlorarachniophyte alga Amorphochlora amoebiformis academic.oup.com/dnaresearch/...
#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Genomics
New #ISEPpapers: Nuclear #genome sequencing reveals the highly intron-rich architecture of the chlorarachniophyte alga Amorphochlora amoebiformis academic.oup.com/dnaresearch/...
#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Genomics
Reposted by John Burns
Are you very busy but still want to learn what Aphelids are and why they are important to understand the evolution of Fungi?
Then check out our “Quick guide” on Aphelids published in collaboration with @deemteam.bsky.social, Sergey and Guifré. #protistsonsky
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Then check out our “Quick guide” on Aphelids published in collaboration with @deemteam.bsky.social, Sergey and Guifré. #protistsonsky
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
December 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Are you very busy but still want to learn what Aphelids are and why they are important to understand the evolution of Fungi?
Then check out our “Quick guide” on Aphelids published in collaboration with @deemteam.bsky.social, Sergey and Guifré. #protistsonsky
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Then check out our “Quick guide” on Aphelids published in collaboration with @deemteam.bsky.social, Sergey and Guifré. #protistsonsky
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Reposted by John Burns
We recently investigated how much and when tintinnid ciliates produce shell material during the cell cycle to construct a new shell (lorica) after division: tinyurl.com/49usp8xw
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
December 16, 2025 at 8:12 AM
We recently investigated how much and when tintinnid ciliates produce shell material during the cell cycle to construct a new shell (lorica) after division: tinyurl.com/49usp8xw
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
We adapted a classical staining technique.
Still no #UExM for tintinnids dudinlab.bsky.social? (wink)#protistsonskyky
Reposted by John Burns
Check out our preprint!! So many cool analyses you can do with public rDNA datasets. Especially if you work with understudied groups or habitats!
#ProtistsOnSky
#ProtistsOnSky
New preprint led by @annaschreck.bsky.social that capitalized on the wealth of publicly available 18S rRNA datasets to explore the oceanic distribution and diversity of understudied anaerobic ciliates. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A meta-analysis of environmental sequencing data reveals the global distribution and hidden diversity of marine anaerobic ciliates
Anaerobic protists are diverse, ecologically important members of anoxic microbial communities, acting as grazers, nutrient cyclers, and partners in multi-domain associations, yet remain understudied ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 16, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Check out our preprint!! So many cool analyses you can do with public rDNA datasets. Especially if you work with understudied groups or habitats!
#ProtistsOnSky
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by John Burns
Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Identification of a deep-branching lineage of algae using environmental plastid genomes - Nature Communications
Here, the authors leverage data from the Tara Oceans expeditions to perform a phylogeny-guided plastid genome-resolved metagenomic survey and provide 660 non-redundant plastid genomes from marine alga...
www.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by John Burns
If you had to read one thing, next to whatever fireplace, waiting for Santa... well that's your read !
Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for this opportunity to contribute to your centenary collection with our take on the state of the field - 10 years after its modern reincarnation 🧪🌍
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Evolutionary cell biology comes of age
Summary: This Perspective discusses how the discipline of evolutionary cell biology, by integrating evolutionary theory, comparative physiology and modern molecular approaches, works to understand how...
journals.biologists.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM
If you had to read one thing, next to whatever fireplace, waiting for Santa... well that's your read !
Reposted by John Burns
Getting ready to head out on the RV Sally Ride in the Gulf of California. Am mostly serving as a scientific diver on this cruise (!!!!), but will also be looking for cool plankton (rads, Dinos, obvi) and sharing lots of plankton pics :) #microbialsky #microsky 🌊
December 18, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Getting ready to head out on the RV Sally Ride in the Gulf of California. Am mostly serving as a scientific diver on this cruise (!!!!), but will also be looking for cool plankton (rads, Dinos, obvi) and sharing lots of plankton pics :) #microbialsky #microsky 🌊
Reposted by John Burns
NSF bio hour - NSF BIO lost 40% of its staff 😑
December 18, 2025 at 6:13 PM
NSF bio hour - NSF BIO lost 40% of its staff 😑