Julia Van Etten
@couchmicroscopy.bsky.social
Incoming assistant professor at University of Maryland, College Park • NSF PRFB postdoc • PhD from Bhattacharya lab @RutgersU • Passionate about algae / protists + genomics + evolutionary biology + microscopy • vanettenlab.org #NewPI
Opinions are my own.
Opinions are my own.
Pinned
I’m thrilled to announce that next summer I’ll be joining the University of Maryland Department of Biology as an assistant professor! The Van Etten lab will study how horizontal processes (DNA and gene transfer + organelle acquisition) drive and are driven by ecology and evolution. vanettenlab.org
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
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...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
A new amoeba species called Incendiamoeba cascadensis that lives & reproduces at the highest temperature ever described for a eukaryote, earning the title of “fire amoeba”. asm.org/podcasts/tin... A big welcome to Tiny Living Beings (@couchmicroscopy.bsky.social) as the newest ASM Podcast partner!
Introducing the Fire Amoeba - with Angela Oliverio and Beryl Rappaport
A new amoeba species called Incendiamoeba cascadensis that lives and reproduces at the highest temperature ever described for a eukaryote, earning the title of “fire amoeba”.
asm.org
December 23, 2025 at 10:30 PM
A new amoeba species called Incendiamoeba cascadensis that lives & reproduces at the highest temperature ever described for a eukaryote, earning the title of “fire amoeba”. asm.org/podcasts/tin... A big welcome to Tiny Living Beings (@couchmicroscopy.bsky.social) as the newest ASM Podcast partner!
🚨 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
Update: they responded to my colleague and said it wasn’t AI but they actually manually pull titles from conference abstracts and use them word for word as proposed titles for other people’s work. Even worse! I’m furious! Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should take this up w the journal?
I had an experience today with a journal that I know to be considered “legit” that was probably using AI to solicit an article from someone I knew and in doing so, plagiarized my work word for word. 1/
December 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Update: they responded to my colleague and said it wasn’t AI but they actually manually pull titles from conference abstracts and use them word for word as proposed titles for other people’s work. Even worse! I’m furious! Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should take this up w the journal?
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
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
I had an experience today with a journal that I know to be considered “legit” that was probably using AI to solicit an article from someone I knew and in doing so, plagiarized my work word for word. 1/
December 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I had an experience today with a journal that I know to be considered “legit” that was probably using AI to solicit an article from someone I knew and in doing so, plagiarized my work word for word. 1/
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
🧵 NSF is reducing external review requirements and eliminating routine expert panels, citing staff shortages that this administration implemented. This change expands program officer authority. But the solution to flawed accountability isn't less public accountability.
NSF plans to streamline merit review to heal self-inflicted staffing wound www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists
Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities
www.science.org
December 16, 2025 at 12:33 AM
🧵 NSF is reducing external review requirements and eliminating routine expert panels, citing staff shortages that this administration implemented. This change expands program officer authority. But the solution to flawed accountability isn't less public accountability.
There is an entire Wikipedia page for the “Obama tan suit controversy” but the current president just posted this and we’ll all forget it by tomorrow when he posts something even worse or attacks another Venezuelan ship. I’m short circuiting trying to understand how this has become acceptable.
December 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
There is an entire Wikipedia page for the “Obama tan suit controversy” but the current president just posted this and we’ll all forget it by tomorrow when he posts something even worse or attacks another Venezuelan ship. I’m short circuiting trying to understand how this has become acceptable.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
I wrote in @statnews.com about the emotional toll anti-vaccine rhetoric is taking on clinicians — and how it’s straining our relationships with patients.
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
Rise of anti-science rhetoric has fundamentally changed the relationship between doctors and patients
“The rise of anti-science and anti-vaccine rhetoric has fundamentally changed the relationship between clinicians and patients.”
www.statnews.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:09 AM
I wrote in @statnews.com about the emotional toll anti-vaccine rhetoric is taking on clinicians — and how it’s straining our relationships with patients.
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country.
🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a...
#Vaccines #PublicHealth
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid Proterozoic https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693929v1
December 15, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid Proterozoic https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693929v1
This dinosaur menorah has been going strong for at least 30 years.
December 15, 2025 at 2:42 AM
This dinosaur menorah has been going strong for at least 30 years.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
December 11, 2025 at 11:16 AM
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Protist–bacteria partnerships are more common in wastewater treatment plants than we thought. In this ISME communications paper, we uncovered widespread denitrifying endosymbionts inside ciliates, their global distribution, and their temporal dynamics across WWTPs.🦠
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
Occurrence and temporal dynamics of denitrifying protist endosymbionts in the wastewater microbiome
Abstract. Effective wastewater treatment is of critical importance for preserving public health and protecting natural environments. Key processes in waste
academic.oup.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Protist–bacteria partnerships are more common in wastewater treatment plants than we thought. In this ISME communications paper, we uncovered widespread denitrifying endosymbionts inside ciliates, their global distribution, and their temporal dynamics across WWTPs.🦠
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Thanks nature news for featuring our recent preprint on 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘦𝘣𝘢 led by @hbrappap.bsky.social
(check out preprint here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...) #protistsonsky
(check out preprint here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...) #protistsonsky
This single-celled amoeba can thrive at temperatures that kill all other known eukaryotic life
go.nature.com/4452LXP
go.nature.com/4452LXP
‘Fire amoeba’ survives in hotter conditions than any other complex cell
The single-celled organism can grow at 63 °C, a record for eukaryotic life.
go.nature.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Thanks nature news for featuring our recent preprint on 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘦𝘣𝘢 led by @hbrappap.bsky.social
(check out preprint here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...) #protistsonsky
(check out preprint here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...) #protistsonsky
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
“Thousands of very competitive projects in areas like cancer, diabetes, aging, neurological disorders and public health improvements most like went unfunded in 2025.
Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”
Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”
The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:51 PM
“Thousands of very competitive projects in areas like cancer, diabetes, aging, neurological disorders and public health improvements most like went unfunded in 2025.
Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”
Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code www.cell.com/current-biol...
December 2, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
November 26, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
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 8:41 PM
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 🧵
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
November 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine
Multiple genetic codes developed during the evolution of eukaryotes and bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code is known for archaea. We used proteomics to confirm our prediction that certain archae...
www.science.org
November 23, 2025 at 7:22 PM
New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Nature research paper: Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup
go.nature.com/486YtjW
go.nature.com/486YtjW
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.
go.nature.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Nature research paper: Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup
go.nature.com/486YtjW
go.nature.com/486YtjW
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy
Nature Communications - It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core...
rdcu.be
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf