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
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Getting Rosalind Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Getting Rosalind Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 7, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
A Novel Protistan Trait Database Reveals Functional Redundancy and Complementarity in Terrestrial Protists(Amoebozoa and Rhizaria)
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 9, 2025 at 9:57 AM
A Novel Protistan Trait Database Reveals Functional Redundancy and Complementarity in Terrestrial Protists(Amoebozoa and Rhizaria)
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#protists #eukaryotes #amoeba
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
I just wrote the following sentence in a manuscript: “Using pulled Pasteur pipettes, micropipettes, and tools made from toothbrush bristles superglued onto colored pencils, individual cells were isolated and washed in 0.22um-filtered ambient water…”
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
November 6, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I just wrote the following sentence in a manuscript: “Using pulled Pasteur pipettes, micropipettes, and tools made from toothbrush bristles superglued onto colored pencils, individual cells were isolated and washed in 0.22um-filtered ambient water…”
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
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 3:27 PM
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
I’m still disgusted that @jjinsing.bsky.social’s PRFB was terminated and that we’re learning about this important work in Lost Science instead of in an article that features positive outcomes of his work/our government’s investments in young scientists. Thanks for speaking out but what a nightmare.
"The project that was terminated was on this hummingbird, the white-necked jacobin....I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary." Researcher @jjinsing.bsky.social interviewed by @carlzimmer.com #birds #nature #science #fundscience #nonbinary 🧪
He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males
www.nytimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I’m still disgusted that @jjinsing.bsky.social’s PRFB was terminated and that we’re learning about this important work in Lost Science instead of in an article that features positive outcomes of his work/our government’s investments in young scientists. Thanks for speaking out but what a nightmare.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Exciting things coming soon...
October 30, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Exciting things coming soon...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Excited to share this perspective article out now! Come read about Streptocarpus and other great model systems!
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration
ABSTRACT. The ability of organisms to replace and regenerate anatomical structures following their loss or damage has piqued the curiosity of biologists for centuries. In addition to Development's ‘Mo...
journals.biologists.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Excited to share this perspective article out now! Come read about Streptocarpus and other great model systems!
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
More extraordinary model systems for regeneration journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Python was awarded a funding grant, funding grant asked Python foundation to remove all diversity and inclusion initiatives they have.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Please read our statement, share it with your networks, and support us if you can. www.python.org/sponsors/app... psfmember.org/civicrm/cont...
October 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Python was awarded a funding grant, funding grant asked Python foundation to remove all diversity and inclusion initiatives they have.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
It’s a very exciting day at Rutgers today! The 100th anniversary of the Chrysler Herbarium! Thanks to @drgentian.bsky.social and Megan King for organizing, training so many students/botanists, and taking such good care of the collections! It’s been really fun to learn from you over the years!
October 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
It’s a very exciting day at Rutgers today! The 100th anniversary of the Chrysler Herbarium! Thanks to @drgentian.bsky.social and Megan King for organizing, training so many students/botanists, and taking such good care of the collections! It’s been really fun to learn from you over the years!
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Just another normal HHS week: CDC researchers cannot present work at an annual Infectious Disease conference in (checks notes) Atlanta. As a CDC researcher put it:
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
Government shutdown means many CDC experts are skipping a pivotal meeting on infectious disease
An annual conference about infectious diseases is seeing a dramatic attendance decline, in part because Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts can’t participate.
apnews.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Just another normal HHS week: CDC researchers cannot present work at an annual Infectious Disease conference in (checks notes) Atlanta. As a CDC researcher put it:
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”
apnews.com/article/infe...
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
“As recognized for over a century, faculty should be able to engage as individual citizens in extramural speech. Faculty should exercise these rights responsibly and professionally, but when they fail to do so, it is not the role of the government or the university to sanction them.”
This is a remarkable piece. Conservative AND liberal legal scholars come out TOGETHER to condemn Trump’s compact for higher education. www.chronicle.com/article/our-...
Opinion | Our Politics Differ, But We Agree: Trump’s ‘Compact’ Violates Academic Freedom
Using federal funding to dictate who colleges admit and what faculty can say crosses a dangerous line.
www.chronicle.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“As recognized for over a century, faculty should be able to engage as individual citizens in extramural speech. Faculty should exercise these rights responsibly and professionally, but when they fail to do so, it is not the role of the government or the university to sanction them.”
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders. n.pr/42MPNgJ
In small towns and rural communities, young voters say they feel unseen by leaders
Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders.
n.pr
October 17, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders. n.pr/42MPNgJ
About 5 years ago @drgentian.bsky.social and I wrote two >10-page proposals to the Unicode consortium trying to create amoeba (protist) and dandelion emojis, citing the lack of biodiversity, accuracy, and difficulty to communicate about science topics without them. And…they were both REJECTED!
All botanists know how frustrating the lack of plant emoji diversity is (while mycologists make do with just two mushrooms 🍄🍄🟫). Mammola et al. quantified this disparity compared to biological diversity and built a phylogeny of animal emojis.
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569
October 16, 2025 at 11:40 AM
About 5 years ago @drgentian.bsky.social and I wrote two >10-page proposals to the Unicode consortium trying to create amoeba (protist) and dandelion emojis, citing the lack of biodiversity, accuracy, and difficulty to communicate about science topics without them. And…they were both REJECTED!
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Word.
Good luck to all of you who are finalizing Simons Foundation Collaborations in Ecology and Evolution proposals!
I feel kind of sorry for whoever is tasked with reviewing what will probably be >1000 proposals. On the other hand, it'd be cool to see a snapshot of what the field thinks is exciting.
I feel kind of sorry for whoever is tasked with reviewing what will probably be >1000 proposals. On the other hand, it'd be cool to see a snapshot of what the field thinks is exciting.
October 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Word.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Monday it will cut nearly 550 jobs as part of a restructuring, not related to the current U.S. government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 13, 2025 at 10:43 PM
A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Our university system has been without doubt our single greatest source of soft power worldwide, and (for both better and worse) often the source of our hard power as well.
And spiteful conservatives are burning it all to the ground.
And spiteful conservatives are burning it all to the ground.
I just learned, Thomas Alter, tenured professor, has been terminated effective immediately. Shame on Texas State! We mst build support for Tom. spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-tex...
Texas State upholds the firing of associate history professor Thomas Alter
Alter’s termination occurred on Sept. 10, stemming from his remarks at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference on Sept. 7.
spectrumlocalnews.com
October 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Our university system has been without doubt our single greatest source of soft power worldwide, and (for both better and worse) often the source of our hard power as well.
And spiteful conservatives are burning it all to the ground.
And spiteful conservatives are burning it all to the ground.
If anyone is interested in expanding my ongoing Paulinella projects and/or doing other work in algal genomics in my lab that doesn’t fully exist yet (but will exist at the time the funding for this starts), please reach out! I’d love to help develop a cool project with you!
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
October 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
If anyone is interested in expanding my ongoing Paulinella projects and/or doing other work in algal genomics in my lab that doesn’t fully exist yet (but will exist at the time the funding for this starts), please reach out! I’d love to help develop a cool project with you!
“I’m not even writing about anti-fascism anymore. This is about a book I wrote 8 years ago”. I hope this news story doesn’t die. The Trump admin is coming for academics and I hope the Rutgers admin makes stronger statements condemning this.
October 13, 2025 at 6:14 PM
“I’m not even writing about anti-fascism anymore. This is about a book I wrote 8 years ago”. I hope this news story doesn’t die. The Trump admin is coming for academics and I hope the Rutgers admin makes stronger statements condemning this.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Spoke with cnn while sitting on the floor of my hotel room hallway bc my family were asleep in the other room.
6a E Mark.mp4 - 6a E Mark - Frame.io
next.frame.io
October 9, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Spoke with cnn while sitting on the floor of my hotel room hallway bc my family were asleep in the other room.
Reposted by Julia Van Etten
Pretty excited to share our new preprint!
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 10, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Pretty excited to share our new preprint!
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...