Melanie Brien
@melbrien.bsky.social
Research Fellow at University of Helsinki
~ Evolution, genomics, lepidoptera, all things colour🦋
~ Evolution, genomics, lepidoptera, all things colour🦋
Exciting biophysics PhD and supervisor dream team 🦋
We are looking for a physics/maths graduate with an interest in biology, or a biology graduate with strong computational/mathematical skills/interests, to join us as a PhD student working on biomechanical modelling of butterfly wing scale structure formation www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
October 28, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Exciting biophysics PhD and supervisor dream team 🦋
10 days left to apply! 👀
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
October 21, 2025 at 10:43 AM
10 days left to apply! 👀
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
September 24, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
Reposted by Melanie Brien
We are looking for Erasmus interns to help with our bird projects at Lammi Biological Station:
www.helsinki.fi/en/research-...
Apply here and specify that you are interested in the great tit project:
www.lyyti.in/Application_...
www.helsinki.fi/en/research-...
Apply here and specify that you are interested in the great tit project:
www.lyyti.in/Application_...
August 25, 2025 at 1:29 PM
We are looking for Erasmus interns to help with our bird projects at Lammi Biological Station:
www.helsinki.fi/en/research-...
Apply here and specify that you are interested in the great tit project:
www.lyyti.in/Application_...
www.helsinki.fi/en/research-...
Apply here and specify that you are interested in the great tit project:
www.lyyti.in/Application_...
Excited to soon start my new role as Academy of Finland Research Fellow 🦋🐛I’ll later be advertising a PhD position on tiger moth colour and genomics, and will be speaking at #ESEB2025 this week if you want an idea of what’s going on!
August 18, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Excited to soon start my new role as Academy of Finland Research Fellow 🦋🐛I’ll later be advertising a PhD position on tiger moth colour and genomics, and will be speaking at #ESEB2025 this week if you want an idea of what’s going on!
Happy to play a small role in this nice paper, and hope to visit this region one day!
✴️ NEW PAPER! ✴️ In the beautiful Caucasian mountains of 🇬🇪 lives a moth whose wing colour variation (🔴🟠🟡) has intrigued us for ages. Here (doi.org/10.1111/1744...), we studied whether such variation is associated with 🧬 structure or other traits such as size. (1/3)
June 21, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Happy to play a small role in this nice paper, and hope to visit this region one day!
Reposted by Melanie Brien
Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!
May 6, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!
Reposted by Melanie Brien
🚨New paper on tropical moth pollination 🧵1/8 - What happens in tropical ecosystems when the day ends?🌔🦋 Our new review that @robtrop.bsky.social and I wrote highlights moths’ vital role in pollination and outlines research gaps, challenges and biases. Sharing valued! Link: doi.org/10.1017/S026...
When the day ends: Review on the importance of nocturnal moths as pollinators in tropical ecosystems | Journal of Tropical Ecology | Cambridge Core
When the day ends: Review on the importance of nocturnal moths as pollinators in tropical ecosystems - Volume 41
doi.org
March 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
🚨New paper on tropical moth pollination 🧵1/8 - What happens in tropical ecosystems when the day ends?🌔🦋 Our new review that @robtrop.bsky.social and I wrote highlights moths’ vital role in pollination and outlines research gaps, challenges and biases. Sharing valued! Link: doi.org/10.1017/S026...
Reposted by Melanie Brien
🧪Why does warning signal variability persist in #aposematic species? Our new @sse-evolution.bsky.social paper explores this using data from 64,741 🤯 A.plantaginis, raised over 25 generations. Spoiler: no evidence that life-history traits constrain warning colours! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Evolutionary potential and constraints in an aposematic species: Genetic correlations between warning coloration and fitness components in wood tiger moths
Abstract. Variability in warning signals is common but remains puzzling since deviations from the most common form should result in a higher number of pred
academic.oup.com
December 7, 2024 at 4:37 PM
🧪Why does warning signal variability persist in #aposematic species? Our new @sse-evolution.bsky.social paper explores this using data from 64,741 🤯 A.plantaginis, raised over 25 generations. Spoiler: no evidence that life-history traits constrain warning colours! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Reposted by Melanie Brien
Hey Lepidoptera folks, here’s a Starter Pack of Lepidopterologists! If you want to be added (or removed), just @ me with your favourite: #buttetflies? #moths? go.bsky.app/U3HPgpW
November 12, 2024 at 9:25 PM
Hey Lepidoptera folks, here’s a Starter Pack of Lepidopterologists! If you want to be added (or removed), just @ me with your favourite: #buttetflies? #moths? go.bsky.app/U3HPgpW
Reposted by Melanie Brien
Please re-post: I have a postdoc position open! Helsinki is great and working environment is fantastic! #colours #polymorphism #behavior #experiments #lepidoptera jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
jobs.helsinki.fi
November 8, 2024 at 7:03 AM
Please re-post: I have a postdoc position open! Helsinki is great and working environment is fantastic! #colours #polymorphism #behavior #experiments #lepidoptera jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
Very happy to be at my first ISBE and my first visit to Australia! Will be around tonight with my poster (that printed the wrong colour 🙈) #ISBE2024
October 1, 2024 at 5:45 AM
Very happy to be at my first ISBE and my first visit to Australia! Will be around tonight with my poster (that printed the wrong colour 🙈) #ISBE2024
Reposted by Melanie Brien
Interested in planning and conducting research related to wild animal resilience (broadly defined)? We're recruiting a Research Coordinator or Planner in wild animal experimentation here in Biological & Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki! Applications due Jan 19.
Research coordinator/Planner in wild animal experimentation
Research coordinator/Planner in wild animal experimentation
jobs.helsinki.fi
December 13, 2023 at 1:14 PM
Interested in planning and conducting research related to wild animal resilience (broadly defined)? We're recruiting a Research Coordinator or Planner in wild animal experimentation here in Biological & Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki! Applications due Jan 19.
For my first post I'll share our recent paper (& accompanying doodle) on the genetics of polymorphic colour in male wood tiger moths 🦋🧬✂️ elifesciences.org/articles/80116
December 5, 2023 at 10:36 AM
For my first post I'll share our recent paper (& accompanying doodle) on the genetics of polymorphic colour in male wood tiger moths 🦋🧬✂️ elifesciences.org/articles/80116