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sexchrlab.bsky.social
Melissa Wilson
@sexchrlab.bsky.social
2.8K followers 440 following 170 posts
Geneticist. Parent. Studying sex chromosomes and sex as a biological variable in disease.

Posts and opinions are my own.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
acstone.bsky.social
With a nice feature in ASU news! news.asu.edu/20250918-sci...
Scientists discover genetic adaptations can help those living in dry climates | ASU News
A team of international scientists has uncovered key genetic adaptations underlying survival in hot and dry environments, revealing how natural selection may have enabled some pastoralist populations ...
news.asu.edu
September 20, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
acstone.bsky.social
Adaptations to water stress and pastoralism in the Turkana of northwest Kenya | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Adaptations to water stress and pastoralism in the Turkana of northwest Kenya
The Turkana pastoralists of Kenya inhabit arid, water-limited environments and rely largely on livestock for subsistence. Working with Turkana communities, we sequenced 367 whole genomes and identifie...
www.science.org
September 20, 2025 at 12:03 AM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Up now!!

Characterizing the impacts of menopause stage, sex hormones, and sex chromosomes on brain aging and disease

Alex DeCasien, Ph.D.
@coevolvinglab.bsky.social
Characterizing the impacts of menopause stage, sex hormones, and sex chromosomes on brain aging and disease Alex DeCasien, Ph.D.
September 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
galaxyproject.bsky.social
after a long effort, gathering a lot of input from many people, we finaly put it all together:
Ten Common Misconceptions About Galaxy (and Why They Are Wrong!)
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202509.0823
Thank you very much to all people involved !
overview
September 10, 2025 at 10:22 AM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Our collaborative project led by @coevolvinglab.bsky.social who assembled an incredible team including @bogglerapture.bsky.social, Mark Cookson, Xylena Reed & Stefano Marenco

Characterizing the impacts of menopause stage, sex hormones, and sex chromosomes on brain aging and disease.

#Research
CHARACTERIZING THE IMPACTS OF MENOPAUSE STAGE, SEX HORMONES, AND SEX CHROMOSOMES ON BRAIN AGING AND DISEASE Alex R. DeCasien (NIA), Melissa Wilson (NHGRI), Stefano Marenco (NIMH), Xylena Reed (CARD), Armin Raznahan (NIMH), Mark Cookson (NIA) Abstract: Biological sex influences risk for neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), with Alzheimer's disease occurring more often in females and Parkinson's disease occurring more often in males. Here, we propose to investigate how hormonal fluctuations (associated with menopause and andropause) and sex chromosome dynamics shape both sex differences and within-sex variability in brain aging and NDD risk. We will generate new blood-based endocrine measures and integrate these data with existing intramural and published single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) datasets from various brain regions to examine how menopause stage, sex hormone concentrations, and sex chromosome loss contribute brain aging in specific brain cell types. By sampling males and females across the reproductive aging period - including the menopause transition - this work can illuminate how hormonal fluctuations due to reproductive aging contribute to changes in brain gene expression in ways that may impact susceptibility to NDDs. Our findings will enhance our understanding of how sex-related mechanisms and aging interact to influence brain health, potentially revealing novel therapeutic targets for NDDs. MPIs (L-R, Top-Bottom]: Alex R. DeCasien (NIA), Melissa Wilson (NHGRI), Stefano Marenco (NIMH), Xylena Reed (NIA), Armin Raznahan (NIMH), Mark Cookson (NIA) nih.gov/women 11
September 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
So excited to be in person and about to watch my collaborator @coevolvinglab.bsky.social present soon on our newly funded collaborative research.

ORWH Intramural innovation awards in women’s midlife health

2025 NIH Research Festival
September 10, 2025, 10 - 11 AM ET

#Research #Aging
Welcome by Elizabeth Barr to the Office of Research on Women’s Health Innovation Awards presentation ORWH INTRAMURAL INNOVATION AWARDS IN WOMEN'S MIDLIFE HEALTH: ABSTRACT BOOK 2025 NIH Research Festival September 10, 2025, 10 - 11 AM ET
September 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Remote talk at Northern Arizona University today with so many student questions!
Selfie of a scientist with brown hair, purple glasses, smiling, before giving a remote presentation
September 8, 2025 at 7:37 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
More about the AnVIL Community Conference: anvilproject.org/events/anvil...

#AnVILCommunity2025
AnVIL Community Conference 2025 - AnVIL Portal
anvilproject.org
September 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Excited to see you all at #AnVILCommunity2025
sexchrlab.bsky.social Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Sep 4
On my way to Nashville for the AnVIL meeting. See you all soon!
Selfie of brunette woman with unicorn purple glasses, a mask, and red scarf on a flight
September 4, 2025 at 11:58 AM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
On my way to Nashville for the AnVIL meeting. See you all soon!
Selfie of brunette woman with unicorn purple glasses, a mask, and red scarf on a flight
September 4, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
christinebeck.bsky.social
This was both fun and terrifying to tape! Awesome to talk with @glennislogsdon.bsky.social and @aphillippy.bsky.social about our sequencing data / paper, the improvements to large-scale sequencing projects, and what this means for our understanding of our DNA!
August 1, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
aphillippy.bsky.social
Complete genomes alert! @glennislogsdon.bsky.social, @christinebeck.bsky.social, and I were on @scifri.bsky.social today talking about "Complex genetic variation in nearly complete human genomes"
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
📻 www.sciencefriday.com/segments/65-...
65 Genomes Expand Our Picture Of Human Genetics
Researchers closely examined the genomes of 65 individuals to paint a more complex, and more complete, picture of human genetic diversity.
www.sciencefriday.com
August 1, 2025 at 8:49 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
In 1951, Harry S. Truman laid the cornerstone of the NIH clinical center, stating, "Research to prevent disease" was a better investment for federal dollars than "providing unlimited hospitalization to treat it."
Photo of president Harry S. Truman laying the cornerstone of the NIH clinical center. President Harry S. Truman laid the cornerstone in 1951, saying of the Clinical Center's future work: "Medical care is for the people and not just for the doctors and the rich." He mentioned that 75 million Americans then without health insurance would soon become a "medically indigent class" and he challenged the scientific community to "translate the new knowledge gained by research into better care for more people." "Research to prevent disease" was a better investment for federal dollars than "providing unlimited hospitalization to treat it."
July 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
drpintothe2nd.bsky.social
Big S/O to other folks who generated and shared their high-quality data with us (some published, some not) to help develop our understanding of the tool and framework.
They truly made this work possible! Folks like @tododge.bsky.social @lngray.bsky.social @scarey.bsky.social, to name just a few 🙏🏼🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️🧬
sexchrlab.bsky.social Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Jul 11
🚨Preprint🚨

Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
Graphical overview of the biological foundations of the proposed approach. Application of SCINKD to identify XY chromosomes in the Christmas island skink Application of SCINKD to identify previously unannotated sex chromosomes in the Lesser electric ray.
July 11, 2025 at 6:35 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Congratulations to Dr. Winingear and Dr. Siford @rebeccasiford.bsky.social who both successfully defended their dissertations this summer!

Primarily advised by Dr. Anne Stone @acstone.bsky.social. I was lucky to co-advise on some pieces.

Super cool work and tremendous effort by both!
Opening dissertation defense slide for Stevie Winingear: Interdisciplinary Genomics Research in Life and Social Sciences Opening slide for Rebecca Siford's dissertation defense: Evaluating Community Receptions and Ethical Considerations in Genomics Research in Small Scale Northern Kenyan Populations
July 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
Link to job description flyer can be found here:
tinyurl.com/s3kd7abr

#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
July 10, 2025 at 7:07 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
🚨Preprint🚨

Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
Graphical overview of the biological foundations of the proposed approach. Application of SCINKD to identify XY chromosomes in the Christmas island skink Application of SCINKD to identify previously unannotated sex chromosomes in the Lesser electric ray.
July 11, 2025 at 12:44 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
So excited to be part of a group that was awarded an Intramural Innovation Proposal: orwh.od.nih.gov/in-the-spotl...
Characterizing the impacts of menopause stage, sex hormones, and sex chromosomes on brain aging and disease Principal Investigators: Melissa Wilson (NHGRI), Stephano Maraceno (NIMH), Alex R. DeCasien (NIA), Xylena Reed (NIA), Armin Raznahan (NIMH), Mark Cookson (NIA) Abstract: Biological sex influences risk for neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), with Alzheimer’s disease occurring more often in females and Parkinson’s disease occurring more often in males. Here, we propose to investigate how hormonal fluctuations (associated with menopause and andropause) and sex chromosome dynamics shape both sex differences and within-sex variability in brain aging and NDD risk. We will generate new blood-based endocrine measures and integrate these data with existing intramural and published single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) datasets from various brain regions to examine how menopause stage, sex hormone concentrations, and sex chromosome loss contribute to brain aging in specific brain cell types. By sampling males and females across the reproductive aging period—including the menopause transition—this work can illuminate how hormonal fluctuations due to reproductive aging contribute to changes in brain gene expression in ways that may impact susceptibility to NDDs. Our findings will enhance our understanding of how sex-related mechanisms and aging interact to influence brain health, potentially revealing novel therapeutic targets for NDDs.
July 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Mission

To seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.

As written on the wall of the NIH Gateway Visitor center.
NIH Mission To seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. Written on the wall of the NIH Gateway Visitor center.
June 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
So excited to talk (remotely) at UC Riverside tonight as the student-nominates speaker. It means so much to be selected by the students.
Selfie of brunette with glasses at a desk in front of a laptop.
June 6, 2025 at 1:16 AM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Gila monsters! One of the rare venomous reptiles. A peptide in their saliva/venom, exendin-4, is the basis of GLP-1 agonists, like semaglutide, to regulate insulin. We developed the first draft sequence of the Gila monster genome and are working on updating this now with newer technology.
Dr. Melissa Wilson, wearing a black shirt with a Gila monster on it and purplish glasses, holding a replica of a Gila monster skull and smiling.
June 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Melissa Wilson
acstone.bsky.social
Today @marioapata.bsky.social successfully defended his dissertation! (Co-chairs @sexchrlab.bsky.social and me). Mario's science is complemented by his beautiful illustrations (which I poorly tried to imitate in icing form for the cake!). Congratulations Dr. Apata!!!
Anne Stone and Mario Apata smiling and admiring his cake (which features DNA, teeth, cell culture and an Andean woman in icing form to reflect his dissertation on Ancient DNA and the microbiome in communities from Northern Chile along with functional analyses of regulatory mutations influencing arsenic tolerance in these people.
May 20, 2025 at 2:20 AM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Congratulations Dr. Mario Apata @marioapata.bsky.social! Dr. Apata successfully defended his dissertation today on work w/ ancient DNA, the microbiome, and functional genomics of arsenic tolerance, co-advised by Dr. Anne Stone @acstone.bsky.social and myself, collaborating w/ Dr. Jeanne Wilson-Rawls
Mario presenting a snapshot of his research to the Center for Evolution and Medicine. Mario and me standing together, smiling, at the SMBE conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. A lab lunch with current and former lab members at Engrained Cafe at Arizona State University.
May 20, 2025 at 2:12 AM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Our work looking at the effects of using autosomal assumptions for calling variation on X and Y. We used simulated data to compare to a ground truth.

Tldr: Accurate ploidy is important for reducing false positives; appropriate alignment reduces false negatives.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Best practices for improving alignment and variant calling on human sex chromosomes
Sex chromosome complement is the largest karyotypic variation observed in humans. X and Y chromosomes were once a pair of homologous autosomes. Although chromosome X and Y differentiated from one anot...
www.biorxiv.org
May 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
sexchrlab.bsky.social
Eternally thankful for the good fortune to have such welcoming and generous neighbors, like our next door neighbor who the kids always talk to through the fence and who yesterday invited us to harvest some of her beautiful lettuce. ❤️
Raised garden bed with three kinds of lettuce, a small green lettuce in front, red leafed lettuce in the middle and large leaf lettuce in the back.
April 30, 2025 at 10:36 AM