Matt Ballinger
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spirophasma.bsky.social
Matt Ballinger
@spirophasma.bsky.social
defensive symbiosis in insects. parasitoids, drosophila, spiroplasma, viruses. assoc prof at MSState.
Pinned
a very quick response from #Drosophila acutilabella saves it from becoming a #parasitoid wasp incubator! see first comment for a successful oviposition.
Reposted by Matt Ballinger
PhD studentship position- Symbiosis in a thermally variable world.

Goal: to understand how & why insect symbiosis is disrupted by low/high temperature.

Pays Stipend + fees; International students eligible.

Webinar for questions: 5th December at 12 noon UK time.

tinyurl.com/4jn96z3h #symbiosky
ACCE+ DLA programme: Symbiosis in a thermally variable world at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - ACCE+ DLA programme: Symbiosis in a thermally variable world at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 26, 2024 at 2:40 PM
a very quick response from #Drosophila acutilabella saves it from becoming a #parasitoid wasp incubator! see first comment for a successful oviposition.
November 21, 2024 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Matt Ballinger
Check out this fly boxing away a parasitic wasp who is trying to lay eggs in its abdomen.
I've watched a lot of fly behavior, but never seen anything like this. Makes you wonder how much we miss by studying lab organisms in isolation from their natural threats.
Vid from: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
November 18, 2024 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Matt Ballinger
Fun new paper led by @greghurst.bsky.social &co using genomics to show that facultative symbiont genomes get bigger as they adapt to life inside a host (through HGT & loss of CRISPR) before undergoing genome reduction as they become obligate #symbiosky #microsky
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Genome dynamics across the evolutionary transition to endosymbiosis
Endosymbiosis—where a microbe lives and replicates within a host—is an important contributor to organismal function that has accelerated evolutionary …
www.sciencedirect.com
November 15, 2024 at 3:46 PM
Our fantastic Biological Sciences department at Mississippi State is hiring multiple TT Assistant Professors in any area of cellular, molecular, or developmental biology research! Apply by Dec 1 #CellBio #MolBio #DevBio #MicroSky

explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/en-us/job/50...
Careers | MSU Jobs
explore.msujobs.msstate.edu
November 16, 2024 at 2:34 AM
Reposted by Matt Ballinger
If you’re at #entsoc24 and interested in Rose Entomology style aspirators, we’ve been gearing up to make and distribute them, likely available to ship later this year. Follow for more info and fill out the interest form to let us know how we can best serve the community!

forms.gle/JYv3BnfWy2Sq...
Rose-Entomology style insect aspirator interest form
Are you interested in finding a source for high-quality insect aspirators in the style of John Rose (1936-2024) and Rose Entomology/Bioquip? We've loved these tools for years and are saddened by John'...
forms.gle
November 10, 2024 at 10:02 PM
Parasite burden of a single adult Drosophila melanogaster infected by the braconid wasp, Syntretus perlmani. Only one larva finishes developing in Dmel (you can see the unsuccessful competitors in this photo). Look at all of those teratocytes! Maybe more larvae means more teratocytes for the winner.
November 8, 2024 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Matt Ballinger
PhD position available in our lab in 🇨🇭! Interested in microbial ecology and evolution in the context of #Symbiosis, #Microbiota, #Bees? Like to analyze shotgun metagenomics data with the possibility for fieldwork and experiments? This is for you. Apply here: shorturl.at/swHf1 #SymbioSky
Opportunités de carrière : PhD position in gut microbiota ecology and evolution (21945)
shorturl.at
November 6, 2024 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Matt Ballinger
The #Drosophila Immunity Handbook 🧵

This project started as a review with the aim, in some sense, to update Lemaitre and Hoffmann (2007; Ann Rev Imm). Then it kinda... got out of hand. But the reason that happened is because Hannah is amazing.

Find the free PDF here btw: bit.ly/DrosImmBook
1/n
September 14, 2024 at 8:49 PM
Thank you for the nice shout-out, Mark! Here is an oppressively large Syntretus perlmani larva emerging from Drosophila acutilabella.
September 11, 2024 at 11:49 PM