William DeWitt
@wsdewitt.github.io
Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Genome Sciences.
Previous: JSMF Fellow, Berkeley EECS
♡: Computational biology, evolutionary dynamics, quantitative immunology
https://dewitt-lab.github.io/
[disclaimer: opinions mine]
Previous: JSMF Fellow, Berkeley EECS
♡: Computational biology, evolutionary dynamics, quantitative immunology
https://dewitt-lab.github.io/
[disclaimer: opinions mine]
Reposted by William DeWitt
Now accepting applications for SFI’s 2026 CSSS program, a 3-week experience for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professionals to explore foundational theory, engage in collaborative projects, and connect with a global research community.
Apply by Feb 4, 2026
www.santafe.edu/csss
Apply by Feb 4, 2026
www.santafe.edu/csss
December 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Now accepting applications for SFI’s 2026 CSSS program, a 3-week experience for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professionals to explore foundational theory, engage in collaborative projects, and connect with a global research community.
Apply by Feb 4, 2026
www.santafe.edu/csss
Apply by Feb 4, 2026
www.santafe.edu/csss
Reposted by William DeWitt
The registration deadline is fast approaching for probgen 2026! Abstracts due by January 15, registration by January 31
probgen2026.github.io
probgen2026.github.io
Home - ProbGen 2026
Your Site Description
probgen2026.github.io
December 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The registration deadline is fast approaching for probgen 2026! Abstracts due by January 15, registration by January 31
probgen2026.github.io
probgen2026.github.io
Reposted by William DeWitt
I've slowly been reformatting notes from my population and conservation genetics course at Montana State University into a web book—a rough draft is now live here: elinck.org/popgen_conge...
December 22, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I've slowly been reformatting notes from my population and conservation genetics course at Montana State University into a web book—a rough draft is now live here: elinck.org/popgen_conge...
How much better is an ancestral recombination graph (ARG) than a site frequency spectrum (SFS)? For recovering mutation rate history, we can answer fairly precisely because both ARG and SFS are linear transforms of mutation rate history. This blog post uses spectral analysis to clarify the picture.
Observability of mutation rate histories from ancestral recombination graphs
This post explores mathematical aspects of recovering mutation rate histories from an ancestral recombination graph (ARG) Vs a sample frequency spectrum (SFS), expanding on a recent collaborative pape...
dewitt-lab.github.io
December 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
How much better is an ancestral recombination graph (ARG) than a site frequency spectrum (SFS)? For recovering mutation rate history, we can answer fairly precisely because both ARG and SFS are linear transforms of mutation rate history. This blog post uses spectral analysis to clarify the picture.
Reposted by William DeWitt
Happy to highlight an essay I wrote together with @marcdemanuel.bsky.social,
@natanaels.bsky.social and Anastasia Stolyarova, trying to think through what sets the mutation rate of a cell type in an animal species: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n
@natanaels.bsky.social and Anastasia Stolyarova, trying to think through what sets the mutation rate of a cell type in an animal species: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n
What sets the mutation rate of a cell type in an animal species?
Germline mutation rates per generation are strikingly similar across animals, despite vast differences in life histories. Analogously, in at least one somatic cell type, mutation rates at the end of l...
www.biorxiv.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Happy to highlight an essay I wrote together with @marcdemanuel.bsky.social,
@natanaels.bsky.social and Anastasia Stolyarova, trying to think through what sets the mutation rate of a cell type in an animal species: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n
@natanaels.bsky.social and Anastasia Stolyarova, trying to think through what sets the mutation rate of a cell type in an animal species: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n
Reposted by William DeWitt
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
What are you people even doing?
More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance
A survey of 1,600 academics found that more than 50% have used artificial-intelligence tools while peer reviewing manuscripts.
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
What are you people even doing?
Secret to great science: find the absolute best collaborators 👇👇
Over the past 5+ years I've had the honor of working with @wsdewitt.github.io @victora.bsky.social and many others on a project to "replay" affinity maturation evolution from a fixed starting point.
matsen.group/general/2025...
matsen.group/general/2025...
December 12, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by William DeWitt
The point is much broader than poliovirus and pocapavir: if we're trying to design therapeutics that exploit social interactions between viruses, we need to account for the effects of therapeutic success in diminishing those interactions.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
bsky.app/profile/alex...
Big picture: the feedback loop between viral density leading to social interaction, which leads to realized phenotype, which alters fitness, leading to new viral densities, should be considered when designing optimal treatments.
December 10, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The point is much broader than poliovirus and pocapavir: if we're trying to design therapeutics that exploit social interactions between viruses, we need to account for the effects of therapeutic success in diminishing those interactions.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
bsky.app/profile/alex...
Reposted by William DeWitt
My first lead author paper is out with Ben Kerr and @alisonfeder.bsky.social! We found that making an antiviral too strong can sometimes make resistance easier to evolve. This has implications for how we design drugs, choose doses, and think about viral evolution in the face of treatment. (1/n)
Intracellular interactions shape antiviral resistance outcomes in poliovirus via eco-evolutionary feedback - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A model of intrahost poliovirus replication shows that, after several rounds of replication, pocapavir, a poliovirus capsid inhibitor, collapses viral density, preventing intracellular interactions th...
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
My first lead author paper is out with Ben Kerr and @alisonfeder.bsky.social! We found that making an antiviral too strong can sometimes make resistance easier to evolve. This has implications for how we design drugs, choose doses, and think about viral evolution in the face of treatment. (1/n)
Reposted by William DeWitt
Universities are racing to incorporate AI into their curriculum—but there’s a better way to prepare students for the future, Michael Clune argues.
Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
bit.ly
November 30, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Universities are racing to incorporate AI into their curriculum—but there’s a better way to prepare students for the future, Michael Clune argues.
Reposted by William DeWitt
Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
November 28, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪 #socialviruses
Reposted by William DeWitt
Open faculty position (Assistant or Associate) in UW Medical Genetics. As you might expect, faculty often end up also interacting with Genome Sciences, so we're hoping for some great prospects! Note the clinical requirements for the position. apply.interfolio.com/176466
Apply - Interfolio
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apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Open faculty position (Assistant or Associate) in UW Medical Genetics. As you might expect, faculty often end up also interacting with Genome Sciences, so we're hoping for some great prospects! Note the clinical requirements for the position. apply.interfolio.com/176466
Reposted by William DeWitt
How the Web Was Lost (The internet was not meant to suck).
I review some history—thoughtful, philosophical, and enraged—by Tim Berners-Lee, Joanna Walsh, and @pluralistic@mamot.fr.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
I review some history—thoughtful, philosophical, and enraged—by Tim Berners-Lee, Joanna Walsh, and @pluralistic@mamot.fr.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
How the Web Was Lost | James Gleick
The Internet was not meant to suck.
www.nybooks.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:49 PM
How the Web Was Lost (The internet was not meant to suck).
I review some history—thoughtful, philosophical, and enraged—by Tim Berners-Lee, Joanna Walsh, and @pluralistic@mamot.fr.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
I review some history—thoughtful, philosophical, and enraged—by Tim Berners-Lee, Joanna Walsh, and @pluralistic@mamot.fr.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Reposted by William DeWitt
😎 🚝
October 18, 2025 at 10:45 PM
😎 🚝
Reposted by William DeWitt
excited that this paper is finally out in @pnas.org :
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led by Gian Marco Visani (effort initiated by Michael Pun), fantastic collaboration with @pgtimmune.bsky.social @asya-minervina.bsky.social and Phil Bradley.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led by Gian Marco Visani (effort initiated by Michael Pun), fantastic collaboration with @pgtimmune.bsky.social @asya-minervina.bsky.social and Phil Bradley.
October 16, 2025 at 7:39 PM
excited that this paper is finally out in @pnas.org :
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led by Gian Marco Visani (effort initiated by Michael Pun), fantastic collaboration with @pgtimmune.bsky.social @asya-minervina.bsky.social and Phil Bradley.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led by Gian Marco Visani (effort initiated by Michael Pun), fantastic collaboration with @pgtimmune.bsky.social @asya-minervina.bsky.social and Phil Bradley.
Reposted by William DeWitt
Reposted by William DeWitt
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
October 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
Reposted by William DeWitt
Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...
Genes Have Harnessed Physics to Help Grow Living Things | Quanta Magazine
The same pulling force that causes “tears” in a glass of wine also shapes embryos. It’s another example of how genes exploit mechanical forces for growth and development.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...
Reposted by William DeWitt
The Weintraub Award is seeking nominations for 2026! The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of grad students in biology and was established to honor the bold, creative, pioneering spirit embodied by Dr. Hal Weintraub. www.fredhutch.org/en/research/...
Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award
Annual award to honor the bold, creative, pioneering spirit embodied by Hal Weintraub. The Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award recognizes outstanding achievements during graduate studies in the...
www.fredhutch.org
October 1, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The Weintraub Award is seeking nominations for 2026! The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of grad students in biology and was established to honor the bold, creative, pioneering spirit embodied by Dr. Hal Weintraub. www.fredhutch.org/en/research/...
Reposted by William DeWitt
Reposted by William DeWitt
ICE has been pulling guns on civilians, spraying tear gas in the face of protestors who film them, shooting priests with pepper spray and pellets—and, increasingly it seems, targeting journalists and others trying to document their activities. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Opinion | ‘ICE Goes Masked for a Single Reason’
www.nytimes.com
October 8, 2025 at 8:46 PM
ICE has been pulling guns on civilians, spraying tear gas in the face of protestors who film them, shooting priests with pepper spray and pellets—and, increasingly it seems, targeting journalists and others trying to document their activities. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Reposted by William DeWitt
I gave a talk last year at TEDxNewEngland aimed at introducing the idea of viral sociality to a general audience, including implications for evolution & virology. Video now available online below.
#socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
#socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
The social lives of viruses | Asher Leeks | TEDxNewEngland
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I gave a talk last year at TEDxNewEngland aimed at introducing the idea of viral sociality to a general audience, including implications for evolution & virology. Video now available online below.
#socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
#socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪
Reposted by William DeWitt
check out our manuscript (led by Obinna Ukogu) on Design principles of cytotoxic T-cell response: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 6, 2025 at 10:31 PM
check out our manuscript (led by Obinna Ukogu) on Design principles of cytotoxic T-cell response: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...