When they clarified that they wanted an autograph, I realized how far we’ve come: today, scientists can also be role models for young children—so much so that they want to keep our autograph ✨🔬💫

A few days ago, I gave a talk at a school titled "How to Become a Scientist." At the end, several children came up to ask for a signature, and at first, I didn’t understand.

On a day like today, I want to share something very special that happened to me recently and made me realize how promising the future of science is.

I am deeply grateful for my time at Université Laval, which culminated last August with my thesis defense. A master's degree, a PhD, and a place on the Dean's Honor Roll 💜💙 It has been an incredible experience and a true privilege.

So, taking the chance here to thank my family, who feel like co-authors – they’ve always been right there, supporting me every step of the way! 💖

Also, very grateful to all the institutions that placed their trust in me: @universitelaval.bsky.social @ProteoQuebec @FSGulaval @CRDM_UL and the funding organizations that brought my ideas to life: @FRQ_NT @BecariosFLC @FundlaCaixa @FundlaCaixaCAT

❤️Lastly, deeply thankful for the trust from my co-authors #isa #Mariia @afijarczyk @devinbendixsen.bsky.social @stelkens.bsky.social

🇺🇦My heartfelt thanks to Mariia, a talented young student from Ukraine who played a pivotal role in this research through @HFSP funding. Her hard work smiles, and determination despite unfair circumstances were truly inspiring. Thank you for making this journey unforgettable!🌍

🇸🇪 Thank you @stelkens.bsky.social for your warm welcome in Sweden, in such an enriching and stimulating environment. Thank you for making me feel at home 🏠

❤️Thanks to all who shared wisdom on this exciting journey! A long but beautiful road, filled with surprises and learnings. Special thanks to my advisor, @christianlandry.bsky.social for turning this adventure into an extraordinary experience🙌 #ProudAlumna (10/10)

🏁Ultimately, our findings show that adaptation relying on incomplete dominance becomes a two-step process, the first being the mutation itself and the second, the loss of heterozygosity. Our findings indicate that this latter step is delayed in hybrids (9/10)

🔄We hypothesize that a lower rate of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in hybrids could thus limit fitness gain. We rewinded the tape of evolution and tracked genotype frequency dynamics to demonstrate that LOH occurs at a slower pace in hybrids (8/10)

✂️With the invaluable help of CRISPR we found that mutations display incomplete dominance thus requiring homozygosity to show full impact and to bypass Haldane's sieve, which favors the fixation of dominant mutations (7/10)

💡Despite similarities, the key difference emerged – mutations in PDR1 (a transcription factor involved in drug resistance) tended to be homozygous in parents but heterozygous in hybrids (6/10)

🤯 We found an astonishing adaptive parallelism in parents and hybrids, with shared mutational hotspots and even amino acid changes! But then, why don't these mutations bring about comparable adaptive advantages for hybrids as they do for the parental species? (5/10)

⁉️ Unexpectedly, the hybrids exhibited genomic changes akin to those in the parents. The question was still there: What accounted for the hybrid diminished adaptation rate? Perhaps the answer was in differential access to adaptive mutations? Here comes the surprise.. (4/10)

🧬We initially speculated that adding further genetic damage to the already unstable genomes of hybrids might not fare well. Our hypothesis? We would find many more genomic changes, such as ploidy shifts and aneuploidies in hybrid genomes (3/10)

🔍This amazing journey began with yeast hybrids showing lower adaptive potential than parental species after 100 generations of exposure to a UV mimetic (4-NQO drug). Intrigued, we ventured to find out why onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... (2/10)