Cauã Westmann
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cauawest.bsky.social
Cauã Westmann
@cauawest.bsky.social
230 followers 730 following 4 posts
Deeply curious about Life, the Universe and Everything
Evolution · SynBio · Gene Regulation · Microbes
Group Leader @EPFL.bsky.social ELISIR Scholar - Systems and Synthetic Evolutionary Biology Lab
PostDoc @Wagner Lab UZH
🇧🇷🌈 he/him
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Reposted by Cauã Westmann
cbank.bsky.social
We have an open PhD position (application deadline 9 January 2026) in "Theory of fitness landscapes" at @unibe.ch 🤓⛰️📊👩‍💻🎓: banklab.github.io/positions/

Please share widely!

#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
October 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Cauã Westmann
timothyfuqua.bsky.social
A fun little side project I've been working on with @stepadenisov.bsky.social , Mato Lagator, and Andreas Wagner: "Strong promoters are mutationally robust". Briefly...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Strong promoters are mutationally robust
Mutational robustness is the persistence of a phenotype upon mutation. It facilitates molecular evolution and has been characterized in a variety of biological systems, but studies of prokaryotic prom...
www.biorxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Cauã Westmann
timothyfuqua.bsky.social
Forgot to add the graphical abstract :)
Diagram illustrating promoter architecture and factors influencing mutational robustness. Top panel: The promoter sequence is shown with a -35 box (orange, labeled “TTG...”) and a -10 box (purple, labeled “TATA...”), separated by 17 ± 1 bp. Sequence logos above each box indicate conserved nucleotides. Bottom panel: Titled “Mutational robustness influenced by:”, it shows four numbered factors: Strength – represented by an upward diagonal arrow. Box position – two colored bars (orange and purple) aligned on numbered positions (1–6), with a dashed box highlighting overlapping regions. Box overlap – orange and purple boxes partially overlapping. Spacer length – orange and purple boxes separated by a double-headed arrow labeled “17 bp.”
October 23, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Cauã Westmann
jaguilarrod.bsky.social
One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation
The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...
www.biorxiv.org
October 22, 2025 at 5:46 PM
cauawest.bsky.social
I’m excited to announce the launch of my lab at EPFL in Jan 2026 🎉. We’ll combine evolution & synthetic biology to study and (re)engineer bacterial communication.
I’m recruiting PhD students to start in the first semester of 2026.
Apply via EPFL PhD programs by Nov 1
drive.google.com/file/d/1cm-t...
October 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Cauã Westmann
vakirlis.bsky.social
Why do yeast #de_novo genes have so many transmembrane domains? It's because the genomic regions from which they evolved are super enriched in stretches of A's and T's ! Our work with @timothyfuqua.bsky.social is now published in @jevbio.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Intergenic polyA/T tracts explain the propensity of yeast de novo genes to encode transmembrane domains
Abstract. New genes can emerge de novo from non-genic genomic regions. In budding yeast, computational predictions have shown that intergenic regions harbo
doi.org
July 14, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Cauã Westmann
timothyfuqua.bsky.social
Hey y'all, grant-pending, I may be unemployed starting from October. If you have any leads on biotech / postdoc positions in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, I'd greatly appreciate a message. I'm great with Data Analysis, Molecular Biology, and Teaching. (Plz RT!)

More at timothyfuqua.com
Home | Timothy Fuqua
timothyfuqua.com
June 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
cauawest.bsky.social
Começando com a divulgação do EVOSUR 2025 - uma Escola Sul-Americana de Biologia Evolutiva que estamos organizando no Uruguai, em novembro!
As inscrições estão abertas até 15 de agosto.
Se puderem divulgar entre redes e grupos da América do Sul, agradecemos muito!
sites.google.com/view/evosul2...
EvoSur
sites.google.com
June 23, 2025 at 7:22 AM
cauawest.bsky.social
Better late than never - Hello world and hello Bluesky! :)
June 23, 2025 at 7:14 AM