Nancy Moran
@nancy-moran.bsky.social
Research biologist and lover of nature, mostly bacteria, insects and (lately) birds
Jo Holley led an undergrad team for this study, about wasps that are trying to be bees, using a new microbiome.
Honey wasps differ from other wasps in possessing large gut communities dominated by host-restricted bacteria | mBio
Honey-feeding social insects such as honey bees and bumble bees have conserved gut
bacterial communities that are transmitted among nestmates. These bacteria benefit
hosts by providing defense against...
journals.asm.org
October 3, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Jo Holley led an undergrad team for this study, about wasps that are trying to be bees, using a new microbiome.
Reposted by Nancy Moran
The Mexican honey wasp is a bit of an oddball: it makes and eats honey like a bee, but when it’s hankering for protein, instead of pollen, it eats other insects. A new study finds its gut microbiome is more like bees than wasps. Funded by USDA and NSF. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
October 3, 2025 at 2:46 PM
The Mexican honey wasp is a bit of an oddball: it makes and eats honey like a bee, but when it’s hankering for protein, instead of pollen, it eats other insects. A new study finds its gut microbiome is more like bees than wasps. Funded by USDA and NSF. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Nancy Moran
It's another week. Another episode of #MattersMicrobial! Dr. John McCutcheon of Arizona State University discusses fascinating symbioses between insects & bacteria that shed light on endosymbiosis: how eukaryotic cells originated. Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord!
youtu.be/HZ9X6V7rpVk?...
youtu.be/HZ9X6V7rpVk?...
July 4, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Nancy Moran
Please share! Our lab is recruiting a PhD student to join us starting fall 2026. Our group is broadly interested in plant molecular evolution and comparative genomics. More info about our lab and grad programs at Colorado St. is available on our lab website.
sites.google.com/site/danielb...
sites.google.com/site/danielb...
Sloan Lab
Welcome! Our research focuses on the evolutionary process at the molecular level. In particular, we investigate how a mixture of natural selection and non-adaptive forces create and maintain the amazi...
sites.google.com
July 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Please share! Our lab is recruiting a PhD student to join us starting fall 2026. Our group is broadly interested in plant molecular evolution and comparative genomics. More info about our lab and grad programs at Colorado St. is available on our lab website.
sites.google.com/site/danielb...
sites.google.com/site/danielb...
An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Nancy Moran Contact
web.biosci.utexas.edu
June 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...
Looking for a postdoc on bacterial-insect symbiosis, combining evolution and molecular mechanisms? I'll have one open in my lab starting Sept 2025. If interested contact me (or find me at the GRC on Animal-microbe symbiosis if you'll be there). #SymbioSky
May 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Looking for a postdoc on bacterial-insect symbiosis, combining evolution and molecular mechanisms? I'll have one open in my lab starting Sept 2025. If interested contact me (or find me at the GRC on Animal-microbe symbiosis if you'll be there). #SymbioSky
Reposted by Nancy Moran
Unbelievable. Richard Youle, winner of the Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences, just got fired from the NIH. If you want to know what madness looks like, here it is, my friend.
NEW: The doctor behind breakthrough Parkinson’s research was among the scientists purged from the National Institutes of Health, the US’s leading medical research agency. www.wired.com/story/doctor...
Doctor Behind Award-Winning Parkinson’s Research Among Scientists Purged From NIH
Leading scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the US’s leading medical research agency, were swept up Tuesday in the Trump administration's latest firing blitz.
www.wired.com
April 2, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Unbelievable. Richard Youle, winner of the Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences, just got fired from the NIH. If you want to know what madness looks like, here it is, my friend.
We had a terrific symposium on "evolution of symbiosis, insects, and bacteria" this past saturday, with many former members of the Moran/Ochman lab. I'm grateful to all of them.
April 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Nancy Moran
We had a terrific symposium on "evolution of symbiosis, insects, and bacteria" this past saturday, with many former members of the Moran/Ochman lab. I'm grateful to all of them.
April 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
We had a terrific symposium on "evolution of symbiosis, insects, and bacteria" this past saturday, with many former members of the Moran/Ochman lab. I'm grateful to all of them.
We had a terrific symposium on "evolution of symbiosis, insects, and bacteria" this past saturday, with many former members of the Moran/Ochman lab. I'm grateful to all of them.
April 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
We had a terrific symposium on "evolution of symbiosis, insects, and bacteria" this past saturday, with many former members of the Moran/Ochman lab. I'm grateful to all of them.
Reposted by Nancy Moran
It was a pleasure to sign this. It is a small step, but a step nonetheless…
'In an open letter published Monday, nearly 2,000 of the nation’s top researchers called on the Trump administration to halt this “wholesale assault on U.S. science,” which they say is threatening America’s position as a global research leader as well as the health and safety of its citizens.'
Nearly 2,000 top researchers call on Trump administration to halt ‘assault’ on science
Nearly 2,000 members of the National Academies called on the Trump administration to halt its “wholesale assault on U.S. science" in an open letter.
www.statnews.com
April 1, 2025 at 8:14 AM
It was a pleasure to sign this. It is a small step, but a step nonetheless…
Happen to be in central Texas this weekend, and interested in symbionts &/or evolution and/or insects? #SymbioSky
March 25, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Happen to be in central Texas this weekend, and interested in symbionts &/or evolution and/or insects? #SymbioSky
Reposted by Nancy Moran
Reposted by Nancy Moran
A woman studies embryos for decades, struggles for funding and respect. She publishes under her husband’s name, until they divorce. A single mother, she moves across an ocean to continue her studies. It all sounds quite modern, until you learn that she also worried she’d be burned as a witch. 🧵 1/15
March 11, 2025 at 4:04 PM
A woman studies embryos for decades, struggles for funding and respect. She publishes under her husband’s name, until they divorce. A single mother, she moves across an ocean to continue her studies. It all sounds quite modern, until you learn that she also worried she’d be burned as a witch. 🧵 1/15
Reposted by Nancy Moran
Nice piece here from the organizer of the Austin Stand Up for Science event, @benjaminjriley.bsky.social 👇. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting, Ben!
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/standing-u...
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/standing-u...
Standing Up for Science (and Democracy)
We the People take to the streets to fight to preserve America
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
March 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Nice piece here from the organizer of the Austin Stand Up for Science event, @benjaminjriley.bsky.social 👇. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting, Ben!
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/standing-u...
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/standing-u...
Hi BlueSkyers! I'm an evolutionary biologist, microbiologist, entomologist, lover of nature, and long-time researcher on symbiosis.
I'm realizing that BlueSky is useful and generally non-toxic so here I am (having quit Facebook in Jan 2017, and Twitter in Oct 2022).
I'm realizing that BlueSky is useful and generally non-toxic so here I am (having quit Facebook in Jan 2017, and Twitter in Oct 2022).
March 11, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Hi BlueSkyers! I'm an evolutionary biologist, microbiologist, entomologist, lover of nature, and long-time researcher on symbiosis.
I'm realizing that BlueSky is useful and generally non-toxic so here I am (having quit Facebook in Jan 2017, and Twitter in Oct 2022).
I'm realizing that BlueSky is useful and generally non-toxic so here I am (having quit Facebook in Jan 2017, and Twitter in Oct 2022).