Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
@spit-lab.bsky.social
We study how #glycans in #saliva make #bacteria stick to #teeth
Pinned
The evolution of human spit goes back to primates
"Our work highlights how evolutionary adaptations to diet and disease may have influenced primate biology, including humans."
www.futurity.org
The functions of human saliva for oral health can only be fully understood when looking at our evolutionary roots in the primate lineage. @gokcumenlab.bsky.social
www.futurity.org/human-saliva...
www.futurity.org/human-saliva...
The functions of human saliva for oral health can only be fully understood when looking at our evolutionary roots in the primate lineage. @gokcumenlab.bsky.social
www.futurity.org/human-saliva...
www.futurity.org/human-saliva...
The evolution of human spit goes back to primates
"Our work highlights how evolutionary adaptations to diet and disease may have influenced primate biology, including humans."
www.futurity.org
November 23, 2025 at 2:42 AM
The functions of human saliva for oral health can only be fully understood when looking at our evolutionary roots in the primate lineage. @gokcumenlab.bsky.social
www.futurity.org/human-saliva...
www.futurity.org/human-saliva...
October 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
Pajic, @gokcumenlab.bsky.social @spit-lab.bsky.social et al. explored the evolution of saliva-related SCPP genes, observing extensive diversification of SCPP genes within mammals, driven by gene duplications and losses.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf165
#genome #evolution #primates
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf165
#genome #evolution #primates
September 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Pajic, @gokcumenlab.bsky.social @spit-lab.bsky.social et al. explored the evolution of saliva-related SCPP genes, observing extensive diversification of SCPP genes within mammals, driven by gene duplications and losses.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf165
#genome #evolution #primates
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf165
#genome #evolution #primates
What have 🦷🦷 #TEETH 🦷🦷, 🥛 #MILK 🥛, and💧💧 #SALIVA 💧💧to do with each other? Ask PetarPajic, Luane Landau, and Omer Gokcumen @gokcumenlab.bsky.social ❗️
academic.oup.com/gbe/article-...
academic.oup.com/gbe/article-...
Saliva Protein Genes in Humans were Shaped During Primate Evolution
Abstract. Genes within the secretory calcium-binding phosphoprotein locus diversified along with the formation of a calcified skeleton in vertebrates, the
academic.oup.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:43 AM
What have 🦷🦷 #TEETH 🦷🦷, 🥛 #MILK 🥛, and💧💧 #SALIVA 💧💧to do with each other? Ask PetarPajic, Luane Landau, and Omer Gokcumen @gokcumenlab.bsky.social ❗️
academic.oup.com/gbe/article-...
academic.oup.com/gbe/article-...
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
🍖 Hungry for History? Fossils from the #TarPits reveal the diets of saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and more—served straight from asphalt.
Take a bite into prehistory: bit.ly/TarPitsPD
Take a bite into prehistory: bit.ly/TarPitsPD
September 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
🦷🦷 #TEETH❗️🦷🦷
🚨New PhD research published in PNAS!🚨
Combining fossils and lab experiments, we found that simple changes in tooth #development explain 6 million years of molar #evolution in #voles 🐭🦷
Shoutout to my coauthors @cnrs.fr @helsinki.fi @gtk-fi.bsky.social!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #FossilFriday
Combining fossils and lab experiments, we found that simple changes in tooth #development explain 6 million years of molar #evolution in #voles 🐭🦷
Shoutout to my coauthors @cnrs.fr @helsinki.fi @gtk-fi.bsky.social!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #FossilFriday
Six million years of vole dental evolution shaped by tooth development | PNAS
Morphological change occurs over macroevolutionary timescales under the action of
natural selection and genetic drift combined with developmental p...
www.pnas.org
September 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
🦷🦷 #TEETH❗️🦷🦷
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex
Male “ghost sharks” — eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays — have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retracta...
www.eurekalert.org
September 6, 2025 at 1:17 AM
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
September 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
Reposted by Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
Thank you for the write-up @johnhawks.net in particular for dedicating space to explaining mucin structure and function.
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
open.substack.com/pub/johnhawk...
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
open.substack.com/pub/johnhawk...
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
A “genetic sandwich” reveals how a block of DNA entered several populations successively and was affected by natural selection.
open.substack.com
August 24, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Thank you for the write-up @johnhawks.net in particular for dedicating space to explaining mucin structure and function.
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
open.substack.com/pub/johnhawk...
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
open.substack.com/pub/johnhawk...
Reposted by Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
Our paper on the evolution of MUC19 in humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans is finally out today in Science!
This has been a six-year effort by 13 authors to weave together 3 separate but related evolutionary stories around this one gene (more on thread 🧵).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This has been a six-year effort by 13 authors to weave together 3 separate but related evolutionary stories around this one gene (more on thread 🧵).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The MUC19 gene: An evolutionary history of recurrent introgression and natural selection
We study the gene MUC19, for which some modern humans carry a Denisovan-like haplotype. MUC19 is a mucin, a glycoprotein that forms gels with various biological functions. We find diagnostic variants ...
www.science.org
August 21, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Our paper on the evolution of MUC19 in humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans is finally out today in Science!
This has been a six-year effort by 13 authors to weave together 3 separate but related evolutionary stories around this one gene (more on thread 🧵).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This has been a six-year effort by 13 authors to weave together 3 separate but related evolutionary stories around this one gene (more on thread 🧵).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
Fossil teeth reveal a new species of human ancestor, one that co-existed with the earliest known members of our own genus. I love thinking about how, although Homo sapiens is the only human species around today, for most of human prehistory, multiple human species roamed the earth 🤯 🧪
Meet the Newly Discovered Human Ancestor Identified Just by Its Teeth
Ancient teeth found in Ethiopia belong to a never-before-seen species in the Australopithecus genus of human ancestors
www.scientificamerican.com
August 16, 2025 at 6:27 PM
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
A #FossilFriday that’s #LiveFromTheField! I’m doing fieldwork in the Cenozoic deposits of Kyrgyzstan currently, we started out with a really cool Eocene site called Toru Aygyr. My best find was this little tooth!
August 16, 2025 at 6:08 PM
🦷🦷 #TEETH ❗️🦷🦷
Reposted by Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
Our latest preprint explores the evolution of the primate amylase locus, uncovering structural innovations, regulatory shifts and molecular convergence.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Convergent evolution through independent rearrangements in the primate amylase locus
Structurally complex regions of the genome are increasingly recognized as engines of evolutionary convergence due to their propensity to generate recurrent gene duplications that give rise to similar ...
www.biorxiv.org
August 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Our latest preprint explores the evolution of the primate amylase locus, uncovering structural innovations, regulatory shifts and molecular convergence.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
❗️❗️❗️👄👄 #MOUTH 👄👄 🦷🦷 #TEETH 🦷🦷 💧💧 #SALIVA 💧💧🦠🦠 #MICROBIOME🦠🦠 🍭🍭 #glycotime 🍭🍭 ❗️❗️❗️
❗️We are hiring❗️Check out this full-time tenure track academic faculty position in the #UBSDM's Department of Oral Biology.
ms.spr.ly/6045sKrT9
❗️We are hiring❗️Check out this full-time tenure track academic faculty position in the #UBSDM's Department of Oral Biology.
ms.spr.ly/6045sKrT9
Assistant Professor/Associate Professor, Oral Biology
The University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine (SDM) invites applications from qualified early- to mid-career oral health scientists and/or clinician-scientists for a full-time tenure track acade...
www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu
August 3, 2025 at 8:14 PM
❗️❗️❗️👄👄 #MOUTH 👄👄 🦷🦷 #TEETH 🦷🦷 💧💧 #SALIVA 💧💧🦠🦠 #MICROBIOME🦠🦠 🍭🍭 #glycotime 🍭🍭 ❗️❗️❗️
❗️We are hiring❗️Check out this full-time tenure track academic faculty position in the #UBSDM's Department of Oral Biology.
ms.spr.ly/6045sKrT9
❗️We are hiring❗️Check out this full-time tenure track academic faculty position in the #UBSDM's Department of Oral Biology.
ms.spr.ly/6045sKrT9
Reposted by Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
🎉 Today marks the 120th anniversary of the Niagara Movement, founded in Buffalo & Fort Erie in 1905 by W.E.B. Du Bois & other national black leaders. A precursor to NAACP, the group paved the way for the 20th century civil rights movement.
Learn more: discoverniagara.org/the-niagara-movement
Learn more: discoverniagara.org/the-niagara-movement
July 11, 2025 at 11:38 PM
🎉 Today marks the 120th anniversary of the Niagara Movement, founded in Buffalo & Fort Erie in 1905 by W.E.B. Du Bois & other national black leaders. A precursor to NAACP, the group paved the way for the 20th century civil rights movement.
Learn more: discoverniagara.org/the-niagara-movement
Learn more: discoverniagara.org/the-niagara-movement
June 21, 2025 at 12:19 PM
#AADOCR Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill to emphasize the importance of research and education in the dental, oral, and craniofacial sciences.
🦷🦷 #FundOralHealth 🦷🦷
🦷🦷 #FundOralHealth 🦷🦷
April 6, 2025 at 2:54 AM
#AADOCR Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill to emphasize the importance of research and education in the dental, oral, and craniofacial sciences.
🦷🦷 #FundOralHealth 🦷🦷
🦷🦷 #FundOralHealth 🦷🦷
🦷🦷 #TEETH ‼️ 🦷🦷
One of the interesting things about the teeth of Homo naledi is the high degree of chipping of the enamel. This tooth has a chip that became worn slightly around the edges as the tooth continued to be used during the individual's life. Chipping may mean they ate hard or gritty food items.
January 31, 2025 at 5:51 PM
🦷🦷 #TEETH ‼️ 🦷🦷
Reposted by Stefan Ruhl 🦷💧🦠
The story of a fascinating ancient skull and the scientist who resorted to hiding it in his bedroom to keep it from being studied by Nazi anthropologists
johnhawks.net/weblog/a-loo...
johnhawks.net/weblog/a-loo...
A look at the fossil skull from Steinheim
The skull provides some of the best evidence for the ancestral population of Neandertals, and had a tumultuous history in the decades after its discovery.
johnhawks.net
January 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM
The story of a fascinating ancient skull and the scientist who resorted to hiding it in his bedroom to keep it from being studied by Nazi anthropologists
johnhawks.net/weblog/a-loo...
johnhawks.net/weblog/a-loo...