Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
@zombieantdoc.bsky.social
Associate Professor, molecular ecologist @ Utrecht University.
Zombie-making parasites, extended phenotypes, ant behavior, fungal hyper parasites, fungi for sustainable solutions. DEI advocate. #firstgen
Metal head, cat lady, dog mom, BJJ black belt.
Zombie-making parasites, extended phenotypes, ant behavior, fungal hyper parasites, fungi for sustainable solutions. DEI advocate. #firstgen
Metal head, cat lady, dog mom, BJJ black belt.
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
New PhD opportunity in my group @thesainsburylab.bsky.social through the BBSRC NRP DTP Programme - see details of host to apply below
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...
Vanishing Virulence: Investigating pathogenicity loss in a plant pathogenic fungus (TALBOT_T26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership
What makes a plant killer lose its edge? This project will investigate why fungal pathogens lose virulence when they are grown in laboratory culture away from their host plant. Use cutting-edge…
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
October 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
New PhD opportunity in my group @thesainsburylab.bsky.social through the BBSRC NRP DTP Programme - see details of host to apply below
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Bram van Dijk @bramvandijk.bsky.social (@utrechtuniversity.bsky.social): How mobile genes reshape the microbial arms race
#NIME2025
#NIME2025
October 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Bram van Dijk @bramvandijk.bsky.social (@utrechtuniversity.bsky.social): How mobile genes reshape the microbial arms race
#NIME2025
#NIME2025
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Aileen Berasategui @berasymbionts.bsky.social (VU) on Origin and evolution of a defensive symbiosis in tortoise beetle
Chelymorpha alternans beetle => today, focusing on pupation
see their @currentbiology.bsky.social paper (with @hassansalem.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#NIME2025
Chelymorpha alternans beetle => today, focusing on pupation
see their @currentbiology.bsky.social paper (with @hassansalem.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#NIME2025
October 7, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Aileen Berasategui @berasymbionts.bsky.social (VU) on Origin and evolution of a defensive symbiosis in tortoise beetle
Chelymorpha alternans beetle => today, focusing on pupation
see their @currentbiology.bsky.social paper (with @hassansalem.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#NIME2025
Chelymorpha alternans beetle => today, focusing on pupation
see their @currentbiology.bsky.social paper (with @hassansalem.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#NIME2025
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
🎤 Meet the speakers of 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟯: Fungal Crosstalk with Hosts & Predatory Interactions at #IFBC2025! 🍄🌱🪱🧬
⏳ The registration & abstract submission deadline is fast approaching! 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀: 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟱
📍 Chania, Greece | 📅 Sept 27–30
🔗 ifbc2025.maich.gr
#fungalbiology #Conference #Greece
⏳ The registration & abstract submission deadline is fast approaching! 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀: 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟱
📍 Chania, Greece | 📅 Sept 27–30
🔗 ifbc2025.maich.gr
#fungalbiology #Conference #Greece
July 12, 2025 at 2:29 AM
🎤 Meet the speakers of 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟯: Fungal Crosstalk with Hosts & Predatory Interactions at #IFBC2025! 🍄🌱🪱🧬
⏳ The registration & abstract submission deadline is fast approaching! 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀: 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟱
📍 Chania, Greece | 📅 Sept 27–30
🔗 ifbc2025.maich.gr
#fungalbiology #Conference #Greece
⏳ The registration & abstract submission deadline is fast approaching! 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀: 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟱
📍 Chania, Greece | 📅 Sept 27–30
🔗 ifbc2025.maich.gr
#fungalbiology #Conference #Greece
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Great sessions at #IFBC25 on fungal manipulation of ant behaviour (Charissa de Bekker) and nematode behaviour (@fungi_worms and Reinhard Fischer) -highlighting the complex cellular eukaryotic processes that fungal effectors can perturb -remarkable insights from effector biology
September 29, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Great sessions at #IFBC25 on fungal manipulation of ant behaviour (Charissa de Bekker) and nematode behaviour (@fungi_worms and Reinhard Fischer) -highlighting the complex cellular eukaryotic processes that fungal effectors can perturb -remarkable insights from effector biology
On my way back from the International Fungal Biology 🍄🍄🟫Conference in Chania, Crete. I’m exhausted. But what an amazing 4 days of science, friends, and Greek hospitality it was. And in such a beautiful conference venue too! Wish all conferences could be in Crete 🤩☀️🌴🐈🐈⬛
October 1, 2025 at 2:43 PM
On my way back from the International Fungal Biology 🍄🍄🟫Conference in Chania, Crete. I’m exhausted. But what an amazing 4 days of science, friends, and Greek hospitality it was. And in such a beautiful conference venue too! Wish all conferences could be in Crete 🤩☀️🌴🐈🐈⬛
Which fungal 🍄 molecules cause zombie 🧟♀️ ant 🐜 behaviors? @williamycete.bsky.social has begun to answer this question! He found a peptide that binds to scramblase and affects important odor-dependent behaviors in ants. Spoiler: worms 🪱 played a key role in this research 🧐 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
The First of Us: Ophiocordyceps use a novel scramblase-binding peptide to manipulate zombie ants
Parasite-adaptive manipulation of behavior is a widespread natural phenomenon. While Ophiocordyceps zombie fungi are well-known for hijacking ant behavior to increase their fitness, functionally chara...
doi.org
September 23, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Which fungal 🍄 molecules cause zombie 🧟♀️ ant 🐜 behaviors? @williamycete.bsky.social has begun to answer this question! He found a peptide that binds to scramblase and affects important odor-dependent behaviors in ants. Spoiler: worms 🪱 played a key role in this research 🧐 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Goodbye #eseb2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social see you next time!
Perhaps what stuck most was powerful talk on resilience and survival by Palestinian researcher, play director, and ESEB EUEA awardee May Shehady. Let's not forget, let's not look away. 🇵🇸
Perhaps what stuck most was powerful talk on resilience and survival by Palestinian researcher, play director, and ESEB EUEA awardee May Shehady. Let's not forget, let's not look away. 🇵🇸
August 23, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Goodbye #eseb2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social see you next time!
Perhaps what stuck most was powerful talk on resilience and survival by Palestinian researcher, play director, and ESEB EUEA awardee May Shehady. Let's not forget, let's not look away. 🇵🇸
Perhaps what stuck most was powerful talk on resilience and survival by Palestinian researcher, play director, and ESEB EUEA awardee May Shehady. Let's not forget, let's not look away. 🇵🇸
❤️❤️❤️
August 21, 2025 at 4:37 PM
❤️❤️❤️
Phew! What a rush presenting for the big, scientifically diverse #ESEB2025 crowd this morning. Thankful for this amazing opportunity to show off the interdisciplinary work my research team and our collaborators have been doing to better understand parasite manipulation of behavior. #zombieants 🧟♀️ 🐜 🍄
August 21, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Phew! What a rush presenting for the big, scientifically diverse #ESEB2025 crowd this morning. Thankful for this amazing opportunity to show off the interdisciplinary work my research team and our collaborators have been doing to better understand parasite manipulation of behavior. #zombieants 🧟♀️ 🐜 🍄
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Brilliant plenary today from Carrisa de Bekker @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at @eseb.bsky.social conference. On her work funded by @erc.europa.eu CoG. Great example of inter-disciplinary collaboration to solve a mystery..
August 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Brilliant plenary today from Carrisa de Bekker @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at @eseb.bsky.social conference. On her work funded by @erc.europa.eu CoG. Great example of inter-disciplinary collaboration to solve a mystery..
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Fantastic keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at #ESEB2025 taking us on a journey through zombie-making strategies of Ophiocordyceps fungi to hijack ant behaviour, with lots of amazing new data, behaviour, functional genetic essays..
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
August 21, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Fantastic keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social at #ESEB2025 taking us on a journey through zombie-making strategies of Ophiocordyceps fungi to hijack ant behaviour, with lots of amazing new data, behaviour, functional genetic essays..
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
@ebablab.bsky.social @alealisousa.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
How do fungi manipulate ant behaviour? A beautiful story unfolding through multiple elegant approaches from @zombieantdoc.bsky.social in today’s plenary #eseb2025
August 21, 2025 at 7:32 AM
How do fungi manipulate ant behaviour? A beautiful story unfolding through multiple elegant approaches from @zombieantdoc.bsky.social in today’s plenary #eseb2025
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
#ESEB2025 Excellent Keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social on how parasites affect host behavior using fungus- 🐜 as a model. Nice combination of multi-omic approaches with functional genetic assays and quantitative behavioral assays to pinpoint host pathways that are affected during fungal infection
August 21, 2025 at 7:30 AM
#ESEB2025 Excellent Keynote by @zombieantdoc.bsky.social on how parasites affect host behavior using fungus- 🐜 as a model. Nice combination of multi-omic approaches with functional genetic assays and quantitative behavioral assays to pinpoint host pathways that are affected during fungal infection
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
@zombieantdoc.bsky.social spreading the biology of zombie ant fungus in the ESEB plenary. Showing mechanisms of how fungi hijack ant behaviour to help their own dispersal.
August 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
@zombieantdoc.bsky.social spreading the biology of zombie ant fungus in the ESEB plenary. Showing mechanisms of how fungi hijack ant behaviour to help their own dispersal.
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Folks going to #ESEB2025 : To help people connect on Bluesky, I've started making starter packs. Here is a first one with the names that were available when I started.
Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!
Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!
August 14, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Folks going to #ESEB2025 : To help people connect on Bluesky, I've started making starter packs. Here is a first one with the names that were available when I started.
Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!
Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!
Parasites 🦠🪱🍄🟫 that hijack insects 🐜🪰🐛and induce “zombie behaviors” 🧟♀️🧟♂️ often affect the host’s daily rhythms. But how do they do it? In this npj bts publication @joanadopp.bsky.social and I propose that they co-opt host circadian plasticity 🧠⌚️
We hope you’ll enjoy the read!
rdcu.be/eyPz0
We hope you’ll enjoy the read!
rdcu.be/eyPz0
Insect circadian plasticity as a proposed target for the expression of parasite extended phenotypes
npj Biological Timing and Sleep - Insect circadian plasticity as a proposed target for the expression of parasite extended phenotypes
rdcu.be
August 1, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Parasites 🦠🪱🍄🟫 that hijack insects 🐜🪰🐛and induce “zombie behaviors” 🧟♀️🧟♂️ often affect the host’s daily rhythms. But how do they do it? In this npj bts publication @joanadopp.bsky.social and I propose that they co-opt host circadian plasticity 🧠⌚️
We hope you’ll enjoy the read!
rdcu.be/eyPz0
We hope you’ll enjoy the read!
rdcu.be/eyPz0
Excited to have joined the Editorial Board of @plosbiology.org a few months ago, the #PLOS flagship journal in the Life Sciences.
As an editor, I aim to contribute to their support of equitable #OpenScience and reaching global audiences to help advance science faster.
As an editor, I aim to contribute to their support of equitable #OpenScience and reaching global audiences to help advance science faster.
July 29, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Excited to have joined the Editorial Board of @plosbiology.org a few months ago, the #PLOS flagship journal in the Life Sciences.
As an editor, I aim to contribute to their support of equitable #OpenScience and reaching global audiences to help advance science faster.
As an editor, I aim to contribute to their support of equitable #OpenScience and reaching global audiences to help advance science faster.
Only a couple of weeks till the @eseb2025.bsky.social conference!
I’m so honored to be one of the keynote speakers, and incredibly excited about the amazing scientific program and the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones!
#eseb2025
I’m so honored to be one of the keynote speakers, and incredibly excited about the amazing scientific program and the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones!
#eseb2025
📢 Meet the speakers: Charissa de Bekker 📢
Charissa de Bekker is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Read about her here: eseb2025.com/team/chariss...
Charissa de Bekker is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Read about her here: eseb2025.com/team/chariss...
July 29, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Only a couple of weeks till the @eseb2025.bsky.social conference!
I’m so honored to be one of the keynote speakers, and incredibly excited about the amazing scientific program and the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones!
#eseb2025
I’m so honored to be one of the keynote speakers, and incredibly excited about the amazing scientific program and the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones!
#eseb2025
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Willkommen im Reich der Pilze.
June 24, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Willkommen im Reich der Pilze.
It was a pleasure presenting our #ZombieAnt research at the #LeidenBiology symposium this afternoon. Thanks for the invite and the great discussion!
#LeidenBiology symposium continues with an engaging talk by Charissa de Bekker @zombieantdoc.bsky.social on behavioural manipulators, aka #ZombieAnts and their fungi
Influence on insect behaviour includes disruption of #circadianclock 🤗
Influence on insect behaviour includes disruption of #circadianclock 🤗
April 10, 2025 at 2:51 PM
It was a pleasure presenting our #ZombieAnt research at the #LeidenBiology symposium this afternoon. Thanks for the invite and the great discussion!
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
BREAKING NEWS: the number of #fungi species on the IUCN Red List has surpassed 1000!! 🥳🥳
Today's update confirmed that #deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban development are driving fungi to decline worldwide. It's the top story on the press release —
iucn.org/press-releas...
Today's update confirmed that #deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban development are driving fungi to decline worldwide. It's the top story on the press release —
iucn.org/press-releas...
First 1,000 fungi on IUCN Red List reveal growing threats - IUCN Red List
Gland, Switzerland, 27 March 2025 (IUCN) – The number of fungi species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ has surpassed 1,000, confirming that deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban ...
iucn.org
March 28, 2025 at 12:10 AM
BREAKING NEWS: the number of #fungi species on the IUCN Red List has surpassed 1000!! 🥳🥳
Today's update confirmed that #deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban development are driving fungi to decline worldwide. It's the top story on the press release —
iucn.org/press-releas...
Today's update confirmed that #deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban development are driving fungi to decline worldwide. It's the top story on the press release —
iucn.org/press-releas...
My friends at @terzijdehorde.bsky.social are supporting those who fight the good fight. And so could you by buying one of their shirts! Trans rights are human rights. ✊🏳️⚧️
For this Bandcamp Friday, all of our shirts are now 10 euros, crewneck 25. All the money made will be donated to A4TE (transequality.org), to help them fight the good fight there. Let's do the same here. Trans rights forever. terzijdehorde.bandcamp.com/merch
Merch from Terzij de Horde
Merch from Terzij de Horde
terzijdehorde.bandcamp.com
March 7, 2025 at 6:52 PM
My friends at @terzijdehorde.bsky.social are supporting those who fight the good fight. And so could you by buying one of their shirts! Trans rights are human rights. ✊🏳️⚧️
Reposted by Charissa de Bekker PhD (she/her)
Our newest research on plant-fungal trade published today in @nature.com.
The work, led by scientists from Vrije Universiteit, Princeton University, SPUN & AMOLF combines robotics, mycology & biophysics to reveal underground supply-chain dynamics.
Open access:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The work, led by scientists from Vrije Universiteit, Princeton University, SPUN & AMOLF combines robotics, mycology & biophysics to reveal underground supply-chain dynamics.
Open access:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Our newest research on plant-fungal trade published today in @nature.com.
The work, led by scientists from Vrije Universiteit, Princeton University, SPUN & AMOLF combines robotics, mycology & biophysics to reveal underground supply-chain dynamics.
Open access:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The work, led by scientists from Vrije Universiteit, Princeton University, SPUN & AMOLF combines robotics, mycology & biophysics to reveal underground supply-chain dynamics.
Open access:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Such a great opportunity to present our research at #CMINorwich2025 in front of a room filled with microbiologists with such diverse and exciting research interests.
Great to welcome Clarissa de Bekker to #CMINorwich25 - fascinating fungal-insect-plant interactions
February 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Such a great opportunity to present our research at #CMINorwich2025 in front of a room filled with microbiologists with such diverse and exciting research interests.