December 2019

PopGen Vienna faculty alumna Andrea Betancourt (Univ. of Liverpool) was promoted to Professor! Congratulations, Andrea!

Congratulations to Thomas Taus who defended his PhD thesis successfully on December 18th, 2020: "Experimental Evolution with Drosophila simulans under Thermal Stress"

PopGen Vienna alumnus Andrea Fulgione will start a group leader position at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne in 2020. Congratulations, Andrea!

PopGen Vienna alumnus Tom Hill, currently postdoctoral researcher at Rob Unckless' Lab (Univ. of Kansas) received the KU Research Postdoctoral Achievement Award. Congratulations! Read more here

December 2019

Students of the Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics organise the practical course "Experimental evolution: Bringing theory and practice together” from December 2 to 6, 2019 at the Vetmeduni Vienna. 

Link to course website

Link to news feature Vetmeduni

October 2019

We recently enoyed the yearly PhD retreat at Altaussee for talks, discussing, hiking and socialising with 38 participants including associated members and guests.
Link to group foto

September 2019

Thomas Wolfe and Sabine Felkel successfully defended their PhD theses - Congratulations and all the best for your postdoc research!

September 2019

New pre-print by Langmüller and Schlötterer available: Low concordance of short-term and long-term selection responses in experimental Drosophila populations.
Link to publication

August 2019

The Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics is organizing an experimental evolution workshop in December. Application is open until end of September 2019.
Link to "Experimental evolution: bringing theory and practice together"

August 2019

Three new papers have just come out:

Vlachos, Burny, Pelizzola, Borges, Futschik, Kofler and Schlötterer: Benchmarking software tools for detecting and quantifying selection in evolve and resequencing studies.
Link to publication

Vlachos and Kofler: Optimizing the power to identify the genetic basis of complex traits with Evolve and Resequence studies. 
Link to publication

Borges, Szöllősi and Kosiol: Quantifying GC-biased gene conversion in great ape genomes using polymorphism-aware models.
Link to publication

August 2019

Three bioRxiv pre-prints have been published:

Weilguny, Vlachos, Selvaraju and Kofler: Reconstructing the invasion route of DNA transposons using extant population samples.
Link to publication

Christodoulaki, Barghi and Schlötterer: Distance to trait optimum is a crucial factor determining the genomic signature of polygenic adaptation. 
Link to publication

Burny, Nolte, Nouhaud, Dolezal and Schlötterer: Secondary evolve and re-sequencing: an experimental confirmation of putative selection targets without phenotyping.
Link to publication

July 2019

Review online by Lirakis and Magalhães: Does experimental evolution produce better biological control agents? 
Link to publication

July 2019

Two new pre-prints are now available:
Barghi and Schlötterer: Distinct patterns of selective sweeps and polygenic adaptation.
Link to publication

Otte and Schlötterer: A generalised approach to detect selected haplotype blocks in Evolve and Resequence experiments.
Link to publication

June 2019

Paper out by Borges, Szöllősi and Kosiol: Quantifying GC-biased gene conversion in great ape genomes using polymorphism-aware models.
Link to publication

May 2019

New collaborative pre-print by Vlachos, Burny, Pelizzola, Borges, Futschik, Kofler and Schlötterer: Benchmarking software tools for detecting and quantifying selection in Evolve and Resequencing studies. 
Link to publication

May 2019

Paper by Lukas Weilguny and Robert Kofler is now published in Molecular Ecology Resources: "DeviaTE: Assembly‐free analysis and visualization of mobile genetic element composition".
Link to publication

April 2019

New publication by Felkel et al.: "The horse Y chromosome as an informative marker for tracing sire lines."
Link to publication

April 2019

Just out in GBE: A recombination map of D. simulans - new paper by James M Howie, Rupert Mazzucco, Thomas Taus, Viola Nolte and Christian Schlötterer: "DNA motifs are not general predictors of recombination in two Drosophila sister species".
Link to publication

April 2019

Robert Kolfer just published "Dynamics of transposable element invasions with piRNA clusters" in MBE.
Link to publication 
Link to press release

April 2019

Congratulations to our Alumna Claudia Bank, group leader of the Evolutionary Dynamics laboratory at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), on winning the SMBE Allan Wilson Junior Award 2019!

March 2019

PLoS Genetics paper published by Höllinger, Pennings and Hermisson: Polygenic adaptation: From sweeps to subtle frequency shifts.
Link to publication

March 2019

New pre-print by Jakšić, Karner, Nolte, Hsu, Barghi, Mallard, Otte, Svečnjak, Senti and Schlötterer: Neuronal function and dopamine signaling evolve at high temperature in Drosophila.
Link to publication

March 2019

Congratulations to alumnus Jun Chen on his faculty position at the Department of Ecology of Zhejiang University!

March 2019

New pre-print by Vlachos and Kofler: Optimizing the power to identify the genetic basis of complex traits with Evolve and Resequence studies.
Link to publication

February 2019

Barghi and Schlötterer published a perspective on the shift in data analysis from SNPs to selected haplotype blocks in Molecular Ecology.
Link to publication

February 2019

Bergman and Eyre-Walker just published in Molecular Biology and Evolution: "Does adaptive protein evolution proceed by large or small steps at the amino acid level?"
Link to publication

Febrary 2019

New publication by Barghi, Tobler, Nolte, Jakšić, Mallard, Otte, Dolezal, Taus, Kofler and Schlötterer: "Genetic redundancy fuels polygenic adaptation in Drosophila" in PLOS Biology.
Link to publication
Link to press release

February 2019

Paper just out by Hsu, Jakšić, Nolte, Barghi, Mallard, Otte and Schlötterer in Genes: "A 24 h age difference causes twice as much gene expression divergence as 100 generations of adaptation to a novel environment." 
Link to publication

January 2019

Phd student Anna Maria Langmüller, currently at Cornell Univ., is co-author of a new Genetics paper: "Maximum likelihood estimation of fitness components in experimental evolution." 
Link to publication

January 2019

Ilse Höllinger just defended her thesis "Mathematical models of speciation and polygenic adaptation" at University of Vienna. Congratulations, and all the best for your further career!

January 2019

Robert Kofler has become editorial board member of Genes (Section 'Population and Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics').

December 2018

Call for PhD students is open. Apply by February 14, 2019. Details at https://www.popgen-vienna.at/

December 2018

A merry crowd of 40 students, postdocs and faculty of the Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics had a great night out for ice skating and dinner.

December 2018

The Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, our PhD program, just got prolonged by the FWF!

December 2018

Congratulations to associated faculty alumna Andrea Betancourt, now at Univ. of Liverpool, on receiving a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant!

December 2018

Congratulations to Gökce Aköz on winning the 2018 Poster Challenge at Vetmeduni Vienna! Her poster on "Genome duplication in Aquilegia and the unique history of chromosome four" won the 1st prize award.

Group leader Carolin Kosiol received Vetmeduni's scientist of the year 2018 award (category non-clinical research). Congrats Carolin!

November 2018

PhD alumnus Derek Setter recently defend his thesis "Detecting signals of adaptive introgression" at University of Vienna. All the best wishes for your postdoc career in Edinburgh, Derek!

November 2018

Fabian, Garschall, Klepsatel, Santos-Matos, Sucena, Kapun, Lemaitre, Schlötterer, Arking and Flatt: "Evolution of longevity improves immunity in Drosophila" is now available in Evolution Letters.
Link to publication

November 2018

"Dynamics of transposable element invasions with piRNA clusters" now available at bioRxiv.
Link to publication

October 2018

Congratulations to Dr. Robert Kofler on completing his habilitation procedure at Vetmeduni Vienna!

October 2018

Howie, Mazzucco, Taus, Nolte and Schlötterer: "DNA motifs are not general predictors of recombination in two Drosophila sister species", now out in bioRxiv.
Link to publication

October 2018

A new bioRxiv paper is available by Höllinger, Pennings and Hermisson: "Polygenic Adaptation: From sweeps to subtle frequency shifts".
Link to publication

October 2018

PhD student Shuwen Xia (Wageningen University & Research) is visiting us for 6 weeks in the framework of the BINGO training network to collaborate with members of the Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics. During her stay, she will work on RNA-seq data for a Drosophila melanogaster population in a new temperature regime.

October 2018

Congratulations Nayuta Yamashita on her FWF grant "Food material properties and jaw loading in wild lemurs".

October 2018

PopGen Vienna alumna Ana Marija Jakšić received a prestigious Award of Excellence for outstanding dissertations, bestowed by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, for her thesis "Thermal plasticity of the Drosophila transcriptome". Congratulations!

October 2018

We had a great time at the yearly PhD retreat at Altaussee for talks, discussing, hiking and socialising with 32 participants including associated members and guests.
Link to group foto

September 2018

We're organising the SMBE satellite meeting ‘Towards an integrated concept of adaptation: uniting molecular population genetics and quantitative genetics’ from Feb. 11-14, 2019, at Vetmeduni Vienna! Registration and abstract submission is open. 
Link to meeting website

September 2018

PopGen Vienna turns 10 this year! We're celebrating this very special anniversary during a one-day alumni symposium on September 7, 2018 at Vetmeduni Vienna.
Link to symposium

August 2018

Ana Marija Jakšić recently defend her thesis entitled "Thermal plasticity of the Drosophila transcriptome". Congratulations, and all the best wishes for your postdoc career in Cornell, Ana Marija!

August 2018

Now out in Genome Biology: "A simple genetic basis of adaptation to a novel thermal environment results in complex metabolic rewiring in Drosophila" by Mallard, Nolte, Tobler, Kapun and Schlötterer.
Link to publication

August 2018

New paper published in PLoS Computational Biology by Vlachos and Kofler: "MimicrEE2: Genome-wide forward simulations of Evolve and Resequencing studies".
Link to publication

July 2018

Congratulations to alumnae Johanna Bertl and Claudia Bank: Johanna Bertl was appointed as Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematics at Aarhus University. Claudia Bank, group leader of the Evolutionary Dynamics laboratory at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), was awarded an ERC Starting Grant.

July 2018

New paper by L. Endler, J.M. Gibert, V. Nolte  and C. Schlötterer: "Pleiotropic effects of regulatory variation in tan result in correlation of two pigmentation traits in Drosophila melanogaster" in Molecular Ecology.
Link to publication

July 2018

Christopher Willett, Research Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is visiting us for three weeks. Chris investigates genetic variation underlying speciation and adaptation and studies the genes that interact deleteriously to generate postzygotic reproductive isolation in a copepod system. He also looks at thermal tolerance and its potential interactions with reproductive isolation in collaboration with members of the Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics.

June 2018

Accepted in Genome Biology and Evolution: "Re-adapting to DCV infection without Wolbachia: frequency changes of Drosophila anti-viral alleles can replace endosymbiont protection" by Faria, Martins, Schlötterer & Sucena.
Link to publication

June 2018

Congratulations to PhD student Anna Maria Langmüller! She received one of the prestigious Marshall Plan Foundation grants to support her research stay in the US. Anna will spend 6 months in the group of Philipp Messer at Cornell as visiting student researcher to work on population dynamics of CRISPR gene drives.

June 2018

Congratulations to Juraj Bergman who just successfully defended his PhD thesis "Inference of population genetic parameters in putatively unselected sites" on June 5, 2018 at Vetmeduni Vienna. All the best wishes for your postdoc career, Juraj!

May 2018

Mini-Symposium "Frontiers of Population Genetics" upcoming on May 9th at Lecture Hall B.
Link to event

May 2018

Publication now out by R. Kofler, K.-A. Senti, V. Nolte, R. Tobler and C. Schlötterer: "Molecular dissection of a natural transposable element invasion" in Genome Research.
Link to publication

April 2018

New paper by M. Lirakis, M. Dolezal and C. Schlötterer "Redefining reproductive dormancy in Drosophila as a general stress response to cold temperatures" in Journal of Insect Physiology.
Link to publication

March 2018

F. Mallard, A.M. Jakšić and C. Schlötterer are "Contesting the evidence for non-adaptive plasticity" in Nature!
Link to publication

March 2018

During a solemn ceremony, PhD alumnus Dominik Schrempf graduated "sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae", Austria’s highest possible honor for graduates who have excelled throughout their education and studies. Dominik is the first ever graduate of Vetmeduni Vienna to receive the prestigious ring of honor from the President of Austria. Congratulations, Dominik!
Link to press release

March 2018

Congratulations to PhD student Ana Marija Jakšić, one of 8 selected finalists to present a talk in the Walter M. Fitch Symposium at this year’s SMBE meeting in Yokohama. Finalists receive a one-year, online MBE subscription and travel support for attending the meeting. Ana Marija will speak about "Re-thinking a classic clinal trait: Pleiotropic consequences of thermally adaptive dopamine on pigmentation clines in Drosophila" during the competition for the Walter M. Fitch Prize (US $2000).
Link to award

March 2018

"High-throughput fecundity measurements in Drosophila" is now published in Scientific Reports by P. Nouhaud, F. Mallard, R. Poupardin, N. Barghi and C. Schlötterer
Link to publication

January 2018

Out today by Felkel et al.: "Asian horses deepen the MSY phylogeny" in Animal Genetics
Link to publication

December 2017

Accepted: "The genetics of egg retention and fertilization success in Drosophila: One step closer to understanding the transition from facultative to obligate viviparity" by B. Horváth and A.T. Kalinka (Evolution)
Link to publication

December 2017

This year's Xmas party treated us to an Irish dance workshop and an Indian dinner. It was a fun evening with 35 PopGen participants.

December 2017

In press: "Inference in population genetics using forward and backward, discrete and continuous time processes" by J. Bergman, D. Schrempf, C. Kosiol and C. Vogl (J Theor Biol)
Link to publication

December 2017

Congratulations to PhD student Martin Pontz for receiving one of the prestigious Marshall Plan Foundation grants to support his research stay at Standford University, USA. Martin will spend 3 months in the group of Marc Feldman as visiting student researcher to collaborate on multilocus models in population genetics.