News
Welcome postdoc Meriç
01/11/23 00:25
Welcome postdoc Meriç Erdolu!
Warm to join the team and we look forward to working and having fun with you in exploring sex chromosome evolution in frogs and beyond
Warm to join the team and we look forward to working and having fun with you in exploring sex chromosome evolution in frogs and beyond
Paris and Wen-Juan gave a guest lecture on 'Sex chromosome evolution' at Université libre de Bruxelles
19/10/23 23:00
Paris and Wen-Juan was invited to give a guest lecture on Sex Chromosome evolution as part of 'Evolution' course by Prof. Karine Van Doninck. The course was given to the third year bachelor students at Université libre de Bruxelles.
Welcome the first postdoc of the lab Sagar!
28/09/23 22:14
The lab's first postdoc Sagar Shinde, after long waiting of permit and visa related procedure, finally arrived!
Warm welcome to join the team and we look forward to working and having fun with you in exploring sex chromosome evolution in frogs and beyond
Warm welcome to join the team and we look forward to working and having fun with you in exploring sex chromosome evolution in frogs and beyond
Welcome bachelor thesis student Marie Aerts
06/04/23 22:57
Welcome bachelor thesis student Marie Aerts to join the lab!
Welcome Master student Marzie Bagheri
17/03/23 22:52
Welcome, Marzie, to join the lab as first year Master student!
Welcome Era-Alexandra to join the Ma lab as the first PhD student!
15/03/23 22:53
The Ma Lab's very first PhD student Era-Alexandra Decuyper starts today!
Welcome, Era!
So much exciting start day in the field, and look what Era found 
Welcome, Era!
So much exciting start day in the field, and look what Era found
Wen-Juan joins JEB editorial board as an Associate Editor
21/02/23 22:39
From Feb.2023, Wen-Juan has been selected as an Associate Editor to be part of the editorial board for Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
Congratulations! Go, Wen-Juan!
Congratulations! Go, Wen-Juan!
First day to start faculty job at Vrije Uniersiteit Brussel
03/01/23 22:47
Wen-Juan's new office as a PI at Vrije Universiteit Brussel!
My ERC Starting Grant has been awarded!
18/07/22 22:53
VERY thrilled and honored to receive an @ERC_Research Starting Grant (total 1.5 million euros)!!
To further study unconventional #SexChromosomes #SexDetermination #SexuallyAntagonisticSelection
Big thanks to all my fantastic mentors, collaborators and friends who made this possible
#ERCStG
Currently I am on the process of deciding where my #ERCStG grant will be affiliated with. Hopefully soon I will provide an update. There will be recruitment on all levels (#PhD, #Postdoc, #Technician), please watch this space for further update
Huge thanks for many #ERCStG laureates for their comments and advices, especially @YukoUlrich, @SelfishMeme, @NStroeymeyt, @judithmank
... I greatly appreciate all your help, time, patience, and I benefit all your wisdom!
Thanks for my PhD and postdoc advisors for their help along the way, to help shape my proposal and the help during the mock interview, especially @RobUnckless from @UnivOfKansas, Leo Beukeboom from @univgroningen and John Pannell from @unil.
Big thanks to colleagues & friends for many rounds of mock interviews: @bioboatr, John Kelly, @LenaHileman, @bdelloid & others from @KU_EEB; @SchwanderTanja
, Deborah Charlesworth, @DarrenJParker, @parisveltsos, @alexander_suh, @zhouqi1982, @MRovatsos, @Susananfreitas and Lukas Kratochvil. Read More…
! To further study unconventional #SexChromosomes #SexDetermination #SexuallyAntagonisticSelection
Big thanks to all my fantastic mentors, collaborators and friends who made this possible
#ERCStG
Currently I am on the process of deciding where my #ERCStG grant will be affiliated with. Hopefully soon I will provide an update. There will be recruitment on all levels (#PhD, #Postdoc, #Technician), please watch this space for further update
Huge thanks for many #ERCStG laureates for their comments and advices, especially @YukoUlrich, @SelfishMeme, @NStroeymeyt, @judithmank
... I greatly appreciate all your help, time, patience, and I benefit all your wisdom!
Thanks for my PhD and postdoc advisors for their help along the way, to help shape my proposal and the help during the mock interview, especially @RobUnckless from @UnivOfKansas, Leo Beukeboom from @univgroningen and John Pannell from @unil.
Big thanks to colleagues & friends for many rounds of mock interviews: @bioboatr, John Kelly, @LenaHileman, @bdelloid & others from @KU_EEB; @SchwanderTanja
, Deborah Charlesworth, @DarrenJParker, @parisveltsos, @alexander_suh, @zhouqi1982, @MRovatsos, @Susananfreitas and Lukas Kratochvil. Read More…
Moved to the NEW Science Center Building
07/10/18 00:02
Since 01.Sep. 2018, the whole Biology Department moved to a brand new Science Center Building (25 East Drive, Amherst, MA 01002) in Amherst College. This new building is built on the basis of high energy sustainability with modern design style.
Science Centre under beautiful blue sky!
The inside view of highly energy saving design using natural light through giant windows!
Read More…
Science Centre under beautiful blue sky!
The inside view of highly energy saving design using natural light through giant windows!
Read More…Two months of productive collaborations with Tatiana Giraud lab at University of Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
29/09/18 00:06
I took the flight back to Amherst, MA, USA, after a fantastic and productive two months period in Prof. Tatiana Giraud lab. Thanks very much, Tatiana Giraud and the whole team for hosting me! I had a really fantastic time and stimulating visit for the past two months. Looking forward to our further collaborations!
Gorgeous view of lab in Orsay, France!
Gorgeous view of lab in Orsay, France!
The lab building when I left on 02. Oct. 2018, with the beautiful autumn colours!
Visiting our collaborator Prof. Tatiana Giraud lab at Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France
11/08/18 00:13
I am currently visiting Tatiana’s lab and will stay in Orsay, France for Aug. and Sep. 2018. Many thanks for both Michael and Tatiana’s arrangement to make this happen, Tatiana for providing the invitation letter and hosting me. I am very excited for our various collaborations!
Read More…
Read More…Great thanks for all awesome summer interns of Hood lab
01/08/18 00:13
Thanks for all summer interns of Hood lab, who did great jobs in contributing to various projects running in the Hood lab. The projects include disease ecology, genomics and degeneration of mating-type chromosomes etc. Photo credits: Sarah Gayer.
Hood lab photo with all the summer interns, it was great fun to work with you! Thank you all again for your hard work and substantial contributions. See you in the Fall! From left to right: Sangmin Song, James Colwell, Irish Amundson, Kelley Baumann, myself, and Sarah Gayer.
MinION long-reads sequencing of Microbotryum fungi
16/07/18 00:16
today I launched another MinION sequencing run for one of the anther smut Microbotryum fungi species. We had successfully retained high yield of DNA from ligation sequencing protocol, with home made and tested modifications for certain steps (contact me if you have problem to retain enough DNA sample to run a flow cell, will be happy to share my experiences and modified protocol). I am excited to observe the live sequencing and very looking forward to the results and genome assembly!
MinION sequencing device is on the run now! 07.2018
This shows the MinION flow cell total 512 channels panel status, green denotes sequencing and active pores, dark blue is recovering pores, light blue is inactive ones, 07.2018.
This image shows the number of active, inactive channel used overtime through the sequencing run, 07.2018.
Moved to Amherst
28/05/18 20:26
Since 05.2018, I moved oversea from University of Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland) to Amherst College (Amherst, Massachusetts, USA) and join Michael Hood lab with genomics of fungi mating-type chromosomes (sex chromosomes)!
Our lab MinION long reads sequencing device (loading HMW DNA samples), 06.2018.
The window view from my new office at Amherst College, 05.2018.
The Mead Art Museum tower at Amherst College, 05.2018.
Graduation weekend of Amherst College, 05.2018.