News

2026

Eponges ou cténophores ? Duel au plus profond du vivant pour le titre de premier animal. Feb 16 Le Monde

2025

Яка тварина зʼявилася першою на світі: вчені, можливо, вирішили багаторічну суперечку. Nov 19 УНIАН
Did the first animal look like a sponge or a comb jelly? The debate continues. Nov 19 UC Berkeley News
Which animal really came first? The debate may finally be settled. Nov 18 Earth.com
Fierce Debate About Earth’s First Animal Heats Up. Nov 14 Nautilus
综合系统基因组学将海绵定位于动物树的根部. Nov 14 科学网
Sponging away phylogenomic incongruence. Nov 13 Science
Which Came First: The Sponge or the Comb Jelly? HHMI Scientists Weigh In. Nov 13 HHMI
Which Originated First: The Sponge or the Comb Jelly? Insights from HHMI Scientists. Nov 13 Bioengineer
AlphaFold2 enables large scale analysis of enzyme evolution. July 10 News Medical
Charité study analyzes 400 million years of enzyme evolution. July 9 Charité Health Services Research
Study Analyzes 400 Million Years of Enzyme Evolution. July 8 TU Dortmund University
Metabolism’s Impact on Enzyme Evolution Over Millennia. July 6 Bioengineer.org

2024

Fungal Enzyme Evades Immunity, Aids Infection. Nov 20 MirageNews
Enzyme produced by pathogenic fungus helps evade immune system and facilitates infection. Nov 19 EurekAlert
Surprising Patterns Unearthed – Study Debunks Traditional Views on Yeast Evolution. May 5 Today Headline
UNC Charlotte bioinformatics professor discovers surprising evolutionary pattern in landmark yeast study. April 26 Bioengineer
Vanderbilt Researchers Flip the Script on Yeast Ecological Diversity April 25 Vanderbilt University
These jacks-of-all-trades are masters, too: Yeast study helps answer age-old biology question. April 25 Science Daily
Beckman Scholar Charu Balamurugan Unveils Evolutionary Insights into Penicillium Secondary Metabolites. March 26 Vanderbilt University
Jacob L. Steenwyk is an awardee of the Paul T. Englund Emerging Scholars program. January 1 Department of Biological Chemistry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

2023

Fighting invisible foes: How cryptic fungal pathogens threaten human health and food security. October 25 News-Medical
Postdocs Garshott and Steenwyk awarded Life Sciences Research Foundation fellowships. August 8 University of California, Berkeley
Evolutionary studies, the magazine. April 7 Vanderbilt University

2022

Scientist-Artists: Embracing Duality. July 27 Vanderbilt University
Dissertation, Fungal genome evolution and software for the life sciences, authored by Jacob Steenwyk has been published. May 19 Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt researchers develop new evolutionary approach for identifying proteins that functionally interact. May 4 Vanderbilt University
Jacob Steenwyk, 2022 Graduate School Endowed Awardee. April 20 Vanderbilt University
LatchBio launches the first of many evolutionary bioinformatics workflows to come. March 24 Internal announcement
Graduate student Steenwyk receives prestigious 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Award. March 22 Vanderbilt University
Fred Hutch announces 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award recipients. March 1 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Dissertation Defense: Fungal genome evolution and software for the life sciences February 10 Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University
Art with amphibians, algorithms and advocacy January 1 VI4 Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Annual Report

2021

A Conversation with Jacob Steenwyk July 8 VI4 Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Program Blog
Art with amphibians, algorithms and advocacy June 23 VI4 Artist-in-Residence Program Blog
#FungiColorPalettes is used for making the color scheme of the Vestigo Magazine Winter 2021 cover June 14 Vestigo Magazine
Alumni Spotlight, Biology Department, Spring 2021 June 12 Clark University
Curb ArtLab Fellow Jacob L. Steenwyk Recently Published a Special Issue Article on A portrait of budding yeasts February 10 The Curb Center

2020

Announcing the Catalyst Winners November 17 MSU SciComm
COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus November 10 News-Medical
STEM Students Recognized for their Research and Presentation Skills at The National Diversity in STEM Conference October 25 SACNAS
Early Career Scientist Leadership Spotlight — Jacob L. Steenwyk. August 24 Genes to Genomes
Researchers discover hybrid fungus involved in lung infections. July 17 EurekAlert!
Pour la première fois, un hybride entre deux espèces de champignons filamenteux a été identifié. July 7 Futura Santé
Congratulations to the 2020 Early Career Scientist Leadership Program cohort! July 1 Genes to Genomes, Genetics Society of America
Biological Sciences Ph.D. Student Finds Creative Outlet in Science-Themed Art. June 30 Arts & Science News at Vanderbilt
Pesquisadores descobrem fungo híbrido envolvido em infecções pulmonares. June 18 Agência FAPESP
When two fungi become one. June 16 Nature Reviews Microbiology Research Highlights
New discovery shows infection of the lungs can be caused by hybrid fungi. June 4 Research News at Vanderbilt
A new hybrid fungus is found in hospitals and linked to lung disease. June 4 The Conversation
Let it Brie. May 15 The Loh Down on Science, National Public Radio.

2019

This Fungus Mutates. That’s Good News if You Like Cheese. October 15 New York Times
Yeasts and how they came to be. September 26 Nature Reviews Microbiology
Three student-adviser pairs receive Gilliam Fellowships September 05 VUMC Reporter
Three VU doctoral students receive 2019 Gilliam Fellowships to support diversity and inclusion in science. September 03 myVU
15 SACNAS members awarded HHMI Gilliam Fellowships to Support Diversity and Inclusion in Science. August 08 SACNAS
Paleo Got It Wrong: We've Loved Carbs for Over 100,000 Years. May 24 SciShow News
Some Types Of Yeast Doing Just Fine After Losing Anti-Mutation Genes. May 22 TechTimes
Yeasts lose DNA-repair genes, and thrive. May 22 Cosmos Magazine
Without DNA repairing genes, ancient yeasts have accumulated many mutations. May 22 Earth.com
Yeast species thrives, despite losing DNA repair genes years ago. May 22 News-Medical
An outlaw yeast thrives with genetic chaos – and could provide clues for understanding cancer growth. May 21 The Conversation
Life in evolution’s fast lane. May 21 EurekAlert!
ArtLab @ Vanderbilt hosts opening reception. January 18 myVU

2018

Broad genome analysis shows yeasts evolving by subtraction. November 8 EurekAlert!
Loss is more: Today's budding yeasts shed traits from their 400-million-year-old ancestor. November 8 EurekAlert!
Today’s budding yeasts shed traits from their 400-million-year-old ancestor. November 8 myVU News
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