Arun Durvasula
@arundurvasula.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in the Center for Genetic Epidemiology and Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology at USC.
My lab studies genetics and evolution.
https://www.durvasula-lab.usc.edu
My lab studies genetics and evolution.
https://www.durvasula-lab.usc.edu
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
This preprint rocks. Check out new info about one of the coolest regions of the human genome, plus join me in being so gratified that data I generated in grad school is being used by smart people to investigate fascinating topics!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
October 5, 2026 at 7:05 PM
This preprint rocks. Check out new info about one of the coolest regions of the human genome, plus join me in being so gratified that data I generated in grad school is being used by smart people to investigate fascinating topics!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
New Perspective w/ @petrovadmitri.bsky.social and Paul Schmidt! We ask what evolution-in-action studies tell us about an old question: what genetic variation matters for fitness, and what maintains it? ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Common, consequential, and actively maintained: a neo-balance view of genetic variation
ecoevorxiv.org
October 1, 2026 at 6:28 PM
New Perspective w/ @petrovadmitri.bsky.social and Paul Schmidt! We ask what evolution-in-action studies tell us about an old question: what genetic variation matters for fitness, and what maintains it? ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Excited to share our new preprint on primate gene expression evolution, made possible through a great collaborative effort with @amandalea.bsky.social, @arundurvasula.bsky.social, and others!
Accelerated Evolution of Context-Dependent Gene Expression in Primate Immune Cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753790v1
September 25, 2026 at 7:06 AM
Excited to share our new preprint on primate gene expression evolution, made possible through a great collaborative effort with @amandalea.bsky.social, @arundurvasula.bsky.social, and others!
new manuscript!
Accelerated Evolution of Context-Dependent Gene Expression in Primate Immune Cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753790v1
September 24, 2026 at 9:36 PM
new manuscript!
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
New paper out from @xilinjiang.bsky.social, Pearl Liu and co using UK nation-wide e-health records!
Predicting COVID-19 hospitalisation and common disease risk from comorbid diagnoses in 13 million individuals www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Predicting COVID-19 hospitalisation and common disease risk from comorbid diagnoses in 13 million individuals www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
September 2, 2026 at 12:01 PM
New paper out from @xilinjiang.bsky.social, Pearl Liu and co using UK nation-wide e-health records!
Predicting COVID-19 hospitalisation and common disease risk from comorbid diagnoses in 13 million individuals www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Predicting COVID-19 hospitalisation and common disease risk from comorbid diagnoses in 13 million individuals www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Why make the page, I asked @ce7an.bsky.social. Nobody will read it, I said. And here we are, with Cheeto being the most widely read page in the UC Davis High Performance Computing website. hpc.ucdavis.edu/people/cheet...
Dr. Cheeto Cat
Cheeto joined HPC@UCD as a stray scholar-in-residence and has since established himself as a permanent fixture of academic life. Although lacking a formal degree, he has consistently demonstrated exce...
hpc.ucdavis.edu
August 26, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Why make the page, I asked @ce7an.bsky.social. Nobody will read it, I said. And here we are, with Cheeto being the most widely read page in the UC Davis High Performance Computing website. hpc.ucdavis.edu/people/cheet...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
New paper out in PNAS! 🍇🧬
Vitis phylogenomics is a tangled vine.
Highlights:
• ~14% of the average grape genome comes from introgression
• Two classic “hybrid species” are better described as hybrid swarms
• Repeated adaptation is fueled by introgression and standing genetic variation
Vitis phylogenomics is a tangled vine.
Highlights:
• ~14% of the average grape genome comes from introgression
• Two classic “hybrid species” are better described as hybrid swarms
• Repeated adaptation is fueled by introgression and standing genetic variation
The dynamics of introgression and parallel adaptation across North American Vitis species | PNAS
Hybridization between species can contribute to parallel adaptive events. However,
the prevalence of introgression is rarely measured across multip...
www.pnas.org
August 6, 2026 at 2:20 AM
New paper out in PNAS! 🍇🧬
Vitis phylogenomics is a tangled vine.
Highlights:
• ~14% of the average grape genome comes from introgression
• Two classic “hybrid species” are better described as hybrid swarms
• Repeated adaptation is fueled by introgression and standing genetic variation
Vitis phylogenomics is a tangled vine.
Highlights:
• ~14% of the average grape genome comes from introgression
• Two classic “hybrid species” are better described as hybrid swarms
• Repeated adaptation is fueled by introgression and standing genetic variation
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Ken Burns Wants You To Watch America: Birth Of A Nation
Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cTi_vTwwmU&t=599s
Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cTi_vTwwmU&t=599s
July 28, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Ken Burns Wants You To Watch America: Birth Of A Nation
Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cTi_vTwwmU&t=599s
Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cTi_vTwwmU&t=599s
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
What does it really take to land a faculty position? @jazlynmooney.bsky.social shares insights on preparing competitive applications, navigating interviews, building a research vision, and more. 🔗: buff.ly/nLWXT9m
July 17, 2026 at 4:03 PM
What does it really take to land a faculty position? @jazlynmooney.bsky.social shares insights on preparing competitive applications, navigating interviews, building a research vision, and more. 🔗: buff.ly/nLWXT9m
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Very exciting new method for inferring latent disease trajectories, led by the tireless Dr. Urbut with Natarajan and Parmigiani labs. If you're considering a postdoc in this area talk to Sarah!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A Bayesian framework for longitudinal EHR and genetic discovery - Nature
A Bayesian generative framework that integrates longitudinal electronic health records with genetic data to identify latent disease signatures is presented.
www.nature.com
July 16, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Very exciting new method for inferring latent disease trajectories, led by the tireless Dr. Urbut with Natarajan and Parmigiani labs. If you're considering a postdoc in this area talk to Sarah!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Craig Smail wrote up a really nice Preview of @nikhilmilind.dev's paper where we try to explain why large effect variants tend to affect traits in the same direction on average, which we think about in terms of the non-linearity of gene dosage response curves.
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
Gene dosage differences and non-linear impacts on complex traits
Large differences in gene dosage are usually associated with opposite phenotypic effects
but show a bias toward one direction in aggregate genome wide. Milind et al. suggest
that this is explained by ...
www.cell.com
July 8, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Craig Smail wrote up a really nice Preview of @nikhilmilind.dev's paper where we try to explain why large effect variants tend to affect traits in the same direction on average, which we think about in terms of the non-linearity of gene dosage response curves.
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
In what has been a labor of love & joyful collaboration, we are super excited to share our preprint on recommendations towards the ethical and accurate use of population descriptors generated from a survey by trainees, for trainees. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Recommendations for the ethical and accurate use of population descriptors: a trainee-led survey of early-career researchers
Despite the importance of population descriptors in human genomics research, many scientists struggle to translate evolving ethical guidelines into their computational workflows. To characterize this ...
www.biorxiv.org
July 7, 2026 at 4:43 PM
In what has been a labor of love & joyful collaboration, we are super excited to share our preprint on recommendations towards the ethical and accurate use of population descriptors generated from a survey by trainees, for trainees. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
I'm proud to share our review paper on founder populations in biobanks published recently! It was an extremely cool and humbling process to learn about how important founder populations are in human genetics. I'm glad to play a small part in it
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Revisiting Founder Populations in an Age of Global Biobanks
Founder populations have played a pivotal role in human genetics, enabling the discovery of causal variants for disease and providing insight into population history and dynamics. The rapid expansion ...
www.annualreviews.org
July 2, 2026 at 10:06 PM
I'm proud to share our review paper on founder populations in biobanks published recently! It was an extremely cool and humbling process to learn about how important founder populations are in human genetics. I'm glad to play a small part in it
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
We’re honored to welcome @jazlynmooney.bsky.social as an invited speaker at #IDEA2026 #SMBE2026! 🧬✨ @official-smbe.bsky.social
June 30, 2026 at 1:57 PM
We’re honored to welcome @jazlynmooney.bsky.social as an invited speaker at #IDEA2026 #SMBE2026! 🧬✨ @official-smbe.bsky.social
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
We are actively searching for a postdoc to join the lab! Details provided here - johrilab.org/join
Please share.
I will be at PEQG and will be happy to chat if you're interested!
Please share.
I will be at PEQG and will be happy to chat if you're interested!
Join | JohriLab
johrilab.org
June 8, 2026 at 5:12 PM
We are actively searching for a postdoc to join the lab! Details provided here - johrilab.org/join
Please share.
I will be at PEQG and will be happy to chat if you're interested!
Please share.
I will be at PEQG and will be happy to chat if you're interested!
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Causal inference clarifies the roles of background selection and mutation rate variation in shaping human genetic diversity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.727906v1
June 3, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Causal inference clarifies the roles of background selection and mutation rate variation in shaping human genetic diversity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.727906v1
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
![Comic. [Person with shoulder-length hair and another person pointing at branching diagram on a poster.] PERSON 1 with shoulder-length hair: Our admixture analysis showed that these genotypes arose in the ancestral population almost entirely through sexual intercourse. Upon realizing this, we of course promptly deleted all our data. VOICE FROM OFF-PANEL: What? Why?? PERSON 1: We’re not *weirdos!* Jeez, give these people some privacy!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifmvcqrs6hxqgfoqhpcpf3jgxtstiuuklbbuy6z3omh4q4olnecia)
June 1, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
I’m looking to hire one or two postdocs - possible projects include pop gen theory, methods development, and human evolutionary inference. Please share, and email if you are interested.
More info: evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...
More info: evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...
evoldir.net
May 30, 2026 at 2:32 PM
I’m looking to hire one or two postdocs - possible projects include pop gen theory, methods development, and human evolutionary inference. Please share, and email if you are interested.
More info: evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...
More info: evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule.
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science.
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science.
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science
elizabethginexi.substack.com
May 29, 2026 at 2:42 AM
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule.
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science.
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science.
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
Bastian, Enard & Lartillot tested predictions of the nearly-neutral theory of molecular evolution across time scales, confirming the role of effective population size in tuning selection efficacy in placental mammals.
🖌️ Léa Backory
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag030
#genome #evolution
🖌️ Léa Backory
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag030
#genome #evolution
April 6, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Bastian, Enard & Lartillot tested predictions of the nearly-neutral theory of molecular evolution across time scales, confirming the role of effective population size in tuning selection efficacy in placental mammals.
🖌️ Léa Backory
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag030
#genome #evolution
🖌️ Léa Backory
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag030
#genome #evolution
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
New preprint! We sequenced 175 'Alalā (Hawaiian crow) genomes to understand why >50% of eggs fail to hatch in a species recovered from just 9 individuals. What we found was a both exciting and surprising. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
April 1, 2026 at 6:15 PM
New preprint! We sequenced 175 'Alalā (Hawaiian crow) genomes to understand why >50% of eggs fail to hatch in a species recovered from just 9 individuals. What we found was a both exciting and surprising. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
44% funded in just 12 hours!
Order Tom Chitty's wonderful cartoon book, Nooks and Crannies of New York -- it's like nothing you've ever seen.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/mic...
Order Tom Chitty's wonderful cartoon book, Nooks and Crannies of New York -- it's like nothing you've ever seen.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/mic...
Nooks and Crannies of New York
Explore NYC via the journals of intrepid Edwardian explorer Baron Von Schoogenheimer, lovingly illustrated by cartoonist Tom Chitty.
www.kickstarter.com
April 1, 2026 at 7:29 PM
44% funded in just 12 hours!
Order Tom Chitty's wonderful cartoon book, Nooks and Crannies of New York -- it's like nothing you've ever seen.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/mic...
Order Tom Chitty's wonderful cartoon book, Nooks and Crannies of New York -- it's like nothing you've ever seen.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/mic...
Reposted by Arun Durvasula
@hggadvances.bsky.social sat with Steven Gazal, PhD, in the latest "Inside HGG Advances" to discuss his recently published paper, “Evaluating genetic ancestry inference from single-cell transcriptomic datasets.”➡️ https://bit.ly/4b3MQgn #ASHG #GeneticsDiscoveries
March 11, 2026 at 4:03 PM
@hggadvances.bsky.social sat with Steven Gazal, PhD, in the latest "Inside HGG Advances" to discuss his recently published paper, “Evaluating genetic ancestry inference from single-cell transcriptomic datasets.”➡️ https://bit.ly/4b3MQgn #ASHG #GeneticsDiscoveries