Felix M Key
@keyfm.bsky.social
Research Group Leader @mpiib_berlin.
#Genetics of clinical and ancient #microbes to understand the #evolution of #infectious #diseases and the #microbiome
mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/2003543/key-lab
#Genetics of clinical and ancient #microbes to understand the #evolution of #infectious #diseases and the #microbiome
mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/2003543/key-lab
Pinned
Felix M Key
@keyfm.bsky.social
· Aug 11
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com
First paper of the Key lab is out! We present the first prehistoric Y. pestis genome from a domesticated animal - a sheep - providing evidence that domestication elevated human infection risk with plague thousands of years ago. authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Felix M Key
Come visit us in Tübingen!
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱?
CMFI 2027 – Registration & Call for Abstracts open today.
📍 Tübingen, 17–19 Feb 2027
🔹 Poster/Flash Talk
📅 Deadline: 31 Oct 2026
Submit/Register: www.cmfi2027.com
Among this year's keynote speakers:
1/2
CMFI 2027 – Registration & Call for Abstracts open today.
📍 Tübingen, 17–19 Feb 2027
🔹 Poster/Flash Talk
📅 Deadline: 31 Oct 2026
Submit/Register: www.cmfi2027.com
Among this year's keynote speakers:
1/2
September 24, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Come visit us in Tübingen!
Reposted by Felix M Key
Two announcements regarding AccuSNV, which calls high precision SNVs across microbial genomes:
Version 1.1 is now incredibly easy to install, run, and perform downstream analyses with (see image of typical output!).
The manuscript was also published this summer in Genome Research!
Links next...
Version 1.1 is now incredibly easy to install, run, and perform downstream analyses with (see image of typical output!).
The manuscript was also published this summer in Genome Research!
Links next...
September 8, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Two announcements regarding AccuSNV, which calls high precision SNVs across microbial genomes:
Version 1.1 is now incredibly easy to install, run, and perform downstream analyses with (see image of typical output!).
The manuscript was also published this summer in Genome Research!
Links next...
Version 1.1 is now incredibly easy to install, run, and perform downstream analyses with (see image of typical output!).
The manuscript was also published this summer in Genome Research!
Links next...
Reposted by Felix M Key
📣 📣 📣 UPDATE: The 2026-2027 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resource! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
ecoevojobs.net 2026-27
docs.google.com
August 23, 2026 at 1:25 PM
📣 📣 📣 UPDATE: The 2026-2027 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resource! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Reposted by Felix M Key
🧬 Ancient DNA → ancient proteins?
We now have the computational toolkit to make this possible: CarpeDeam + AdDeam + AlphaFold + Foldseek.
In our new preprint, we reconstruct an archaeal ATP synthase from ~2M-yo aeDNA from Greenland and predict its 3D structure.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We now have the computational toolkit to make this possible: CarpeDeam + AdDeam + AlphaFold + Foldseek.
In our new preprint, we reconstruct an archaeal ATP synthase from ~2M-yo aeDNA from Greenland and predict its 3D structure.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Ancient Reconstructed Proteins: A Framework for Resurrecting Protein Structures from Million-Year-Old Metagenomes
DNA sequences derived from ancient samples provide insights into human history, paleoenvironments, and evolutionary biology. Advances in laboratory techniques and computational tools have established ...
www.biorxiv.org
August 23, 2026 at 12:38 PM
🧬 Ancient DNA → ancient proteins?
We now have the computational toolkit to make this possible: CarpeDeam + AdDeam + AlphaFold + Foldseek.
In our new preprint, we reconstruct an archaeal ATP synthase from ~2M-yo aeDNA from Greenland and predict its 3D structure.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We now have the computational toolkit to make this possible: CarpeDeam + AdDeam + AlphaFold + Foldseek.
In our new preprint, we reconstruct an archaeal ATP synthase from ~2M-yo aeDNA from Greenland and predict its 3D structure.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Felix M Key
A fully-funded opportunity to join an amazing group of UCL colleagues to work on a super-interesting PhD project.
We are advertising a PhD studentship to study the effects of mitochondrial function on cell motility in flies. The project is supervised by myself, Nick Lane and @fcamus.bsky.social, in collaboration with Anna Franz at UCL, @stramerlab.bsky.social at KCL and Michael Sixt at ISTA.
Please repost!
Please repost!
June 20, 2026 at 3:17 PM
A fully-funded opportunity to join an amazing group of UCL colleagues to work on a super-interesting PhD project.
Thx Tom. Expectations are high 😅. With plenty of faunal aDNA generated the initial bottleneck is that often no one looks into the pathogen signature. But I hope more and more people appreciate the unseen bycatch they may have. Our lab is happy to team up on the pathogen hunt if expertise is wanted.
Good article on the potential and challenges of looking for pathogen DNA on ancient faunal remains, and really how without them we are only seeing a small part of the story of human disease through time. Possible it will change everything we think we know about infectious disease in the past.
Wrote a short piece about the opportunities and challenges of pushing ancient pathogen genomics into a new frontier: the zooarchaeological record.
Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...
Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...
June 19, 2026 at 6:41 AM
Thx Tom. Expectations are high 😅. With plenty of faunal aDNA generated the initial bottleneck is that often no one looks into the pathogen signature. But I hope more and more people appreciate the unseen bycatch they may have. Our lab is happy to team up on the pathogen hunt if expertise is wanted.
Wrote a short piece about the opportunities and challenges of pushing ancient pathogen genomics into a new frontier: the zooarchaeological record.
Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...
Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...
Tracking the roots of zoonoses
Ancient pathogen DNA from animals elucidates the origin and evolution of infectious diseases
www.science.org
June 18, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Wrote a short piece about the opportunities and challenges of pushing ancient pathogen genomics into a new frontier: the zooarchaeological record.
Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...
Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...
What a life! www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/s...
J. Craig Venter, Scientist Who Decoded the Human Genome, Dies at 79
www.nytimes.com
April 30, 2026 at 7:21 PM
What a life! www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/s...
Can we reconstruct ancient pathogen genomes from animal remains? Can paleopathology help prioritize promising specimens? Our new paper demonstrates this by screening more than 300 specimens from across Eurasia over the past 6,000 years. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Probing the zooarchaeological record across time and space for ancient pathogen DNA - Nature Communications
Authors investigate ancient DNA from animal remains and identify multiple signatures of ancient zoonotic pathogens. They find ancient pathogen genomics from archaeological animal remains may inform zo...
www.nature.com
April 30, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Can we reconstruct ancient pathogen genomes from animal remains? Can paleopathology help prioritize promising specimens? Our new paper demonstrates this by screening more than 300 specimens from across Eurasia over the past 6,000 years. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Enjoyed reading this balanced piece on whether we are able to link the Neolithic 'decline' explicitly to pathogens (plague). Short answer: Probably not. It's complicated.
I was pleased to be invited to comment on this new paper on the genetic analysis of people buried in the Bury megalithic gallery grave in the Paris Basin as it saves me making a thread of my thoughts on here!
rdcu.be/fbyll
rdcu.be/fbyll
Late Neolithic ‘decline’ is a grave question
Nature Ecology & Evolution - Were there catastrophic population collapses across Europe in the late Neolithic and, if so, what factors were responsible? Ancient DNA from 133 people whose...
rdcu.be
April 7, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Enjoyed reading this balanced piece on whether we are able to link the Neolithic 'decline' explicitly to pathogens (plague). Short answer: Probably not. It's complicated.
Thx for the invitation and organization of this exciting event about current frontiers in microbiome research. It makes me look forward to the Xmas season already.
How can we tap into the enormous functional diversity of microbes on this planet?
Join us at EMBL Heidelberg (8–10 Dec 2026) to learn about ongoing efforts to decode gene function and organisation in human gut microbes, and present your science.
Join us at EMBL Heidelberg (8–10 Dec 2026) to learn about ongoing efforts to decode gene function and organisation in human gut microbes, and present your science.
March 24, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Thx for the invitation and organization of this exciting event about current frontiers in microbiome research. It makes me look forward to the Xmas season already.
Reposted by Felix M Key
Very much looking forward to visiting and meeting those working @mpiib-berlin.mpg.de next week, and the chance to speak about my postdoc work on within-patient AMR evolution, thanks to @keyfm.bsky.social and @mfenk.bsky.social for the kind invitation.
📢 Voices in Infection Biology
Join us next week for a talk by Matthew J. Shepherd from @manchester.ac.uk, kindly hosted by @keyfm.bsky.social.
🗓️ March 25
🕓 4 pm
📍 on-site seminar (Berlin)
Event info: www.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/events/45077...
Join us next week for a talk by Matthew J. Shepherd from @manchester.ac.uk, kindly hosted by @keyfm.bsky.social.
🗓️ March 25
🕓 4 pm
📍 on-site seminar (Berlin)
Event info: www.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/events/45077...
March 20, 2026 at 11:37 AM
Very much looking forward to visiting and meeting those working @mpiib-berlin.mpg.de next week, and the chance to speak about my postdoc work on within-patient AMR evolution, thanks to @keyfm.bsky.social and @mfenk.bsky.social for the kind invitation.
Reposted by Felix M Key
Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n
1/n
Job Details
my.corehr.com
March 5, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n
1/n
Reposted by Felix M Key
Leipzig U and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) have an open faculty position (W2) in evolutionary population genetics! This position is tenured and comes with generous core funding. We are eager to welcome a new colleague! Deadline March 11.
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...
Professorship in population genetics in the field of evolutionary anthropology and medicine (W2)
Faculties & Facilities
www.uni-leipzig.de
March 5, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Leipzig U and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) have an open faculty position (W2) in evolutionary population genetics! This position is tenured and comes with generous core funding. We are eager to welcome a new colleague! Deadline March 11.
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...
Reposted by Felix M Key
The @scilifelab.se Ancient DNA Unit is recruiting a (permanent) Research Engineer for planning user projects and generating #aDNA 🧬 data:
Application deadline: March 25th 🧪🏺
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Application deadline: March 25th 🧪🏺
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Research engineer - Uppsala University
Research engineer, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
www.uu.se
March 5, 2026 at 8:11 AM
The @scilifelab.se Ancient DNA Unit is recruiting a (permanent) Research Engineer for planning user projects and generating #aDNA 🧬 data:
Application deadline: March 25th 🧪🏺
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Application deadline: March 25th 🧪🏺
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Reposted by Felix M Key
🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)
www.biorxiv.org
February 20, 2026 at 3:58 PM
🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)
Reposted by Felix M Key
Are you interested in human DNA from ancient sediments? Do you want to do a PhD in Vienna? We have two open positions in our group! You can learn more and apply here (scroll down to the very bottom, ours are the last two listings): careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/s...
Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution
The Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution is dedicated to educating students to advance our understanding of the ecology and evolution of extant and ancestral organisms, populations, and communities. In Ecology, the focus is on uncovering the mechanistic and evolutionary drivers of patterns and processes across biological scales, from gene regulation to ecosystem structure and function, including the role of communities in biogeochemical cycles and their adaptive responses to environmental change. In Evolution, we investigate the processes shaping changes in organization and dynamics of organisms, populations, and species at molecular, developmental, morphological, and physiological levels.
careers.univie.ac.at
February 13, 2026 at 9:46 AM
Are you interested in human DNA from ancient sediments? Do you want to do a PhD in Vienna? We have two open positions in our group! You can learn more and apply here (scroll down to the very bottom, ours are the last two listings): careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/s...
Reposted by Felix M Key
Institut Pasteur (@pasteur.fr) is recruiting new young PIs to open new groups in the Institute. Deadline is February 9th! Don't miss the opportunity!
January 27, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Institut Pasteur (@pasteur.fr) is recruiting new young PIs to open new groups in the Institute. Deadline is February 9th! Don't miss the opportunity!
Reposted by Felix M Key
📢 We're hiring a postdoc (33 months) in human evolutionary genomics / paleogenomics / statistical genetics, Paris 🇫🇷
Project on selection on disease-associated variants, integrating ancient genomes, GWAS, and Ancestral Rec. Graphs.
Start May 2026 (flexible).
Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Project on selection on disease-associated variants, integrating ancient genomes, GWAS, and Ancestral Rec. Graphs.
Start May 2026 (flexible).
Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Postdoc in human evolutionary genetics and bioinformatics (M/F)
Assurez-vous que votre profil candidat soit correctement renseigné avant de postuler
emploi.cnrs.fr
December 31, 2025 at 10:26 AM
📢 We're hiring a postdoc (33 months) in human evolutionary genomics / paleogenomics / statistical genetics, Paris 🇫🇷
Project on selection on disease-associated variants, integrating ancient genomes, GWAS, and Ancestral Rec. Graphs.
Start May 2026 (flexible).
Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Project on selection on disease-associated variants, integrating ancient genomes, GWAS, and Ancestral Rec. Graphs.
Start May 2026 (flexible).
Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Reposted by Felix M Key
Please share: We are hosting the 2026 DZG evolutionary biology graduate meeting at Uni Hamburg on March 25-27: "Interactions and Coevolution: from Molecules to Species". #PhD students, early postdocs and advanced Master students in evolutionary biology are welcome to register! t1p.de/dzg2026evolbio
January 13, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Please share: We are hosting the 2026 DZG evolutionary biology graduate meeting at Uni Hamburg on March 25-27: "Interactions and Coevolution: from Molecules to Species". #PhD students, early postdocs and advanced Master students in evolutionary biology are welcome to register! t1p.de/dzg2026evolbio
Reposted by Felix M Key
🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Job profile
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk
January 5, 2026 at 10:00 AM
🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Reposted by Felix M Key
A new year brings new opportunities: we are looking to fill a permanent professorship position with a Microbiologist preferably with expertise on archaeal biology, RNA biology or imaging techniques to unravel cell biology in prokaryotes! Please share and/or apply :)! www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Professurship (W2) in Microbiology - Regensburg (Stadt), Bayern (DE) job with Universität Regensburg | 12851113
UNIVERSITY OF REGENSBURG The Faculty of Biology and Pre-Clinical Medicine invites applications for a Professurship (W2) in Microbiology To be...
www.nature.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:46 AM
A new year brings new opportunities: we are looking to fill a permanent professorship position with a Microbiologist preferably with expertise on archaeal biology, RNA biology or imaging techniques to unravel cell biology in prokaryotes! Please share and/or apply :)! www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Reposted by Felix M Key
We’re hiring 2 Postdocs (f/m/d) in Drug–Microbiome–Host Interactions 🦠💊
Focus: how non-antibiotic drugs shape the gut microbiome, drug efficacy & side effects.
#PostdocJobs #Microbiome #AcademicJobs
Full job ad:
lisamaierlab.com/wp-content/u...
Focus: how non-antibiotic drugs shape the gut microbiome, drug efficacy & side effects.
#PostdocJobs #Microbiome #AcademicJobs
Full job ad:
lisamaierlab.com/wp-content/u...
lisamaierlab.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
We’re hiring 2 Postdocs (f/m/d) in Drug–Microbiome–Host Interactions 🦠💊
Focus: how non-antibiotic drugs shape the gut microbiome, drug efficacy & side effects.
#PostdocJobs #Microbiome #AcademicJobs
Full job ad:
lisamaierlab.com/wp-content/u...
Focus: how non-antibiotic drugs shape the gut microbiome, drug efficacy & side effects.
#PostdocJobs #Microbiome #AcademicJobs
Full job ad:
lisamaierlab.com/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Felix M Key
We are recruiting!
If you like evolutionary biology, microbial genomics, and host-pathogen interactions we have a PhD opening at @ugiatucl.bsky.social using population-scale metagenomics to map global phage diversity and uncover evolutionary signatures that could point to new antimicrobials.
If you like evolutionary biology, microbial genomics, and host-pathogen interactions we have a PhD opening at @ugiatucl.bsky.social using population-scale metagenomics to map global phage diversity and uncover evolutionary signatures that could point to new antimicrobials.
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 AM
We are recruiting!
If you like evolutionary biology, microbial genomics, and host-pathogen interactions we have a PhD opening at @ugiatucl.bsky.social using population-scale metagenomics to map global phage diversity and uncover evolutionary signatures that could point to new antimicrobials.
If you like evolutionary biology, microbial genomics, and host-pathogen interactions we have a PhD opening at @ugiatucl.bsky.social using population-scale metagenomics to map global phage diversity and uncover evolutionary signatures that could point to new antimicrobials.
Reposted by Felix M Key
A PhD project in human genomics with me is open for applications through the @nrpdtp.bsky.social. Use biobank-scale genomics datasets to answer long-standing questions about the evolution of our species: biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/the...
The genomics of modern human biological uniqueness (BERGSTROM_U26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership
Modern humans are unique as a species, having spread widely and transformed the world with technology and large-scale societies. But until relatively recently (~50,000 years ago)…
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
October 17, 2025 at 10:23 AM
A PhD project in human genomics with me is open for applications through the @nrpdtp.bsky.social. Use biobank-scale genomics datasets to answer long-standing questions about the evolution of our species: biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/the...