Evolutionary Genomics of Sex

Our lab at SMBE 2026 in Copenhagen

The Ma Lab had a wonderful time at SMBE 2026 in Copenhagen, where we presented our latest research on frog sex chromosome evolution through three posters and one talk.

Our presentations highlighted several ongoing projects, including sex chromosome turnover in frogs, cyclic Y chromosome differentiation, recombination landscapes, and the origin of multiple Y haplotypes. Together, these studies explore how sex chromosomes evolve, differentiate, turn over, and sometimes follow surprisingly dynamic evolutionary paths.

Many thanks to the organizers, colleagues, collaborators, and everyone who stopped by our posters or joined the discussions. We returned from Copenhagen inspired, energized, and excited for the next steps of our research!
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Lab social lunch - summer vibe

Recent lab social lunch ~ Loud laugh and nice summer vibeHappy


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Infrastructure grant on PacBio machine for long reads sequencing is funded by VUB research council, congrat!

Our proposal “Advancing #genomicresearch in life sciences with highly accurate #longread #DNAsequencing” has been selected for Vrije Universiteit Brussel VUB Research #VUB #OZR infrastructure funding: https://researchportal.vub.be/en/projects/advancing-genomic-research-in-life-sciences-with-highly-accurate-/

This support will help strengthen long-read DNA sequencing capacity for life sciences research across microbial, fungal, plant, animal, and human genetics/genomics, and will open new opportunities for collaborative research using highly accurate #PacBio sequencing.

Many congratulations and thanks to all promoters involved: Stefan Weckx, Toon Janssen. A special thank you to Stefan Weckx for leading the proposal writing and for his persistence in bringing this initiative forward after several previous attempts. Grateful to VUB Research Research Council/OZR for supporting this infrastructure investment.

Looking forward to the next steps and to the exciting science this will enable
🧬 💪!

#pacbio #longreads #sequencing #NGS #genomicresearch #evolution #clinical #fundamental #collaborationiskey
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