Summary
Dear sedaDNA enthusiasts,
Hello and welcome to the May newsletter! As is the case with many months, this month there is plenty of new research with seven papers and two preprints published. So if you're looking for something to read, look no further. If you are, or are soon to be, in the job market, know that one technician position and four post docs are currently being advertised. As always, if you have a paper to advertise, want to be added to the PhD recent graduates page, want to announce anything or ask questions, please don't hesitate to get in contact with us.
Wishing you a fabulous May,
The organising board
New papers
Rikai Sawafuj et al., (2026) published "From bones to sediments: Ancient human DNA from open-air archaeological sites" in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Juliana Beltramin De Biasi et al., (2026) published "The legacy of mining revealed by environmental DNA: long-term ecological structuring of marine benthic communities after the Fundão dam collapse" in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.
Yan-yu Li and Hao-chen Huang et al., (2026) co-first authored "Large-scale eDNA sampling reveals coastal drivers of fish diversity in the western Pacific" in Water Biology and Security.
Jérémy Rollin et al., (2026) published " Archaeoentomological SedaDNA from two French gallo-roman wells reveals the presence of arthropods not identified by sclerotized remains" in Scientific Reports.
Ke Chen and Yiyan Lin et al., (2026) co-first authored "Holocene biodiversity shifts and human-environment interactions revealed by sedimentary ancient DNA in the Horqin Sandy Land, Northeast China" in Journal of Archaeological Science.
Kruti Mistry et al., (2026) published "Microbial Communities from Fossil-Bearing Strata: Methodological Challenges and Opportunities from Paleomicrobiology" in Geomicrobiology Journal.
Ernst Johnson and Isabelle Sofie Feinauer et al., (2026) co-first authored "Ancient environmental genome reveals a migratory brown bear individual in Early Holocene Scandinavia" in PNAS.
Preprints
Nathaniel Plummer et al., (2026) submitted the preprint "Imputation and Maximum Likelihood Haplotype Refinement of Simulated Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes" Research Square.
Alexander M. Kramer et al., (2026) submitted the preprint "Panmap: Scalable phylogeny-guided alignment, genotyping, and placement on pangenomes" available on BioRxiv.
New Positions
A technician position at University College London is open to applications to join an innovative project using lake sediment DNA to uncover how ecosystems and populations respond to environmental stress over the past 300 years. This is a fixed-term role available from 1 July 2026 to 30 August 2029
Application deadline is the 15th May. If you'd like more information, please contact Prof Julia Day
A post doc position at University College London is open to applications for a talented and ambitious Research Fellow (RF) to join a project combining temporal evolutionary and ecological community dynamics. The RF will apply cutting-edge approaches in sedaDNA and palaeogenomics to reconstruct biodiversity change and track genomic diversity through periods of ecological collapse and recovery. The project will be supported by the above advertised research technician. This is a fixed-term role available from 1 July 2026 to 30 August 2029
Application deadline is also the 15th May. If you'd like more information, please contact Prof Julia Day
A post doc position is open to applications fron a highly motivated Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to join our research team at Reading and the aDNA group at the Natural History Museum in London, focusing on sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA) from soils and sediments from the project’s case study regions in Spain and North Africa. You will contribute to the reconstruction of past landscapes and human-environment interactions through the analysis of sedimentary DNA. This includes analysing samples from terraces, irrigated fields and archaeological sites, and using metagenomics and possibly metabarcoding approaches for multi-species detection, with the aim of characterising changing plant and animal species diversity and richness over time. The position will involve fieldwork, laboratory work, data analysis, and collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, palaeoecologists, aDNA specialists and historians. This is a joint post with the University of Reading (UoR) PI Aleks Pluskowski and the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London PI Selina Brace and is funded for two years with a flexible start date extending to the end of 2026.
Application deadline is actually also the 15th May.
A post doc position is open for applications at Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Beijing, China for a candidate interested in leveraging ancient DNA data to understand the process of evolution in humans and other species. Method developers and/or data analysts are especially encouraged to apply. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP). Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.
To apply compile a single PDF file containing the following documents and send it to Prof. Qiaomei Fu directly: 1) A cover letter outlining your interest in the position and how your expertise aligns with the requirements. 2) A complete curriculum vitae (CV). 3) Contact information for three professional references. 4) At least one representative publication.
Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until all positions are filled. If you have any questions about these positions, please feel free to contact Dr. Yue-Chen Liu
If you have a query or something to announce, click here, and if you have a recent paper to share in the next newsletter, let us know.