Postdoc researcher at ISTA in Gašper Tkačik's group, studying biological evolution through the lens of information theory. Math enthusiast and amateur jazz piano player. https://eliamascolo.github.io/https://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3migyvdgmwc2sMake students rediscover evolution by reasoning. Check out this project! Students never exposed to evolution used evolutionary thinking to interpret the results. Only afterward we connected this to biology! If you try it, reach out to us (@izziehb.bsky.social and me) 😊 We'd love to hear feedback! [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 Apr 2026 15:26 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3migyvdgmwc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3mfu6bpuxas2hI'm really excited to join ISTA's scientific community! I feel really welcome 🤗 Looking forward to doing awesome science together! [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Feb 2026 16:52 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfu6bpuxas2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3lj5ot6mzek2vThe best part was seeing students who were never exposed to #evolution concepts using evolutionary thinking to interpret the results of the card game. Only after they figured out what was going on, we introduced the scientific jargon (like "selection" and "drift") used to refer to those phenomena. [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Feb 2025 10:31 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lj5ot6mzek2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3lamjwehpbs27With neural style transfer we can paint an image with the style of van Gogh. But can we also use it to study the evolution of visual signals and preferences? YES!!! Cool experiments on Darters 🐟😍 👇 [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Nov 2024 19:27 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lamjwehpbs27https://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3l7rsevjcgh2xWhy are 🦠 genes organized into operons? Gene copy number fluctuates depending on distance from ori due to DNA replication. Operons keep gene clusters balanced in terms of copy number, reducing unbalance in expression level. Evo explanation for metabolic operons 👇 https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msystems.00960-2431 Oct 2024 04:16 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3l7rsevjcgh2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3kwuqq553pw2tTwo years ago we published about what we named "lytic deferment" in bacteriophages (https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.918015). The concept is re-discussed in this recent review by Casters et al. "Phage transmission strategies: are phages framing their host?" https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2024.102481 Food for thought. 🧬🦠🔬09 Jul 2024 19:38 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3kwuqq553pw2thttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3kscy5ggmws26Tagging 🦠🖥️🧬 [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2024 20:22 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3kscy5ggmws26https://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3ks5jnfcnu226Can AlphaFold3 predict bacterial transcription factor binding sites on DNA? I tried to devise a fair test. The results are quite impressive. My test: I chose LexA (favorite TF at the @ErillLab) from E. coli K-12, and I generated "randomized" binding sites from the PWM. First 1/10 May 2024 16:19 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3ks5jnfcnu226https://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3kgaea4jujw2jMy PI, joined us on Bluesky! 😊 👇 #Microsky #phagesky [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Dec 2023 02:18 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3kgaea4jujw2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3kezz4acmjd2e#Microsky #Phagesky Interesting "primer for evolutionary biologists interested in studying social evolution in viruses" 👇 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.1420325 Nov 2023 20:18 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3kezz4acmjd2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3kefpasgxns2gHuman voices (just chatting, whatever the language) is the scariest sound for wild animals in the savanna. More scary than the roar of a lion. 👇 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098222301169717 Nov 2023 18:28 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3kefpasgxns2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/eliamascolo.bsky.social/post/3kdxqchh3h22xMy first thread post on Bluesky 👇 [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Nov 2023 05:09 +0000at://did:plc:zk2yxnuti26ui6sffbeeo7gw/app.bsky.feed.post/3kdxqchh3h22x