********************Other******************** Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Call for 2026 Faculty Award Nominations Deadline: February 20, 2026 Dear SMBE Members: SMBE is now calling for nominations for recipients of theFaculty AwardsforEarly-Career Excellence,Mid-Career Excellence,Lifetime Contribution, andCommunity Service. Please consider nominating those of your colleagues you believe deserve to be rewarded for their extraordinary achievements and dedication to the field. Nominations require: a nomination letter, which should clearly indicate the award under consideration and also serve as a recommendation lettera one-page summary of the nominee's qualifications for the awarda CV of the nomineean additional letter of recommendation. Self-nomination is not allowed.The nominator need not be an SMBE member, but the nominee must be a member of SMBE to be considered for the award. Please compile the required documents aboveas a single PDF and upload via the online award application portal before February 20, 2026. Submit Nomination Updated descriptions of the awards follow; please read them carefully. SMBE Early-Career Excellence Award This award is intended for outstanding members of the SMBE community who are in the early stages of an independent research career (3-7 years post-Ph.D.). The primary signal of research excellence is a trajectory of innovative, creative research that is moving the field of Molecular Biology and Evolution forward. The ideal candidate will be one whose career embodies the values of the society, for example in mentoring, outreach, and teaching. The prize includes recognition at the annual SMBE banquet, a cash prize of $1000 and a travel award ($2000 for intracontinental travel/$3000 for intercontinental travel) to attend the annual meeting. This award will be given annually. SMBE Mid-Career Excellence Award This award is intended for outstanding members of the SMBE community who are in the midst of their research careers (8-15 years post-Ph.D.). The primary criterion is a record of outstanding research that has contributed broadly to the field of Molecular Biology and Evolution. The ideal candidate will be one whose career embodies the values of the society, for example in mentoring, outreach, and teaching. The prize includes recognition at the annual SMBE banquet, a cash prize of $1000 and a travel award ($2000 for intracontinental travel/$3000 for intercontinental travel) to attend the annual meeting. This award will be given annually. SMBE Lifetime Contribution Award This award is intended for outstanding senior members of the SMBE community (25 years post-Ph.D.). The primary criterion is a record of truly outstanding research that has contributed broadly to the field of Molecular Biology and Evolution. The ideal candidate will be one whose career embodies the values of the society, for example in mentoring, outreach, and teaching. The prize includes recognition at the annual SMBE banquet, a cash prize of $1000 and a travel award ($2000 for intracontinental travel/$3000 for intercontinental travel) to attend the annual meeting. This award will be given periodically and initiated by the SMBE council. SMBE Community Service Award This award will be awarded to members of SMBE who have provided exceptional service to SMBE and the broader scientific community. The term "service" applies broadly to include specific service to the community (such as to the SMBE journals, the Council or annual meetings) and also service that includes scientific outreach and education. The prize includes an award of $2000 as well as reimbursement to attend the annual meeting. This award will be given periodically and initiated by the SMBE council. Questions? Please contactsmbe@am.kwglobal.com Best Regards, Ziheng Yang SMBE Past President Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution +1.785.289.2056 smbe@am.kwglobal.com https://www.smbe.org/ https://bsky.app/profile/official-smbe.bsky.social This email was sent on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution located at301 Concourse Boulevard, Suite 210,Glen Allen,VA23059.To unsubscribe click here.If you have questions or comments concerning this email contact Society for Molecular Biology and Evolutionat smbe@am.kwglobal.com. Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca) ********************PostDocs******************** Postdoctoral Fellow: Population Genomics, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada We seek a Postdoctoral Fellow to lead a multidisciplinary and highly collaborative research project that leverages existing samples and data collected over the past 15 years to determine how harvest influences wolf diet, body condition, parasites/pathogens, and genomic diversity across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The Postdoc's responsibilities include next-generation sequencing (RADseq) of >600 samples to quantify genomic diversity, characterize population structure, and identify putatively adaptive loci. The Postdoc will also analyze existing stable isotope data (d13C and d15N of wolves and prey) to infer wolf diet as well as integrate necropsy and parasitological/pathogenic data to produce a holistic understanding of wolf ecology and health. Please follow the link below for more for information or contact Jamie.Gorrell@unbc.ca: https://tinyurl.com/5t56kwx7 Jamie Gorrell (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca) ********************Conferences******************** Dear EvolDir members, We are happy to invite you to participate in our symposium entitled "Evolution of gene regulation: insights from novel molecular and statistical approaches", as part of the annual SMBE meeting that will take place in Copenhagen (June 28th - July 2nd). This symposium features Margarida Cardoso-Moreira (Francis Crick Institute, London) as an invited speaker. Abstract submissions close on February 3rd. We are looking forward to meeting you in Copenhagen. Symposium organizers : Ma�lle Daunesse (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) Camille Berthelot (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) Anamaria Necsulea (LBBE, Lyon, France) Symposium abstract: Understanding how gene regulation evolves is central to explaining phenotypic diversity and adaptation across species. Over the past two decades, comparative genomics approaches at the transcriptomic and epigenomic level have revealed that changes in cis-regulatory elements, chromatin organisation, and transcription factor binding are key contributors to regulatory and expression divergence. Recent methodological advances are transforming our ability to address these questions. High-resolution single-cell and spatial assays are providing unprecedented views of regulatory activity across cell types and developmental stages, while chromosome conformation capture methods such as Hi-C are offering new insights into how three-dimensional genome architecture constrains or facilitates regulatory evolution. In parallel, sophisticated statistical frameworks and deep learning approaches are enabling more accurate modelling of regulatory element activity, and inference of causal links between gene expression and regulatory shifts and complex traits. This symposium will bring together researchers exploring regulatory evolution through a diversity of approaches, including functional genomics, single-cell and spatial technologies, comparative epigenomics, and computational modelling. The symposium will also highlight how new computational strategies, including but not limited to deep learning, enable the interpretation of increasingly complex regulatory data. The session will provide a platform for interdisciplinary exchange and will emphasise how novel approaches are opening new avenues for understanding the evolution of gene regulation. We welcome submissions presenting cross-species comparative analyses of novel functional genomics data, as well as dedicated computational modelling approaches. NECSULEA ANAMARIA (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca) ********************Conferences******************** SMBE 2026: AI in Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics Abstract deadline is approaching (February 3) for oral and poster presentations at SMBE 2026 on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in molecular evolution and phylogenetics. The symposium title is "Powers and pitfalls of artificial intelligence for molecular evolution and phylogenetics." Specify symposium #S02 when submitting the abstract. SMBE annual meetings in Copenhagen (Jun 28-Jul 02, 2026) https://smbe2026.org/programme Invited Speakers are: Anne-Florence Bitbol - EFPL (�cole Polytechnique F�d�rale de Lausanne), Switzerland Sudhir Kumar - Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University, USA Symposium description Artificial intelligence (AI) may reshape the landscape of molecular evolution and phylogenetic analysis. A growing number of machine learning and deep learning methods are being developed for tasks ranging from inferring evolutionary trees and detecting selection to modeling sequence evolution and predicting protein structures. Yet many remain skeptical, as fundamental questions persist: What exactly do these models learn from biological data? How do their internal representations relate to established evolutionary principles? And crucially, what are their blind spots? This symposium is a forum for discussing the transformative potential and the critical limitations of AI and ML in evolutionary research. Speakers will explore how AI models capture patterns of evolutionary variation and divergence, and whether their learned representations and models genuinely reflect underlying evolutionary mechanisms. The session will also feature discussions of new methodological advances, emerging interpretability frameworks, and benchmark analyses testing the reliability and reproducibility of AI-driven inferences. Contact: s.kumar@temple.edu Sudhir Kumar (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca) ********************Conferences******************** Call for Abstracts - gene editing symposium S23 SMBE 2026 Dear all, A quick reminder that the abstract submission deadline for SMBE is February 2nd, and that we are organizing a symposium at SMBE 2026 titled "Gene editing as a driver of evolution: advances, challenges, consequences and frontiers" (S23). Our aim is to create a forum for ideas and discussion on gene editing as a conservation tool. If you have work you would like to share, even at an early stage, on gene technologies for safeguarding species' genetic diversity or on the ethical questions surrounding editing evolution, we warmly encourage you to submit an abstract. The symposium program will feature opportunities for extended presentations, flash talks, and a poster session, offering multiple formats for sharing your research and ideas. Abstract submissions are open until February 2nd at: https://smbe2026.org/abstracts/ We very much look forward to reading your abstracts! B. Parreira and C. van Oosterhout Bárbara Parreira Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine Blegdamsvej 3 1353 Copenhagen Denmark Bárbara Ribeiro Parreira (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)