Some pretty bacteria in purple and blue watercolor artologica.etsy.com/listing/4516... #sciart

Yikes

One of my favorite parts of this job is having to do a grant budget revision with multiple back and forths for approval to pay for $20 of shipping since there was no shipping line in the internal budget. (not)

The list of Ecology/Evolution/Marine Bio Labs recruiting grad students for Fall 2027 is live! PIs enter your position info here: forms.gle/MAGd4ohyPeoY... students (and PIs not recruiting) share the composite list: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Please share widely! 🧪

In just 3 years, I've had students come through my lab that want to work for the USDA. The CDC. NASA. Talented, intelligent people who are deciding they want their life to go towards science for the public. And that is being ripped away as a possibility. 💔 I have a lot of feelings about this.

I'm not honestly sure where this narrative of academic research being "low-risk" comes from. I think people see "low-reward" work as a waste of time; but incremental science (described by Khun as "normal" science) a critical mode of work required to enable scientific revolutions. SMH

This spring I took over and redesigned the only Gen Ed on plants here #IB103. We walked through every core aspect of plant bio in lectures & labs, but also through art & design. I had a blast, the evaluations are rewarding (4.9/5), the redesign got an award from the college, and a little press too!

Announcing our new free Webinar series sponsored by GetGenome: Road to Jeju. Check out our Legends and Rising Stars of IS-MPMI speakers. Sign up to attend the first talk by Roger Innes on June 17. lnkd.in/gw4pKp4K Check back for how to apply to give a Rising Stars of IS-MPMI talk.

Please take the time to review and sign this petition in support of the U.S. National Fungus Collections, which are being threatened in the face of the USDA reorganization efforts. c.org/KQWY7fNhGw 🍄

Ok, this is cool... Treemble: A graphical tool to generate Newick strings from phylogenetic tree images🧪 academic.oup.com/bioinformati... Treemble is a native desktop application for macOS and Windows and is freely available, with documentation, at treemble.org.

It’s truly astonishing to see how comprehensively the US government is tearing down every part of the system that has made it up until now a world-leading power in science, research, and technological development. The entire world will suffer from this wanton destruction.

📢 Inviting submissions for the MPMI Focus Issue on Plant Receptors and Signaling in Plant-Microbe Interactions! Research & reviews across all areas of immune receptor biology. If you have an idea, please reach out (via link below). Pls repost 🔗 apsjournals.apsnet.org/mpmireceptors

A heartfelt thank you to federal scientists of the USA. The authors of this piece reflect on the massive losses that occurred in 2025 — 10,109 PhDs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and health — either voluntarily or involuntarily. 17% of the workforce gone in a single year!

So yea, I got a CAREER award! 🦠🍄🧬 Plan: 1. help freshmen adjust to college while learning about fungi 2. train undergrads in microbial research 3. support grad students as they investigate symbioses 4. teach classes and do outreach at our Botanical Gardens www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/...

BREAKING: New proposed OMB regulation, applying to all federal grants, requiring grant reviews by senior political appointees and re-emphasizes that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion". #standupforscience public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf

I shared on LinkedIn already, but I wanted to post here as well since I've got a different audience: I will be joining the Department of Plant Pathology at the @universityofga.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor on Aug 1!! I will keep studying #Aspergillus & #Fusarium that infect plants & humans 🥰

Got reappointed and a big grant 😄 more details to come but excited that I get to keep doing this job #NewPI

Meet the editorial team of ISME Host Microbe! Led by EiCs Mike Taylor, Nichole Broderick and Arturo Casadevall, and supported by senior editors with expertise across e.g. microbial ecology and host-associated interactions. We are excited to invite your submissions! lnkd.in/eTe9rJjw

To my fabulous colleagues: this seminar is open for anyone to register! Registrants just need to make a GSA account. Please send this information to your students and advisers who may benefit from the discussion!

Back from vacation so I just looked at my teaching evals, NSF proposal reviews, and NIH proposal reviews that were all released while I was gone. What a roller coaster 🎢 #NewPI

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

My grades are in, the semester has wound down, and I'm going on a vacation to Italy next week. It is so hard to actually do any work right now 🫠

On the G3 cover: "A Bittersweet Symphony" Using a diverse cider germplasm from the USDA Malus collection, authors identified significant genetic markers for polyphenols, individual sugars, & malic acid. More⬇️🧵

Triple the rate. 3 times more likely to have grants suspended. “Compared to the all NIH-funded investigators in 2024, investigators who received targeted terminations were more likely to self-identify as… Black/African American (n = 86, 11.9% vs 4.0%)”

Ok, hearing from multiple (very believable) NSF sources that this slowness is due largely to transitions and budget shutdown but that they’re moving a bunch of money out (all the money) by end of fiscal year

Same for NSF! www.research.gov/research-web...

The registration page for Binning Singletons @ #ASMicrobe is live! Get matched into a small group with other attendees, along with a mentor who can show you the ropes. We bring everyone together by #CultivatingACultureOfCommunity 🦠🧪🔬 #MicroSky #AMR binningsingletons.com/singleton/bi...

More details on the firing of the National Science Board. The NSF now has no director, deputy director, or board. They have issued almost no new awards in 2026. The plan appears to be to completely destroyed the agency. The details are horrifying and have Russ Vought written all over them.

One of the more concerning details has to do with NSB being blocked from overseeing and advising NSF, particularly on budget details. cf. reporting in Science www.science.org/content/arti...

Reading and talking about science: feeling interested, inspired, and enlightened. Reading and talking about what's happening at NSF and NIH: 🤢

glad to see this being covered @nytimes.com @washingtonpost.com hopefully the spotlight helps Congress apply pressure to stop the bleeding

Today an international student said that she saw my "any person/any study/from any country" banner as she walked around campus on her 1st day in Ithaca. She said she felt relieved & welcomed, in an era when US has deserved reputation for being anything but welcoming. The banner stays. 2/2

Time for this again apparently

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.” OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.) NSF at -42%!

I don't know who needs to read this, but you can simply say "use." You don't need "utilize." You really don't. (Yes I know they have slightly different meanings, please resist the urge to "well actually").

They can pose a threat to human health — yeast infections are but one example. Scientists say not enough attention is paid to their ability to develop resistance to medications that treat them.

That time of year again! If you'd like an example of job apps in academia or industry, here's a good resource. If you got a job in industry or academia in the last few years, please consider adding yours! github.com/RILAB/statem...

I’m looking for an automated way to read others’s scientific data without giving credit or acknowledgement, and also claim full credit for insights from it. And I want it to have a fitting name OAI: say no more

LLMs are very powerful tools in computational biology, if you're willing to take your time, use them to check and stress test your work, and learn. But very very foolish tools if you use them just to take shortcuts and move faster than you ought to.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds over 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 institutions across all 50 U.S. states, supporting roughly 390,863 jobs and driving $94 billion in economic activity. I am one of them and am thankful to all who pay the taxes that support this enterprise 🧪

Polishing off the eugenics lecture for class soon. Even though it gets more intimidating to teach this each year, I always have students say thank you that I cover it. And given North Carolina's history with eugenics in this country, it is a necessary part of learning Genetics. 🧬

There is a new volume in The Fungi Sessions!! I loved the first album by Hannah Read that she performed at Fungal Genetics two years ago. So excited for a part 2 and there are microscope videos of hyphae accompanying the songs in spotify 😍. 🍄🎶 open.spotify.com/album/5uGh16...

I had a list of small things to get done today. And I did them.

There is a new volume in The Fungi Sessions!! I loved the first album by Hannah Read that she performed at Fungal Genetics two years ago. So excited for a part 2 and there are microscope videos of hyphae accompanying the songs in spotify 😍. 🍄🎶 open.spotify.com/album/5uGh16...

Where's the push back? Trump orders the dismantling *without authority*

Update: I am definitely hiring 2 PhD students; preference to those who can start spring 2027, but reach out if you’re looking to start in Fall 27. Want to start earlier? Reach out and we can talk about technician positions starting as early as this summer.

2) Being apolitical IS political. Staying out of politics doesn’t keep you “above the fray” but instead endorses the status quo. (Which right now, is bad for both science and democracy.)

There are two kinds of academic. Ones that apply their most severe skepticism to their own work and opinions and ones that apply their most severe skepticism to others.

“We’ve lost out on the ability to continue to improve this work to make it more effective, and to explore how to apply it to other areas…There are a lot of different ways that genetics has been used to justify prejudice and…that human-made social categories interface with biological categories“🧪

How do I work through this unprecedented time I mutter to myself for the 20th time this year.