The world's academic systems are in some bizarre competition regarding which ones can, structurally speaking, feed the most young scholars' lives into the woodchipper.

Now out! We show that TEs can be horizontally transferred between fungal species via Starships. Once transferred, these TEs can become active, changing the genome organization and affecting the lifestyle of the recipient fungus. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @oggenfussursula.bsky.social #TEsky

Check up my new brand site about my research in lichen photobionts! onutbrannstrom.net

Some reflections on #Fungal26 This was a great meeting as always but set against some turbulent times of course, which meant many regular attendees were not present. This thread is mainly for them. However, the proportion of first-time attendees was very high and very international. #Fungal26 1/15

Lichen fungal effectors are potentially targeted to algal chloroplasts ⁦‪@puginiercamille.bsky.social ‬⁩ #Fungal26

And that's a wrap for #EESSymbiosis. Huge thanks to the organizers: @berasymbionts.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social, @floravincent.bsky.social, and Tom Richards! I love going to symbiosis conferences, looking forward to reconnect with symbiosis folks at future occasions! @events.embl.org

Thank you for the great conversations and inspiring ideas during yesterday poster's session at #EESSymbiosis 🙆🏻‍♀️🧬

Had to log in to twitter to double-check, and indeed the first conference I ever live-posted was the same conference 3 years ago. I liked how much it helped me focus and retain information, so I live-posted nearly every conference I've been to since. Don't plan to stop any time soon either!

Super stoked about the EMBL cellular mechanics of symbiosis conference. I loved the first time this conference was held 3 years ago, and this is going to be just as good. Let's see if I manage to stock to live skeeting this time! #EESSymbiosis @events.embl.org

Can't tell you how bummed I am that in the three years of walking on that street in Norwich, I failed to notice the mystery keyboard

Excited for my first MECS this May!

Thrilled to see this published! 😄 Our dispatch examines potential additional fungal symbionts in lichen partnerships and the key challenges in unraveling their biology. Thanks for involving me in this @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social @currentbiology.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I’m reminded of that tweet that says that men were able to successfully cast themselves as the less emotional gender by redefining anger as not an emotion

Good article, but the framing is wrong. There is not a dearth of interest in taxonomy. There is a scarcity of funding and positions, which is a deliberate choice by funding agencies and institutions. The youth love taxonomy! It's the olds that are failing to meet their passion!

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

this isn't the worst of the Democrats' statements, but statements like this are a stark reminder that to many people, the real issue with the Iraq War was that Americans died. everything else is a footnote.

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨 Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!) Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1093/fems...

The fact that the world's richest man, owner of a non-trivial amounts of its communication infrastructure, is just a flat out bonkers Nazi... well this is a fact that perturbs me.

📣 12 open postdoc positions in @ceplas.bsky.social !! www.ceplas.eu/en/training-... We @teamthomma.bsky.social look for a postdoc on The Secret Lives of Soil-Borne Fungal Pathogens: Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Intermicrobial Interactions in Soils (see project 4)

I find Darwin unironically inspiring in this way - as a proof that you can have bad days when you feel nothing but resentment towards your work but that doesn't make you a bad scientist

The Swedish gov’t intends to deport an 8-month-old baby to Iran, even though he was born in Sweden and both parents are legal residents: www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/migr...

“Lichens of Britain & Ireland” by Rebecca Yahr and Frances Stoakley is finally available for purchase. This has been a much needed ID guide for beginners to intermediates and the publication is finally here!! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/lichens-o... #bloomsbury #lichens

Firmly believe this would serve multiple needs.

Huge congrats to @ddiazescandon.bsky.social and @spribille.bsky.social! What a massive amount of work and such exciting results!

Can't wait for this meeting!

One week left to apply for the PhD position in my group in Stockholm!

Check out this amazing paper on the Umbilicaria lichen and a black yeast fungus that appears to be its ever-present component!

Inviting applications for #PhD (3y) & #Postdoc (2y) to work on alpine #lichens: evolution of #SecondaryMetabolism & #Chemodiversity. #genomics #metabolomics #fungi #biosyntheticGenes. Send your CV +motivation letter ➡️ [email protected] Please share 😊

Almost lost amidst the cow excitement (cow-motion?) was that @currentbiology.bsky.social featured a brilliant paper on #lichen fungi in this week’s issue by Victoria Keller et al. including @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social — what is not to lichen about this new double ascomycete living arrangement

The Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at @stockholm-uni.bsky.social has two open PhD positions, help us spread the word! 📣 We are looking for a PhD student in Lichen Biology, and one in Ecology & Evolution. Find more information and apply by 1 February below!

I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"

Want to get the data out of a PDF figure? As in, the actual data – not a rough trace-along-the-lines version? I made an app you might like: adamkucharski.github.io/pdf2plot/ It all started a few years ago... 🧵

⚡️Fully funded #PhD position in my lab at Stockholm University / SciLifeLab! If you’re interested in #lichens, #symbiosis, fungal biology, or meta-omics, please apply. Deadline Feb 1. Read more here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

My (recent) work environment vs the quality of work that actually gets done there

So once upon a time, I got savaged on Twitter for saying that all a man in the games industry had to do to end a woman’s employment at the same company was sexually harass her. As soon as it happened, the timer began counting down. (Thread)

Plant Science Research Weekly -- Genomic analysis of a lichen photobiont alga (New Phytol.) @metalichen.bsky.social @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) buff.ly/IQC6qOT #PlantaePSRW

Doing great here, yes, thanks for asking: “Stockholm on track for darkest December since 1934” www.thelocal.se/20251216/sto...

Thrilled to share that I recently got a position of an Assistant Professor/SciLifeLab Fellow at Stockholm University, where I will continue my work on #lichen symbiosis. The lab opens in April 2026, and if you are interested in joining please get in touch! #newPI

I had such a blast at the French Phycological Society conference in Paris! Huge thanks to the organizers for the invitation. I really appreciated the opportunity to discuss the algal side of the lichen symbiosis and learn about cool research on all kinds of algae!

Everything you always wanted to know about mushroom-forming fungi! Great collab with amazing mycologists. Thanks Laszlo Nagy for leading this effort! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Our paper on Zymoseptoria tritici 3D genome organization is officially out! @iglavincheska.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New preprint from our group led by @metalichen.bsky.social on the discovery of a Starship giant transposable element in the genome of a lichen-forming fungus.

PhD opportunity in our lab - deadline passes on Dec 2nd - don’t miss out!

New preprint: 🚀🧬 Starship in the genome of the lichen fungus Xanthoria. Discovery of giant transposons Starships challenged what we thought we knew about fungal genomes. But what about Starships in #lichen fungi? Let us present Tangerine! 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Huge honor to receive this price! Glad to see the lichen research rewarded with such a distinction Thanks @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social and @kellerjeanphd.bsky.social for your SUPERvision ✨ Merci @academiesciences.bsky.social pour cette opportunité et cette belle cérémonie!

Nitrates can really mess up lichens, but Xanthoria seems to deal with it pretty well. This article suggests that hydration plays a role, with Xanthoria better able to cope with stress when moist and metabollically active. #lichenresearch www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We're looking for a PhD student! If you're interested in #fungal #genomics & #TEs, meiotic drive, or pathogens, please consider applying. The project is about toxin/antidote genes in the human fungal pathogen A. fumigatus. uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Maybe not my wokest opinion (I do have lots of woke opinions, hard to pick), but probably most pressing one: the freedom to choose where and how to live is a fundamental right. Immigration is good. I hate seeing how sealing off countries is now the common sense position across the political spectrum