youtu.be/8AeCo3AD1cM?... "How could you even begin to pay me enough to do such a feat of Sisyphian futility?!" Beautiful

Preprint out for myloasm, our new nanopore / HiFi metagenome assembler! Nanopore's getting accurate, but 1. Can this lead to better metagenome assemblies? 2. How, algorithmically, to leverage them? with co-author Max Marin @mgmarin.bsky.social, supervised by Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social 1 / N

COVID vaccine gun show! (Yeah I have asthma, diabetes, a weak heart, smoke 3 packs a day, or whatever lies you have to tell to get preventative medicine)

RIP to my add_blast_header.sh script

We are hiring! The #PlantBio department at UIUC is looking to recruit an Assistant Professor in Plant-Fungal interactions. Application deadline is October 31st @dallingjim.bsky.social see the link below for more details: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

10 years using Ubuntu and other linux distros and I JUST NOW learned that you can mount any server address in the file browser so easily!?

Hey, I'm recruiting for up to two funded PhD positions in #mycology or community #ecology. Please share! Good stipend, lovely location in the woods near the beach. Field, lab, and computational projects. Seeking wide interests and bold ideas! Lab: gzahn.github.io Apply: forms.gle/jK7bJkyrTAUH...

Wow, that editor really used the desk-rejection of my paper to channel some of their disappointment and anger. I hope they feel better soon. We're all on the Titanic together.

This. Yes. It's worse than you think

In Fall '26 the Himmel Lab will open at NJIT Biological Sciences. I'm beyond stoked! Interested in a PhD/postdoc in the function/evolution/origins of the senses (computation or experimentation)? Message me and come join a great department in the NY metro! Sharing is appreciated. Info: himmellab.org

If you are a postdoc working on any topic related to environmental microbiology and are looking for exposure, the Thermal Biology Institute (tbi.montana.edu) has slots open for virtual talks via zoom this fall. Email me if you are interested! Seminars are most Mondays, 3-4 pm Mountain Time.

my lil reproducibility talk from today / I really wanted to instill the PhD students some simple first practices and ways to step up your game from there github.com/tjmahr/2025-...

FYI finally tidied this up into something usable github.com/feargalr/bac...

Have you heard about MycoEd yet? A model educational program offering training for students on fungal genome sequencing and analysis. how powerful!! #mycofam #thefutureisfungal journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

The U.S. government has fueled decades of world-leading scientific and technical innovation by funding research efforts through grants programs & universities where researchers controlled decisions. In the USSR, no decisions were made by scientists alone. Every decision required political approval.

Just about to push a big update to our R package TaxSEA where we've spent a lot of time collating data from the BacDive database so it's readily usable in a metagenomics analysis. See example below from the HMP IBD data. #metagenomics #bioinformatics #microbiome #microbiota

A database of AM fungi of Australia. Incredible resource and publication. Congrats to all the authors. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Our paper mapping plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity correlations is out! Relationships are weak at the global level, but both positive and negative at smaller scales. Plants are not always proxies for fungi — fungi need their own conservation focus @spun.earth @ethz.ch doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Awesome!

Y'all, I just did this and it was total bliss, a terrifyingly immersive write-a-thon, full of excellent people, massively educational... And I wrote a whole-ass draft from scratch! 5 stars.

Biodiversity is in crisis—so let's act smarter 🌍 💧🍄 Aquatic fungi are key yet overlooked. Help us bring them into conservation & monitoring plans. Take our quick survey (10–15 min) 🔗 forms.office.com/e/UjCrG1L8YV #biodiversity #conservation #monitoring #aquaticfungi

New paper out from the Cheeke Lab led by @raeberner.bsky.social with @balachaudhary.bsky.social & Geoff Zahn. Congrats Rae! academic.oup.com/femsle/advan...

Fungal spores reveal a global climate footprint on microbes' traits! Incorporating microbial traits improves predictions of biogeographic shifts. Fun project w @balachaudhary.bsky.social @smriti-pehim-limbu.bsky.social @sturmer.bsky.social @aguilart.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Yay! My amazing undergrad, Austen Miller, has finally joined science bluesky. Give him a follow: @greenwoodthegreat.bsky.social ‪ He does cool #microbiome work, already knows how to bioinformaticize, and will be looking for PhD programs soon.

Had such a lovely and productive meeting in Madison! #msafungi25

Come check out my talk today (last slot of the agro-eco session) to hear about restoring soils #MSAFungi25

#MSAFungi25 off to a great start. Too many cool sessions to choose from so I might just sit here instead

I know there’s a lot of news right now but this is really crazy. They’re booting the National Science Foundation out of its newish building with no plans for where 1800 people are going to go.

We are seeking information, expertise, & advice, to support inclusion of aquatic fungi into Conservation & Monitoring.💧🍄 Take our quick survey (10–15 min) 🔗 forms.office.com/e/UjCrG1L8YV Soon available in more languages: linktr.ee/FUNACTION_EU #biodiversity #conservation #monitoring #aquaticfungi

Coastal Virginia is so hot and muggy my legs are sticking together and I could.not.be.happier after the "longest winter of my life!"

Any students want to apply for this to study microbiome assembly processes with simulations and microcosms?? Hit me up! www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Busy making "A field guide to Eastern mushrooms at cycling speed"

Marine Fungi are found everywhere in the ocean. They are recyclers, a goldmine of compounds and symbiotic with other marine life. I chat about Marine Fungi in the BBC programme 'Secrets of the Sea'. Follow the link 👉 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p... @thembauk.bsky.social @plymbiomarsci.bsky.social

Very cool. Very important!

🚨🚨 Alarming NSF policy update By accepting an NSF award, an institution now must say it's: 1. Not engaging in boycotts of Israel (yes really) 2. Not advancing or promoting DEI in violation of anti-discrimination laws Announced via a footnote today: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/gc1-ma...

🚨🚨🚨 Webinar alert! Come celebrate International Day of Biodiversity with us & learn all about #aquatic #fungi! @protectspecies.bsky.social @iucnfungi.bsky.social @iucnaquafungi.bsky.social @funaction.bsky.social @mostfun.bsky.social @shoalorg.bsky.social

Currently in an NSF Intuit meeting and.... It's Orwellian. Like talking to a broken chat bot. "Should we use 15% indirect?" "Please refer to the new priorities document." "It's not clear, can you just tell us?" "Please refer to the new priorities document."

Looking for a database to functionally assign your 18S (terrestrial)data to trophic groups? Look no further! Our article is published here: doi.org/10.1111/1755... and you can find the database here as a R package: github.com/lentendu/Euk... #soils #eukaryotes #protists #fungi

How ugly can you make a fasta file? Collaborator gave our class a fasta in a word doc, so we're returning our gene predictions similarly!

This was fun. Maybe sponges are a good way to monitor marine #fungi from the water column! Nature's nuclepore filters 😀 Congrats @valeriomazzella.bsky.social

Salt lake City

📢 I wrote an article with @jonathancazabonne.bsky.social for @theconversation.com about the need for fungal conservation (and funding, and attention all-round)! We also mention knowledge shortfalls and #Laboulbeniomycetes as a case study for poorly studied taxa. theconversation.com/fungi-are-am...

Hynson lab is looking for a postdoc. Hang in Hawaii and Australia and do cool plant-fungus #mycology research! Share widely because this looks cool hynsonlab.com/2024/07/25/w...

So emotional seeing my first-ever teaching evaluations! 😭 Creating all the materials from scratch was tough, but incredibly rewarding. I put a lot of thought into what students need in the AI era—sharing the complete class materials here in case they're helpful: clsong.github.io/EEB_C234/01_...

For early-career scientists (postdocs, Assist. Profs) - a fun 6-day workshop on grant writing in the mountains of Virginia. Think, write, hike, and interact with colleagues. What’s not to love? Workshop Dates: July 20 - 26, 2025 Deadline to register: July 6 mlbs.virginia.edu/grant-writin...

Yes!!! Note: -Lab meetings will be held at an oyster bar (I'm buying) -We have several cool systems to work in -Flexible mentorship to match your goals -Lots of #mycology kitsh -Highly collaborative -Williamsburg is cute as hell

The Zahn lab is transitioning into the TIDAL Lab this Fall and moving to the Appl. Sci. Department at William & Mary. Would love to chat with students interested in doing a PhD at the nexus of microbial ecology and data science (starting 2026). RP please! gzahn.github.io

No, go back up there! Save yourselves!

Learning so much at "spore camp" with @balachaudhary.bsky.social Check out these AM #fungal spore micrographs. What bacteria are lurking in the sporosphere #microbiome?