@prereview.bsky.social is a great model for broadening participation in the review process!

Our paper showing that variation in transcription factor binding sites underlies the majority of additive genetic variance for phenotypic variation in maize is finally out! Sadly they didn't use our suggested cover image below (made by the inimitable Andi Kur). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

SPEECHLESS duplication in grasses expands potential for environmentalregulation of stomatal development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.29.667563v1

"We found that TF orthologues from distant species retain nearly identical binding preferences, while on the same timescales the gain and loss of TFBSs are widespread." From: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Conservation of chromatin states and their association with transcription factors in land plants https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.12.664529v1

So grateful to be one of the 500+ early-career scientists returning to their roots this month. The SNAP team behind this campaign has been such a blast to work with! @snapcoalition.bsky.social Check out my piece in the Marietta Daily Journal, as well as other national coverage: bit.ly/3HXlfB4

I just like to post these data from time to time to puncture the mythological aura of mid 20th c protests. They were less popular than pretty much any 21st c mass action & people criticizing them used the same lines. Protest is about people coming together, shaping narratives, & building power.

We're excited to share PlantCAD browser tracks: a new, unpublished dataset integrating AI techniques for plant genome analysis. Explore it here: github.com/andorfc/Plan... We welcome the community's feedback and innovative use cases for this data!

URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯 Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below. This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.

“I would like to cure brain cancer. I think that's not particularly controversial.” Be that as it may, the NIH terminated that scientist's grant. Here's a huge survey of the 2,500 grants that NIH has killed or delayed...so far. Gift link: nyti.ms/43Jz1yJ

New comparative proteomics study from our lab, led by Elad Oren! Contrasting summer and winter protein expression in five perennial grass species, we identified three proteins consistently linked to freezing tolerance across independent adaptations. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Holy shit. We have to move the needle on public perception of science. Scientists, share your story in a LOCAL HOMETOWN PAPER op-ed, published June 16! #McClintockLetters #SciComm Share how we serve the public with fed dollars, & insights into fed funded research. tinyurl.com/McClintockLetters

Thread with an email being sent to @asn-amnat.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social members today calling for a Tri-society week of action for NSF: Dear members: The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.

Replicated repurposing of an ancestral transcriptional complex in land plants https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.25.650595v1

Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH. Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH. HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH. 99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH. Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.

New preprint from my PhD! How cis-regulatory evolution shaped grass diversification worldwide www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We looked across 589 (!) grass species to ask: — What regulatory changes enabled grasses to adapt? — How can this inform crop breeding for resilience? Here’s what we found:

The lesson for universities is you may as well fight back. You'll lose the money either way. The only question is whether you keep your dignity.

Predictably, it’s our turn to be viciously targeted by this ruthless, short-sighted and spiteful administration. We will RESIST and I have trust in Cornell leadership to mount a potent defense to protect our community and values and ultimately prevail over this evil. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

This morning, my @pewresearch.org colleagues published a fantastic report comparing the U.S. general public's attitudes about AI with those of AI experts. Perhaps not surprisingly, there are big differences in positivity towards AI, but there are also fascinating points of agreement. /1

Whenever I post about climate, skeptical folks inevitable respond with this graph. So I decided to do something radical: actually read the underling scientific paper and ask the authors. As it turns out, it actually says the opposite of what skeptics claim: www.theclimatebrink....

I keep seeing people just do something they think maybe would be helpful and watching that snowball and it's just amazing. Don't wait for permission, don't wait to be invited. Pick something you think needs to happen and that you can do, and do that thing.

THE RESIST LIST IS HERE. Proud my team just started this @resistlist.bsky.social, which will list actions that happened and that are slated to happen.

US plant science peeps: this is a *very* informative summary of the current state of plant science funding, and a call for your stories to help @aspbofficial.bsky.social make their case with public officials. Please re-skeet! 🧪 #PlantScience blog.aspb.org/research-imp...

To US colleagues who have lost or are in imminent danger of losing their jobs: please DM whether we can accommodate your research.

If you’re in the US and you’d like to know what projects and vital services federal grants currently fund in your state, you can search here: www.usaspending.gov And you can find the contact information for your elected representatives here: www.usa.gov/elected-offi... They need to hear from you.

New post responding to @mikegrunwald.bsky.social's oped in @nytimes.com Grunwald may be right that industrial farming is necessary. But his clear-eyed realism about environmental challenges should extend to animal welfare too - both need pragmatic solutions consistent with food abundance.

New preprint from @sjsnodgrass.bsky.social and our colleagues showing variable fractionation in Zea and Tripsacum post-polyploidy. We welcome your thoughts as we work toward submission to a journal. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If you're a graduate student working on crop wild relatives, consider applying to give a talk at our grad student-led symposium at Cornell April 11, 2025! More info and application form here: lnkd.in/gZuwbq4s

The New Phytologist “next generation scientists 2025” meeting will be held at the University of Birmingham, 4th-7th August 🌱🌳 This is a free event aimed at early career plant scientists. For details of the meeting, eligibility, and how to apply, click here : www.newphytologist.org/nextgenevent...

Our lab has been dissecting the genomes of hundreds of wild grass species to figure out how to increase nutrient circularity in corn and reduce GHG emissions. Check out this piece on CERCA, our collaborative project with groups across the country! foundationfar.org/news/ffar-gr...

This is an important initiative to get more clean power in the world's tenth biggest economy! Please take a minute to add a comment, especially if you're a New Yorker

What's the deal with vertical farming? *Can* potentially work for a small group of crops: mostly greens and possibly some fruits. But far too expensive for cereals or other staple crops. My latest Substack which digs into the numbers: www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/vertical-f...

new preprint from the lab! Elli Cryan, coadvised but the inimitable @spicybotrytis.bsky.social, does a deep dive into the GA incompatibility loci in maize, finding complex haplotypes, overturning evolutionary origins, and discovering a paramutation system! A 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Important: This is what DALL-E thinks I'd look like as a prairie grass

Hello out there! 🌱 I study cis-regulatory evolution in grasses using big comparative genomics. Big-picture, I want to harness the amazing diversity of wild plants to help breed the next generation of crops 🌽 🌾 Here to connect and learn from folks passionate about ag/climate/evolution/genomics!