More signs of spring at last!

Our mibinet project was well received at the fungal genetics conference in Asilomar. @mibinet.bsky.social

Fantastic lecture by Belinda Clarke from @agri-teche.bsky.social to the Gatsby Training Weekend early career researchers on the importance and exciting developments in Agri-Tech.

Our study was a major collaborative effort, bringing together researchers from 17 institutions. It was a pleasure to work alongside everyone, and especially co-lead author William Marsh (who also qualifies as an "Old Friend"), pictured here with me in Gough's Cave.

We also found diverse hunter-gatherer populations across Europe and Anatolia, each with their own weird and wonderful cultural practices, were united by close relationships with dogs. This deep and lasting bond truly cements their status as “man’s best friend.”

Yesterday in @nature.com, we presented the earliest evidence of dogs anywhere in the world — three puppies that were buried by Stone Age hunter-gatherers in Türkiye almost 16,000 years ago. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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

𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: This morning I visited Grange Farm in Top Row to see Biodiversity Net Gain delivering real results. Restoring habitats, supporting development, and backing local farmers with sustainable income while boosting our rural economy. Thank you to Stephen, Mellisa & Eleanor!

Kicking off now @APH_ISP @BBSRC @ukri.org Alternative Career Day. Mark @mjbanfield introducing the exciting program—several of whom are #CelebratingAlumni @johninnescentre.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

Celebrating Careers in Plant Health today with @johninnescentre.bsky.social and TSL! 🌿 Great to hear from TSL Entrepreneur-in-Residence & @getgenome.bsky.social co-founder James Canham on how collaboration drives impact. #AdvancingPlantHealth #CelebratingAlumni @aph-isp.bsky.social

It’s time to say farewell to ERC Research Group Leader Thorsten Langner after nearly 3 years at the institute. He reflects on his time here, key milestones, and what’s next: tinyurl.com/2vce2d6k Congratulations on your new position—we wish you and your team all the best for the future!

Nice spring day in Nagoya

I am extremely excited that my first first-author paper from my PhD is finally out 😆!! We developed a new CLEM workflow to measure lipid densities at the nanoscale. So if you are into lipids and super-resolution imaging approaches, this one is for you: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🥁 🥁 🥁 The Schwartzy award at #fungal26 goes to @cesaree-mg.bsky.social for her outstanding talk on environmental conditions favoring wheat stem rust fungus! 🏆🎉🙌

2026 Fungal Genetics Conference was a great opportunity to learn about a very broad range of fascinating fungi, and to catch up with friends and collaborators. Thanks to the Genetics Society of America for hosting the conference and arranging for so many “blue sky” days (😀). #Fungal26

What an amazing #Fungal26✨ Feeling very inspired– thank you to everyone who shared science and ideas! Thank you to the organisers for my poster award, @gensocuk.bsky.social for sponsoring my attendance and huge thank you @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social for these past years! I will miss the Talbot Lab.

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

Here’s the gang from @thesainsburylab.bsky.social at #Fungal26

What an honor and privilege to organize #fungal26 with the one and only Meritxell Riquelme! Thank you fungal community and @genetics-gsa.bsky.social for making this such a great meeting !

What a way to end #fungal26 We laughed and we cried and we learned so much A great reminder to look back and reflect on the past It can light the way to the future Thank you Nancy Keller for being a light 🕯️ in the field

Nancy Keller- The Perkins/Metzenberg Lecturer - introduces secondary metabolism- The Fungal Crown Jewels

Nawaraj Dulal @nawaraj-dulal.bsky.social reveals the role of tRNA modification and codon usage in Magnaporthe that infect 🥀 rice 🌾 Modifications impact pathogenicity in a codon specific manner #fungal26

Benny Kleinerman asks how does the ancient evolution and modern variation of Ssd1 RNA binding leads to phenotypic diversity across diverse homologs #fungal26

Cryo-electron tomography of appressoria of Magnaporthe introduced by @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social #Fungal26

Césarée Morier-Gxoyiya @cesaree-mg.bsky.social asks what is causing the rise of wheat 🌾 stem rust? Is the rising temperature 🥵 in the UK to blame for this increase? Unlikes the rusts, Césarée will end this cycle (aka her PhD) looking for a postdoc #fungal26

Pikobodies - a revolutionary technology to engineer immunity into plants introduced by @JiorgosKourelis from his work in @kamounlab.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social and now @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social #Fungal26

Check out our new review on exciting advances in molecular tools for studying DNA and RNA biology of fungal pathogens! w/ Matthew Blango @femsjournals.bsky.social @trr124-funginet.bsky.social @leibniz-hki.de academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...

Fungal domestication in action - @benwolfe.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol... #Fungal26

Field work that I could get used to. In the cheese caves. Benjamin Wolfe #Fungal26

Sydney Glassman @sydneyglassman.bsky.social shares the Pyrophilous - or fire 🔥 loving - fungi What makes these fungi good at colonizing after a fire? Are they fast 🏃‍♀️ or thermotolerant 🥵 or can they eat special things 😋? #fungal26

Laila P. Partida-Martinez tells is about endofungal bacteria 🦠 Mycetohabitans 🦠 provides Rhizopus 🍄 with a toxin ☠️ and promotes reproduction Oh and there's a virus in the fungus! #fungal26

Morning #fungal26 and giving and getting some morel support with Greg Bonito

My new word for today is 'pyrocosm' - essentially a fire in a bucket to study 'fire-loving' pyrophilous fungi - more fun than a microcosm experiment I think. @sydneyglassman.bsky.social #Fungal26

Cook your morels and avoid painkillers at night- fungal wisdom at #Fungal26

The Pezizales being introduced by Gregory Bonito include beauties like Scutellinia scutellata- the eyelash fungus. #Fungal26

The locals at Asilomar #Fungal26

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

Starships in fungi are so intriguing & have clearly had enormous (& diverse) impacts on genome evolution. @mycomile.bsky.social So many questions- the catalytic mechanism of YR Captains, target-site selection, how they move between fungi? (anastomosis/ role for parasexuality?) Amazing #Fungal26

M. Catherine Aime discusses the complex life styles of the Rusts (Puccinales) - the prolific plant pathogens 🌱🌾🌿🪴 How are GIANT genomes related to COMPLEX lifecycles?? #fungal26

Eveline Snelders @evelinesnelders.bsky.social reminds us that with all this fresh air 🌬️ comes a few billion fungal 🍄 spores The lack of data describing which fungi are where 🌍 is a major barrier to understanding antifungal 💊 resistance Citizen science 🧑🏾‍🔬👩🏼‍🔬👨🏿‍🔬🧑🏻‍🔬👨🏽‍🔬 can help!! #fungal26

@evelinesnelders.bsky.social shares work utilizing citizen science 👥🥼🧪 to sample for airborne fungal resistance with Schimmelradar (fungal radar) program 🍄📡 - and some really cool results showing land use is a better predictor for azole resistance! 💪🏻 #fungal26

Isheng Jason Tsai @ishengtsai.bsky.social explores the diversity of fungi in carnivorous plants 🥩🏵️ (who btw don't like cheese 🧀) Are the fungi and carnivorous plants working together? #fungal26

What does Emile Gluck-Thaler @mycomile.bsky.social say when his family asks "why do you study fungus 🍄‍🟫?" He wants to solve the mysteries of fungal diversity with starships 🚀 These amazing and giant transporters 🚀 move genetic cargo 🧬📦 far and wide #fungal26

Emile Gluck-Thaler elucidating the mysteries 🔎 🫆 of fungal variation and phenotype using 🚀✨ Starship transposon framework. How do these 🔗 link to and impact fungal evolution? #fungal26

We are grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation for their support of our HP3 project from its very start and their continued investment in our future infrastructure with @johninnescentre.bsky.social

GetGenome is present at the Asilomar Fungal Genetics Conference #fungal26 Come and visit and spread the word about #ggfungi2026

Armin Djamei @effectomics.bsky.social teaches us the language of EFFECTORS. How do U. maydis effectors interfere with 🌽 growth? #fungal26

Yi-Chang Sung @yichangsung.bsky.social examines the role of TKP in plant immunity using a rice 🌾 🍚 model #fungal26

Wheat tandem-kinases 🌾 👯‍♀️ mediate resistance and immunity to fungal pathogens - using a rice 🍚 model to utilize accessible genetic tools. Great talk on some fascinating work by @yichangsung.bsky.social! #fungal26 (Read more here: par.nsf.gov/servlets/pur...)

Matt Fisher receives the new Fungal Spore award endowed by Jay Dunlap and Jennifer Loros before his lecture #fungal26