This fall I'm thrilled to be joining UMass Amherst (@umassamherst.bsky.social) as an assistant prof. My lab will study photosynthetic evolution, diversity & resilience, focusing on C4 photosynthesis, one of the most remarkably convergent traits in the biosphere. #PlantScience #Evolution #NewPI

Don't forget to join us for the next Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar featuring Dr. Matt Stata! His technical training workshop will be on "Exploring the Many Applications of RNA-seq Data." Learn more and register for this event here: bit.ly/4uDLobX @mattstata.bsky.social

Excited to be leading this WALII webinar on July 9. It's basically going to be a whirlwind tour of common uses for RNA-sew data, plus lots of example scripts that participants can modify and apply to their own datasets.

New review out in Current Biology with colleagues in the Plant Cell Atlas (@plantcellatlas.bsky.social)! We discuss how single-cell genomics is reshaping our understanding of plant cell-type identity and evolution across the Green Lineage. bit.ly/4eAip2Q

Golden oyster mushrooms are both delicious and invasive in Michigan, which is nice because it means I don't have to feel bad about completely pillaging and plundering every single cap I find...

We're excited to share that Rhee Lab member Karine Prado (MSU) will be presenting her research on thermo-adaptation in Death Valley at the BioEM Talks webinar on March 19 at 11 AM EDT! 🌵 Learn more and register: www.bioemtalks.org/march-19-2026 #plantscience

Why yes, I *am* the Mushroom Man.

I'm very pleased to have been a part of this great study, which is now out in Current Biology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A somatic mutation seems to have occurred in my pineapple mint yielding a single albino shoot.

New preprint up: "Single-cell-level response to drought in Sorghum bicolor reveals novel targets for improving water use efficiency." www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Here we show that drought response supersedes differences in cell identity and identify key transcriptional regulators.

This was a long time (too long) in the works, but I'm thrilled that it is finally out: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... "How evolution repeatedly builds complexity: a case study with C4 photosynthesis in Blepharis (Acanthaceae)" And this was chosen for a cover photo:

Will you be attending PSNA 2025? Join PMN members Charles Hawkins, @mattstata.bsky.social ( @msupri.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social ) & Gabrielle Wyatt ( @ucdavisplants.bsky.social ) June 28 at #PSNA2025 To Learn More, Visit: www.psna2025.com @psna-official.bsky.social

We are pleased to announce our new paper "UnigeneFinder: An Automated Pipeline for Gene Calling From Transcriptome Assemblies Without a Reference Genome" is officially in press at @plantdirectj.bsky.social! Available here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Made friends with a squirrel during a morning coffee break.

New methods paper out: UnigeneFinder is a software tool designed to reduce the redundancy of de novo transcriptome assemblies and produce sets of primary transcripts, coding sequences, and proteins, along with gene expression data. dx.doi.org/10.1002/pld3...

#TansleyReview: #C4 #photosynthesis, trait spectra, and the fast-efficient phenotype Monson et al. 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #LatestIssue

Matt Stata (@mattstata.bsky.social), @rheelab.bsky.social postdoc, has been awarded a PRI Seed Grant for "Cell-Specific Metabolic Remodeling: Mapping C₄ Evolution Through snRNA-seq and Metabolomics in Parallel Intermediate-Rich Lineages." Matt is joined by Co-PIs Beth Holland & Kelem Gashu Alamrie!

Don't forget to register to join PMN members Charles Hawkins, @mattstata.bsky.social ( @msupri.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social ) & Gabrielle Wyatt ( @ucdavisplants.bsky.social ) at #PSNA2025 Early Bird Discount deadline is April 20! To Register: www.psna2025.com @psna-official.bsky.social

Amazing resource for the Arabidopsis and plant community www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...