Excited to see our new preprint on bioRxiv! 🌱🤖 We used AI protein design (RFdiffusion + ProteinMPNN) to build brand-new sensor domains from scratch and installed them in a rice NLR immune receptor engineering recognition of a Fusarium effector FoSSP17

New Preprint: Computational design of de novo integrated domains enables rational control of pathogen effector recognition in plant NLR immune receptors (2026) www.tsl.ac.uk/publications...

Excited to preprint this collaborative study led by @adamrbentham.bsky.social in which computationally-designed protein binders were generated that recognise pathogen effectors leading to a plant immune response when deployed within NLR immune receptors. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Computational design of de novo integrated domains enables rational control of pathogen effector recognition in plant NLR immune receptors. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.10.737686v1

This has been a great project to work on and I’m very excited to see where this technology is headed within plant pathology. Big thanks to all the contributors, especially @yuxuan-xi.bsky.social and @adamrbentham.bsky.social!

Computational design of de novo integrated domains enables rational control of pathogen effector recognition in plant NLR immune receptors. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.10.737686v1

PhD position in my group for entry in October 2026. Round 3 of the @nrpdtp.bsky.social BBSRC competition. Please RT👇 biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...

The mycobiont of the lichen Xanthoria parietina produces the siderophore ferrichrome which enables iron acquisition and nutrient exchange with its algal photobiont. Great collaboration with my group & @metalichen.bsky.social led by Hubertus Haas 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It was fantastic to be back in Norwich! Thank you for the invitation, I was really delighted to talk about my career paths from PhD to now. @nrpdtp.bsky.social

Our last invited speaker for the #NRPDTP26 conference is @hee-kyung-ahn.bsky.social from the @instmolplantsci.bsky.social!

Next we have @pierrebuscaill.bsky.social from the University of Bristol. Today he will talking about how plants regulate bacterial infections. #NRPDTP26

Next we have Camila Cotrim from Better Dairy, discussing her transition into industry and her science on precision fermentation. #NRPDTP26

Next we have Simone Immler from @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social who will be discussing the molecular mechanisms of reproduction.

Our first invited speaker of the #NRPDTP26 conference is Dr Marco Catoni, from the University of Birmingham. Today he’s talking about combining genomics and plant grafting to investigate mobile RNAs.

So proud to see this story finally out!🎉 We added new data since our previous preprint—transgenic barley plants with an engineered immune receptor that fights off two fungal pathogens at once. Short 🧵 and link to the original preprint thread on X👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A great day of talks and posters - looking forward to tomorrow. Especially @metalichen.bsky.social’s talk! #Mendel_ECR_26

Super stoked to be at @gmivienna.bsky.social for MECS2026. Huge thank you to the organizers for the invitation! #Mendel_ECR_26

On the way to the Mendel Early Career Symposium at @gmivienna.bsky.social. Looking forward to some greats talks and posters at a great institute! #Mendel_ECR_26

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.

Shout out to the myco-skeeters 🦋 at #fungal26 It's been fun live posting with you! @germhuntermd.bsky.social @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social @audreykward.bsky.social @angusb.bsky.social @hyphaltip.bsky.social @uehlinglab.bsky.social

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

The one and only @mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social at #Fungal26 talking about ToxA’s journey throughout the stars in different Starships!

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

Want to hear about gene regulation driving pathogenicity in the rice blast fungus? Come to my talk this afternoon at the Cell Wall Synthesis and Remodelling session at 16:40! Or my poster tonight! 🍄 #Fungal26

AI-tools to study fungal effector function introduced by ⁦‪@ahbucknell.bsky.social‬⁩ #Fungal26 #FungalAI @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

Phosphoproteomic analysis of TOR signalling during appressorium development of Magnaporthe ⁦‪@mattwengler.bsky.social ‬⁩ #fungal26

Magnagenes- an open science resource for the Magnaporthe research community with many new functions is being developed ⁦ @thesainsburylab.bsky.social ⁩ by Neha Sahu ⁩ #Magnafest26 #Fungal26

I’ll be talking today at the #Fungal26 concurrent session: AI in Fungal Research. I’ll be presenting on protein design in M. oryzae at 15:20 in the Fred Farr Forum. I’ll also be presenting my poster (#651A) tonight - come say hi!

Goodbye #Magnafest26, and hello #Fungal26! A big thanks to @osesmir.bsky.social and @frankmenke.bsky.social for organising this year’s meeting, as well as all the presenters! Looking forward to seeing the research in the greater fungal research community at FGC!

Fabio Dos Santos Barbosa on dissecting the Sln1 turgor-sensor pathway and its role in appressorium function. #Magnafest26 #Fungal26 @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

Here is our very own 'PhosphoJave' Bautista introducing his family of phosphorylated fungal effectors and their potential regulation #Magnafest26 #Fungal26

Euan Cawston on investigating the role of Mst7 and identifying potential scaffolds of the Pmk1 MAPK pathway #Magnafest26 #Fungal26 @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

En route to #Fungal26 with the @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social group

Out in New Phytologist! The annotated blueprint: integrated functional genomic resources for a model tetraploid wheat cv. Kronos 🌾 chromosome-scale genome, high-conf annotations, manually curated 1000+ NLRs, ~3000 remapped datasets 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/nph.... #Plants #Genomics #FunctionalGenomics

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

So happy to have @mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social with us for the day!

Delighted that our work on the Sanctuary Starship #transposon is now published! A big thanks to all co-authors, especially to the ever-amazing @mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social for her mentorship! doi.org/10.1128/mbio...

I talk a lot about Rust for building high-perf (& even non-perf critical) software, & scientific software in particular. I often discuss what's interesting to me, but wanted to offer the chance to those interested for me to answer their questions about Rust in science. Fire away with questions!🧬🖥️

You designed binders for your favourite protein and wish there was a way to experimentally screen them within 24h w/ only a set of pipettes and a plate reader? Check out our Cell-Free 2-Hybrid approach (CF2H) Full post: tinyurl.com/48cz5nb6 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

#2025ISMPMI Agnus Bucknell of the Talbot lab gives an exciting presentation to engineer fungal effectors recognizing immune sensors based on Pik1. Great and clear talk.

#2025ISMPMI Want to know about transcriptional regulation driving pathogenicity in the blast fungus? Come to my poster (P-156) session today! From 13:30 to 15:15 🌾

@angusb.bsky.social wants to engineer plant resistance proteins (NLRs) from scratch. Can we create protein domains to integrate into NLRs to catch pathogen effectors? New tech makes this possible now. Chose Magnaporthe and Fusarium effectors as targets - many steps later, it worked! #2025ISMPMI

@mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social presents on the ToxB fungal effector. Pacbio long-read sequencing ~doubles detection of transposons compared to short-read. Helpful for finding where the multiple copies of ToxB -flanked by TEs- are throughout the genome. Sometimes in tandem copies! #2025ISMPMI

Excited to attend my 1st ISMPMI conference, and present our work on a paired wheat CNL/MLKL receptor mechanism! 🌾 Come chat to me at my poster on Tuesday, P-050! 📜 If you miss my poster session, I will be talking in: Crop resistance genetics and genomics on Wednesday - 16:25-16:35!

Big thanks to everyone who stopped by my poster today at #2025ISMPMI! For those that missed it, you can check it out on Zenodo! zenodo.org/records/1588...

Looking forward to #2025ISMPMI next week! I'll be presenting during the Engineering Plant-Microbe Traits session on Thursday, 17th. I'll be sharing some exciting collaborative work which will also be showcased by me at P-427 (Session 1, 14th) and Yuxuan Xi at P-193 (Session 2, 16th)! Come say hi!

Happy to have been featured in the Robigalia newsletter, led by @myrtlerustmartino.bsky.social. I would highly recommend checking out the newsletter for weekly plant pathology news and jobs/scholarships! robigalia.beehiiv.com/p/robigalia-...

We did it! We caught Starship #transposons moving between #fungal species in the lab, including between species separated by ~100my. We think Starships are a mediator of HGT in fungi, akin to conjugative elements in bacteria. Check out the preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Opportunities to do some great science with a great supervisor! Having worked in Megan’s lab for my Master’s research I can personally attest to how great of a PI she is!

If you're from the UK and are looking for a PhD, don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Amazing lab and amazing project!