Today's accomplishment: needed to convert HOMER motif files to MEME motif files, wrote a script to do it and put it on GitHub for everyone doing motif-y things to use! Find it here: github.com/achpardo/hom... and let me know how it works for you!
oh noooooo
The image is an announcement for a new publication from the MSU Plant Resilience Institute. At the top, a green banner displays the title "NEW PRI PUBLICATION" in bold white text. Below is the paper title in white over a textured green background: “Variability in drought gene expression datasets highlights the need for paired physiology and community standardization.” Two circular headshot photos on the left show a man and a woman. To the right are six bar charts in a grid depicting various data related to plant resilience. Each chart has a title: "Plant age," "Environment," "Media," "Stress duration," "Mechanism of drying," and "Paired physiology datasets." Text at the bottom, states: "VanBuren et al., Plant Physiology (2026).” Logos for Michigan State University and the Plant Resilience Institute are at the bottom left.
How comparable are plant drought studies, really? In a new @plantphys.bsky.social paper, a team of Plant Resilience Institute scientists, led by @bobvanburen.bsky.social, reanalyze hundreds of drought gene expression datasets and introduce new ML tools. #PlantScience
🔗: doi.org/10.1093/plph...
If you're an #EcoEvo #PhD candidate anywhere in the world looking for project funding, consider applying for the @asn-amnat.bsky.social Student Research Award.
Ten proposals for $2k in research funds will be awarded. Due 13 March 2026.
Please share widely! 🧪 #grants #ecology #evolution #behavior
What a gift! What a beautiful gift to be required to plan for good things in the long-term. That's all. I think that's all I have for now.
Looking for something to do next today at #PAG33? Stop by Plant Gene Expression Analysis, starting at 4:00PM in Pacific F-G!
Very excited for this workshop!
Heading to #PAG33 to present 'regulation of environment responses' in 'Plant Epigenetics for Crop Improvement' session on Mon, 01/12. Shout-out to Yuvraj & Minnie for driving comparative genomics, epigenomics & single-cell work!
We are also looking for a postdoc to join our group!
Details below 👇
Photo of Yucca gloriosa growing in a sand dune.
#PAG33 friends, go check out postdoc in the lab Anna Pardo's talk on Monday at 4:20pm in the Plant Gene Expression Analysis Workshop. She's talking about a huge time course RNA-seq dataset from a homoploid Yucca hybrid that uses both C3 + CAM photosynthesis!
@annapardo-phd.bsky.social
Yucca tax:
okay had to take the dog out. CONTINUING.
Point 2: what do you want your audience to learn / what does your audience want to learn? Sometimes those are two different things.
Mistake I often make is worrying about the two or three most knowledgeable people in the audience and what will they think. Have to remind myself that if I present just to them I lose the other 95%.
My favorite bit of science writing advice is "Assume your audience is smart but doesn't have the vocabulary yet." I've had a ton of success with this approach! And when you treat people like they're smart but just need some definitions they often feel empowered to ask really interesting questions
@annapardo-phd.bsky.social is a computational biologist who studies plant genomics and abiotic stress responses. Her recent work in #G3journal identified genes related to common stress physiology responses as well as stress-related transcription factors.
9/19🧵
The latest issue of #G3journal features a curated database of stress-responsive genes in maize across stressors from @annapardo-phd.bsky.social, @bobvanburen.bsky.social, and colleagues generated via meta-analysis of public #transcriptomic data.
Learn more about this resource here: buff.ly/znaNWQg
He really was the best dog 😭
I started getting reports of an unseasonal Joshua tree bloom in the last few weeks, and looking over records on @inaturalist.bsky.social it's pretty widespread! So we're putting out the call for folks to record this "bonus bloom" and help us study it 🌿
lab.jbyoder.org/2025/12/10/w...
same here!! best Freudian slip in my opinion
nooo not Gunther 😭 I'm so sorry Kathleen
Latest in #G3journal: @annapardo-phd.bsky.social, Jeremy Pardo, @bobvanburen.bsky.social curated core stress-responsive genes in maize across stressors through meta-analysis of public RNA-seq data, generating a valuable resource for understanding stress tolerance mechanisms in maize. buff.ly/AfhRWHX
Update: I will be speaking in the Plant Gene Expression Analysis workshop on Monday, Jan. 12! If you'll be at PAG this year, come hear about gene expression and faculatative CAM in a homoploid hybrid Yucca!
So excited to put this out into the world! Many thanks to coauthors Jeremy Pardo and @bobvanburen.bsky.social who helped make this paper what it is today. Please give it a read if you're interested, and feel free to contact me with questions!
By combining set operations and random forest classification methods, I found 744 core genes across six stressors in a set of almost 1,900 public maize RNA-seq samples. I also found that this set was enriched in regulatory genes, especially stress-responsive transcription factors.
After years of reading about abiotic stress, I started noticing similar physiological responses to drought, salt, cold, etc., which made me wonder: was there a core set of genes that was responsive as well?
Spoiler alert: yes, there is!
So proud that my first PhD chapter is now out in G3: doi.org/10.1093/g3jo...
Brief story in the thread below! ⬇️
You've probably heard how a high percentage of #Nobel laureates are immigrants. The US in particular has benefited from the influx of bright minds.
@jennaahart.bsky.social ran the data for this century's Nobel prizewinners — and shows more than 30% immigrated. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Are you organizing a talk session at PAG 33? I would love to speak about my postdoc work on the genomics of variable facultative CAM photosynthesis in a hybrid Yucca species! Possible workshop topics include: hybrid genomics, abiotic stress, non-model species. Please DM me if you're interested!
Are you organizing a talk session at PAG 33? I would love to speak about my postdoc work on the genomics of variable facultative CAM photosynthesis in a hybrid Yucca species! Possible workshop topics include: hybrid genomics, abiotic stress, non-model species. Please DM me if you're interested!
Interested in giving a talk at the Plant and Animal Genome conference (PAG 33) in San Diego?
Together with several colleagues, we are arranging 5 interconnected sessions.
To submit an abstract, please fill out this Google Form before Oct 12th, 2025:
forms.gle/q7j275Di6umY...
Super excited about this new Open Rank tenure-track faculty search for the MSU Plant Resilience Institute. We successfully hired two excellent new faculty in our last search and we are hoping to build on that success with this search. careers.msu.edu/jobs/assista...
Application review begins in one week for the MSU herbarium director position!!!! More info here: plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...
