Olga Lastovetsky

Amazing collection of fungal #endophytes isolated by 3rd year UCD microbiology students during lab practicals this term. These came from ivy leaves collected on the @ucddublin.bsky.social campus

What drugs are safe during pregnancy? There’s a shocking lack of data Nature - Drug trials have typically excluded pregnant people for safety reasons. But that’s now starting to change.

Fears over adverse consequences and associated policy restrictions mean that pregnant people have been largely excluded from clinical trials

go.nature.com/465wTDk

Over one-third of cancer cases are preventable, massive study finds A large fraction of cancers are linked to two modifiable habits: tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption.

Nearly 40% of new cancer cases worldwide are potentially preventable, according to one of the first investigations of its kind

go.nature.com/3NSmWmw

The best foods for healthy ageing ― and the worst Study of more than 100,000 people supports your parents’ advice: eat your veggies.

Study of more than 100,000 people supports your parents’ advice: eat your vegetables

go.nature.com/3MEaHcI

Delicious food at the MInt lab Holiday potluck 🎄Happy almost holidays everyone!

Whoa! These are amazing!! #FungiArt

Why universities need to radically rethink exams in the age of AI Nature - Academia is unprepared for the rise in chatbot use among students — but with the right AI tools, personalized learning could soon become a reality.

Academia is unprepared for the rise in chatbot use among students

go.nature.com/4iPtlKz

SPUN is #hiring 👉 spun.bamboohr.com/careers

We're looking to fill the following positions:

1. Fungal Molecular Ecologist
2. Designer
3. Communications Assistant

Apply now and share with your networks 🌍

#Careers #Fungi #ScienceJobs #ScienceCommunication #Mycology

Sixth Webinar Root-Benefit COST ACTION WG2 (Part 2): Dr. Olga Lastovesky (University College Dublin) YouTube video by Root-Benefit European COST ACTION

Had a great time presenting at the latest ROOT-BENEFIT COST Action WG2 webinar youtu.be/NqJJvwWcLOI highlighting our research on #AMF and their endobacteria #MInt @rootbenefit.bsky.social

Fig. 2 Phylogenetically distinct structures produced by the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal mycelium.

✨ Paper spotlight ✨

Mycelial Dynamics in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

(🧵 1/5) Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form vast underground hyphal networks that support plant life.

📢 It is tomorrow!!!
The first webinar in our second WG2 series!!
We will have the pleasure of having two excellent speakers:
- Prof. Andrea Genre (University of Turin, Italy).
- Dr. Olga Lastovetsky (University College Dublin, Ireland)
#costaction
conectava.csic.es/B/raf-k1s-mp...

‘Google for DNA’ brings order to biology’s big data MetaGraph compresses vast data archives into a search engine for scientists, opening up new frontiers of biological discovery.

Metagraph: the new search engine that can quickly sift through the staggering volumes of biological data housed in public repositories

go.nature.com/48lM8Kh

Host-mediated homogeneous selection on specific bacterial and fungal taxa exhibits significant sexual dimorphism in Ginkgo biloba.

Sexually dimorphic # microbiota in #Ginkgo #biloba

📖https://buff.ly/Th3jr4k
by Lin et al.

@WileyPlantSci #PlantSci

What Everyone Should Know About Fungi by Age 15

4️⃣ Mycorrhizal fungi help draw down ~13 billion tons of carbon into the soil annually–nearly 1/3 of global emissions from fossil fuels.

See the top 10 list (buff.ly/56WQ1oO) and follow for new fungal facts.

📢🍄Job alert🍄📢
The Department of Plant Biology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is hiring an Assistant Professor in Mycology/Plant-Fungal Interactions. Deadline to apply: 31 October 2025.
illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

It's a pro con

Agar art: Microbes make the world go ground.

The 2025 agar art contest is open and accepting submissions until Oct. 26! The theme is “Microbes Make the World Go Round.” Submit your artwork and showcase the vital role microbes play in our daily lives. All are welcome to apply! See contest details: asm.org/events/asm-a...

🚀The Future is Fungi Award is back—ready to back the next wave of fungi innovators! 
The awards' mission is to catalyze groundbreaking fungal innovations that address some of humanity’s biggest environmental challenges—and to support the startups and science entrepreneurs pioneering these solutions.

Giraffes are four distinct species, major report confirms The revised classification will help ensure different giraffe populations are adequately protected, conservationists say

Giraffes, long considered a single species, are in fact four. https://scim.ag/4n2po6f

Examples of the responses to light of fungi. (A) Light induces the biosynthesis of the orange carotenoid pigment neurosporaxanthin in the vegetative mycelia of N. crassa, but this pigment is synthesized in large quantities in vegetative spores (conidia). When N. crassa grows in tubes with slanted media, orange conidia accumulate at the top of the tube, allowing the visualization of the difference between the orange mycelia of the wild-type and the white mycelia of the blind mutant white collar-1 (wc-1). (B) Blue light guides the growth, phototropism, of fruiting bodies, sporangiophores, of Phycomyces blakesleeanus. Light applied from one side of the sporangiophore during 5 minutes is sufficient to observe a change in the direction of growth. The photograph shows a side view (upper part) or the top view (bottom part) of a plate with P. blakesleeanus fruiting bodies growing toward light (arrow).

#MicrobiologyMonday: How do fungi see the world?🍄👁️They can detect colors using photoreceptors, with blue light serving as a key signal to guide fungal growth. In #MMBRJournal, researchers explore the role of photoreceptors in fungal biology: asm.social/2yD

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...

Out now!

🍫🦠A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour #chocolate fermentation

By Gabriel Castrillo, David Salt & co

#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪

Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...

One of my favourite papers of 2025 so far and its on chocolate! 🍫

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation

🧪 Read the paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🔎 The associated news & views here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🍄Mark your calendars for March 17-22, 2026 for #Fungal26! Registration will open October 25, 2025. We can’t wait to see you at Asilomar in absolutely beautiful Pacific Grove, California. Start planning today!

🔗Stay updated on all the important information at buff.ly/BjAlE2j.

Have a minute? 😂

Exclusive: retraction-prone editors identified at megajournal PLoS ONE Nature - Study says small editor group handled many problematic manuscripts — and a Nature investigation finds out who they are.

Nearly one-third of all retracted papers at PLoS ONE can be traced back to just 45 researchers who served as editors at the journal

go.nature.com/4frnv04

This illustration depicts the changes in the immune system throughout an individual’s life span, from infancy to childhood, adulthood, and older age.

A new special issue of Science explores the immune system at the molecular and cellular level and how it has evolved to govern multiple facets of human health.

Learn more: scim.ag/3IYhnk7

Theory of host-microbe symbioses: Challenges and opportunities Growing insight into microbial symbioses highlights the need to model these systems mathematically. We discuss three areas requiring theoretical advancement: nested ecology within a host or holobiont,...

Theory of host-microbe symbioses: Challenges & opportunities

Discussion on mathematical modeling of microbial symbioses with 3 noted areas requiring advancement: nested ecology w/in host or holobiont, holobiont population dynamics & symbiont-mediated speciation
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Living organisms utilize electrical signaling to perceive and respond to environmental stimuli.
Buffi et al. summarize methodological approaches and challenges in electrical signaling in filamentous #fungi.
buff.ly/92Ztpip
#FEMSMicrobiolRev

Excited to share our first paper on the symbiosis between chlamydiae and social amoebae showing in detail the adaptations of endosymbionts to the social life style of their host! 🎉

First human genome from ancient Egypt sequenced from 4,800-year-old teeth Nature - Forty years after the first effort to extract mummy DNA, researchers have finally generated a full genome sequence from an ancient Egyptian.

Forty years after the first effort to extract mummy DNA, researchers have finally generated a full genome sequence from an ancient Egyptian

https://go.nature.com/44O0Sze