Olivia Carmo

RNA-specific local translation is patterned by condensates for multinucleate cell growth - Nature Cell Biology Geisterfer, Jalihal et al. show spatially distinct effects of Whi3 condensates on target translation in Ashbya syncytia. In vitro, translation is enriched at condensate–solute interfaces but repressed...

Condensates are powerful ways to break symmetry and cells do remarkable things with them. Here we show that in a multinucleate fungus, a condensate regulates translation of a cyclin and a formin in distinct locations.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. MicroSEA course integrates lectures, field sampling, and lab-based practicals in advanced techniques, such as flow cytometry, microscopy, culturing, and molecular analysis. The main objectives of MicroSEA course are: Fostering a deep understanding of marine protist diversity, ecology and biology; Providing hands-on training in advanced single-cell methods that are not commonly available in university programs; Building participants' confidence in designing and conducting research projects from field to data analysis; Promoting international collaborations and peer networking among students and speakers/trainers. The course will take place at the Station Biologique de Roscoff - SBR (France) - 7th to 12th of June, 2026 (arrival on the 6th, departure on the 13th). 20 participants will be selected, including 10 from EuroMarine member institutes. https://opbc.sciencesconf.org/

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing:

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org

#protistsonsky

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

After over 2 years - our new preprint is finally out! “Rational design of disordered proteins for systematic sequence-to-function investigation”! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New paper! From Sam Snodgrass and @genomeofforrest.bsky.social, w/ @druncie.bsky.social, @gcbias.bsky.social, and a collaboration with Andres Moreno and @santiagogmm.bsky.social. Can we quantify the impact of humans on maize dispersal?

Plant yourself in a comfy chair and lend me your ear:

1/10

NSF building on Eisenhower Av. HUD now owns.

Destroying the NSF mural in the foyer. Of the Eisenhower building.

The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.

The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.

We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.

Has napari helped your research this year? Why not say thank you to free and open source software by making a small donation? Every bit helps your friendly core team fix bugs and bring new features to life! CZI will match up to $75K in donations! […]

[Original post on fosstodon.org]

The architecture of resilience: a genome assembly of Myrothamnus flabellifolia sheds light on desiccation tolerance and sex determination Myrothamnus flabellifolia is a dioecious resurrection plant endemic to southern Africa that has become an important model for understanding desiccation tolerance. Despite its ecological and medicina...

The January issue of New Phytologist is online now, featuring on the cover @roseamarks.bsky.social’s article on the physiology and genomics of the resurrection plant, Myrothanus flabellifolia. doi.org/10.1111/nph....

(I’m posting here for Dr. Marks, who is currently doing field work off the grid)

Boxing up the NSF at Eisenhower Av for the forced relocation. Boxes have “Details Matter” signage.

NSF

- Forced reorg

- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)

- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)

I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃

Come to Biomalpar xxii!!! We have an outstanding line up of speakers!!!

It is a true honor to be an organizer of Biomalpar. It was the first conference I ever attended during my 2nd PhD year so it feels special.

And don't miss the beautiful poster image from Hannah Fleckenstein!

Pteridology (FERNS) with Dr. Fay-Wei Li — alie ward Fronds. Forest dwellers. Spores. Houseplants. Queer icons. We’ve got ferns. The charming and hilarious professor and author of “Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants,” Dr. Fay-...

WE GOT FERNS, folks.

I hope you like ferns. If you don’t, just listen and you will like ferns. 🌿🌿🌿

Dr. Li is hilarious and charming and you will love him. And ferns.

In conclusion: ferns.

www.alieward.com/ologies/pter...

Excited to release the Herculean efforts of @scottchisholm.bsky.social &Co. defining the subcellular #hyperLOPIT spatial proteome of #Plasmodium schizonts. Proteomes defining 24 subcellular niches, including exported compartments in the blood cell, are identified.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I am looking forward to sharing a bit of our research on #seeds and #desiccationtolerance in the first WALII Symposium!🤩🧐🤓🌱
#plantresearch #plantscifyi

David Jones PhD manuscript on how mild heat stress (experienced during fever episodes in most malaria infections)changes the cytoadhesion behavior of parasite infected red blood cells is now online and reviewed in eLife.

elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Manipulating condensation of thermo-sensitive SUF4 protein tunes flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana Meyer et al. present evidence that protein liquid-liquid phase separation may serve as a physical mechanism for coordinating plant development and flowering time with environmental seasonality.

Our SUF4 condensation paper is finally out! cell.com/cell-reports... Thank you to everyone who has scientifically, mentally, and emotionally supported my co-authors and me over the years. Below is a summary of the work-- we hope you enjoy our findings!

Active transport enables protein condensation in cells The force generated by active transport modulates protein condensation.

Biomolecular condensates are critical for organizing cellular contents, but most studies focus on phase separation driven by salt, pH, or temperature.
But what if intracellular movement also matters?
Here, we explore motility-induced condensation in the cell.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Now published! Big congrats to first author @gginell.bsky.social

We are actively working improving/updating various aspects of FINCHES; don't hesitate to reach out if you run into issues, have questions.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#NSF had a 11am meeting. By 11:07, I received a message from our program officer stating, "the entire Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM has just been dissolved and the entire staff fired."

This attack on science, research and academic freedom is unconscionable!
www.savensf.com/take-action

Amid DOGE-induced turmoil, National Science Foundation in crisis The $9 billion agency, which exists solely to fund researchers, projects and facilities outside its Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters, is hitting reverse on its mission.

🚨 Science nerds: TIME FOR ACTION!! 🧪

The past two weeks have been horrendous for NSF. Will only continue to get worse, with likely more hits and fuckery today & tomorrow.

See this new @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social article for where we are today (gift link).

🧵 But then most importantly...

My NSF PRFB on the genetics of female polymorphism in hummingbirds was terminated yesterday.

I don't have much to say, I'm just sad. We've discovered so much, and could have gone so much further.

If anyone else is in the same boat, esp postdocs, please reach out, it would be good to connect.

Thank you, @waliianhydro.bsky.social ! It's an honor to represent fellow trainees and serve the WALII community. I cherish this community so much, and I'm so proud of all the resources we continue to invest in trainees and ECRs. #drytosurvive #NSForever

UnigeneFinder: An Automated Pipeline for Gene Calling From Transcriptome Assemblies Without a Reference Genome For most species, transcriptome data are much more readily available than genome data. Without a reference genome, gene calling is cumbersome and inaccurate because of the high degree of redundancy i...

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/...

I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.

Happy to share this super interesting perspective we wrote on desiccation tolerance research. Congratulations to the great team of researchers involved!
#plantresearch #desiccation

Jacob Suissa and I wrote a #book about #ferns! It's beautifully illustrated by the amazing artist Laura Silburn. Will be released in May and you can preorder from Amazon. We hope this book could help you forget all the bad things happening on Earth right now. More here: mailchi.mp/btiscience/f...

Life on the dry side: a roadmap to understanding desiccation tolerance and accelerating translational applications - Nature Communications Desiccation tolerance is an extreme adaptation to water limitation. Here the authors envisage a roadmap to advance desiccation tolerance research, highlight key knowledge gaps, call for standardizatio...

our perspective on desiccation tolerance research is out in
@naturecomms.bsky.social. with nearly forty authors from around the world spanning diverse career stages and disciplines, this work represents a shared vision for the field. let us know what you think!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

University of California sets hiring freeze in anticipation of Trump cuts The University of California has imposed a system-wide hiring freeze and made additional cuts, its president said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to try to mitigate the impact of sharp cuts in federal funding.

University of California announced a systemwide hiring freeze. This affects not 1 but 10 campuses (including UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, UC San Diego among others) plus 3 national labs with impact on medical and scientific research and local economies.

www.reuters.com/world/us/uni...

A flier advertising a summer intern position at the Boothby Lab. Investigate the material and biophysical properties that allow for survival and protection in the solid, desiccated state while working on a citizen science initiative to identify the taxonomy and geographical distribution of tardigrades. The position is for the Summer of 2025 and the application window closes March 31st, 2025.

The deadline to submit applications is approaching!🗓️

Explore life’s extreme limits in the Boothby Lab! Work with tardigrades to uncover how organisms survive without water.

To Apply: bit.ly/BoothbyLab

An online, student-led symposium series. Radicle Science. A teach-in for plant scientists organising for political impact. Plant science is political. Come join us for a discussion on plant scientists' involvement in politics throughout history and learn how you can play a role in today's political landscape. Featuring Dr. Kevin Bird. March 25th, 8-9am PDT , 11am- noon EDT. Open to all, come be a part of it!

Join us March 25th at 8am Pacific daylight time, 11am Eastern, for an online teach-in for #PlantSci entists organising for political impact.
Learn how you can play a role in today's political landscape!
Free registration at
rootandshoot.org/a-teach-in-f...