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Enabling Discovery Through Genomics (EDGE)

The new Enabling Discovery through GEnomics (EDGE) Program page is posted. Please contact us at BIOEDGE@nsf.gov if you have questions. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Our plant-focused REU program, led by Prof Nagel, is open for applications, please forward to undergrads and reskeet etap.nsf.gov/award/7573/o... 🌱 🧪

Remote Sensing of Endogenous Pigmentation by Inducible Synthetic Circuits in Grasses Plant synthetic biology holds great promise for engineering plants to meet future demands. Genetic circuits are being designed, built and tested in plants to demonstrate the proof of concept. However....

New and improved and open access! With @gehan @susanmeerdink from @danforthcenter.bsky.social Please check out the tools and all plasmids are available on @addgene.bsky.social thank you @darpa.mil for funding! doi.org/10.1111/pbi....

Graph showing total R35+R01 awards issued by NIGMS from 2020 to 2025. R01 in black showing a steep decline. R35 showing an increase. Total awards in 2025 slightly up from 2024 but these years are lower than 2020-2023

I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool

Color changing flowers 🧬🎨- attempt #2

Older flowers (bottom) show dark red/ orange tints whereas young buds (top) display strong fuchsia color. Getting closer..

Once the AI gets a hold of this we will become its avatar in real life! Welcome to the realiverse.

🧟🐜 Zombie Ant Research🚨

I can finally share my flagship research project characterizing the first ever Ophiocordyceps behavioral effector as an open access preprint!

This international, interdisciplinary research approach involved many amazing collaborations! 🧪

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A PLETHORA transcription factor shapes cucumber shoot architecture https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.18.677013v1

Did you even pass your dissertation proposal if someone didn’t suggest collecting $100k worth of data????

(This is my official announcement: I passed my dissertation proposal).

Scientists:

Where the separate divisions of ANTIFA landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944:

Molecular genetic characterization of CASEIN KINASE 1-LIKE 12 in Arabidopsis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.17.676859v1

Remote sensing of endogenous pigmentation by inducible synthetic circuits in grasses Plant synthetic biology holds great promise for engineering plants to meet future demands. Genetic circuits are being designed, built, and tested in plants to demonstrate proof of concept. However, de...

Some new tools for monocots, and the plasmids are available at Addgene! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This, right here..

Happy Equinox friends and cousins.

Together is the only way we build liveable todays and tomorrows.

Loss of PIF7 attenuates shade and elevated temperature responses throughout the lifecycle in Pennycress Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) is under development to be grown as a winter annual intermediate oil seed bioenergy crop in the Midwest during typical fallow periods. Crucial work remains to domesticate ...

Something we have been working on. Built off the work of the unforgettable Dr. Joanne Chory. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

This $35,000 Computer Is Powered by Trapped Human Brain Cells A company is selling what it calls the world’s first “code deployable biological computer.”

I thought the matrix was going to be more interesting than this: gizmodo.com/this-35000-c...

ExPOSE: a comprehensive toolkit to perform expansion microscopy in plant protoplast systems This method provides a robust approach for performing expansion microscopy in plant protoplasts for imaging single-cell and subcellular compartments at greatly enhanced resolution.

Some of my postdoc work has been "exposed" today in @theplantjournal.bsky.social! 😁🎉🔬 We developed ExPOSE - a method to perform expansion microscopy in plant protoplast systems. Here's a quick🧵of the details: @meter76.bsky.social @lily-oconnor.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Bringing expansion microscopy to plants Biologist Kevin Cox, in Arts & Sciences, has discovered a low-cost way to more easily study the detailed makeup of plant cells. The ultimate goal is to help grow better crops, improving food security.

Big paper out from @kcox-bioguy.bsky.social! source.washu.edu/2025/03/brin...

A street is orange from flames and you can see the high winds in the palm trees. Sparks fly down the street

A fire truck is engulfed in parks and flames are seen on the hill. The entire photo is red and orange from the fire

A fireman with a hose runs across the front of a house in flames in the background

The inside of a house is a ball of flames. The only visible thing inside is a burning Christmas tree

These extraordinary photos of the LA fires have been shared widely on social media, often without crediting the photographer.

These are all the work of Ethan Swope, an LA-based photojournalist working for AP.

You can follow his remarkable reporting here👇
www.instagram.com/ethanswopeph...

It’s that time of year again!

Yay Tony! (Who is Tony?)

Tshirt from the UCSF 2001 Cell Bio retreat. I helped make this one and designed a bunch for the tetrad program.

Now hiring:

Are you a technician? Do you enjoy the lab? Plants 🌱? DNA 🧬? Microscopes 🔬?

We are looking for you! We are looking for a Biological Technical Assistant for the new molecular botany lab at @rwth.bsky.social Aachen. Please apply!

www.biologie.rwth-aachen.de/cms/biologie...

Has anyone seen these criminal biologists? I didn’t even like plants back then, but knew that Barbara was the bomb.

A digital postcard advertising a special conference to celebrate 75 years of the Journal of Experimental Botany. The image depicts a hand-painted tree trunk and canopy. The date of the meeting is given as 17th-19th September 2025, and it will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland.

**SAVE THE DATE**

JXB turns 𝟕𝟓 in 2025.

Come and celebrate with us in Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 17-19th Sept 🎉 🥳🍾

Featuring fantastic speakers, a program for early/mid career researchers, a conference dinner, posters, networking, workshops...

More info soon...🌱 🌾 🌳

@sebiology.bsky.social 🧪 #plantscience

RFK Jr. Is a One-Man Plague It’s not just that he’s misinformed. It’s the way his mind works that’s dangerous.

"Kennedy's 'cures' involve reversing some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in history: pasteurization, vaccines, and the scientific method of determining truth."

Yesterday the incredible Toby Kellogg received the Danforth Award for Plant Science. I got to learn a lot about science, discovery, and the power of “I don’t know.” Great remarks from the equally remarkable Becky Bart and Bethany Zolman

Same

I saw this somewhere in Montreal... love it.