Stephanie Watts-Fawkes

Quietly pondering how many is too many abstracts to submit to this special issue of JSAE…? I have a lot of relevant stuff being written up currently!

Screenshot of the title slide of a PowerPoint presentation “understanding plant adaptations to abiotic stress”.

Starting my morning with a webinar by @aligill.bsky.social on water relations in industrial hemp. More SEM images of hairy trichomes please!

OK, I think I’m done with my first European winter now. Looking forward to any first signs that spring is on its way 🌷

PowerPoint slide and poster welcoming people to the PPP editorial meeting

Selfie of a woman standing on the Charles bridge in Prague.

I’ve been in Prague this week to attend the @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social Editorial meeting. Great to finally put faces to names of the fantastic staff in the editorial office who keep this journal running smoothly, and meet some of the other editors. It even snowed for us ❄️

The Salk Institute is in California 🙂

Submitted my abstract for #ICOM2026! Just a bit keen 🙈

Does anyone know when Read & Publish agreements (CAUL in Australia) for journal Open Access fees typically kick in for the new year?

I've been hanging out to submit a manuscript to Springer since the OA cap was reached back in October!

Unfortunately as researchers we can’t name names, one way or the other.

The important points we’re trying to make with our research are: mycorrhiza products need far more stringent QC before being made available; and as consumers, that it’s safer to just not spend money on them, for now.

Brilliant work, Camille! So well deserved 👏

Run, don't walk! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️
206 days until #ICOM2026!

Moving truck parked on a residential street

It’s here! Our stuff is here! 📦📦

Abstracts are open for #ICOM2026!

I can’t wait to spend a week immersing myself in all things #mycorrhiza in beautiful Cairns 🌴

There are so many symposia to choose from - go and have a look! icom2026.org/symposia/

Fig. 1.Description of the aeroponics cultivation system and downstream collection and analysis of root exudates. (A) Scheme of the experimental setup [the germinated spores of the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis were created in BioRender [Bouhedi, B. (2025) https://BioRender.com/qtva7lu]. (B) Pictures of aerial (upper panel) and root parts (lower panel) of maize plants cultivated in aeroponics at the V4 stage. (C) Workflow of the molecular and cellular analyses performed on aeroponics-grown maize plants and their root exudates. (D) Biological significance and composition of the different samples analyzed by untargeted metabolomics. IRM, intraradical mycelium; ERM, extraradical mycelium; GR24, synthetic analog of strigolactone.

🍄 🛠️ TECHNICAL INNOVATION 🛠️ 🍄

In this technical advance, Decouard et al. show how to identify plant metabolites in root exudates specifically produced in the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in an aeroponic-based system.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

A speaker stands in front of a title slide in a lecture hall.

This morning in Leiden, @frantecol.bsky.social opens the National 🇳🇱 Centre for Soil Ecology symposium, telling us about climate-friendly grassland soils.

Researcher being presented a medal in front of a conference audience

Gold-coloured medal inscribed with the researcher’s name and the year 2025

Thank you so much to the @asps-oz.bsky.social for the 2025 Peter Goldacre medal 🌱

It was a privilege to speak at the annual conference last week on my last 10 years of research into plant-mycorrhiza associations and zinc nutrition.

I really would like our stuff before Christmas! 😭

We're up to 6 months since we last saw our stuff! Double the time estimated by the company 🥲 Now, it's closeby in Belgium, but seems to be held up for 2 weeks (so far), by union strikes there.

What are the major questions unanswered relating to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi?

It is just me, or are too many fundamentals still not resolved around some basic biology and ecology?
Their genetics, their growth patterns, host-preferences, sporulation, and so on.

Takeaway coffee sitting on an outdoor table.

There have been days in the Netherlands where I just daydreamed about the next time I’d taste a Melbourne coffee. The time is finally here 😍

🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄We’re recruiting!!🌿🍄‍🟫🌱🍄

I’m looking for two postdocs and a technician to join my group @sheffielduni.bsky.social @sheffieldpps.bsky.social to work with me on my exciting @royalsociety.org Faraday Discovery Fellowship project, details for each post as follows:

Lettuce fortification through vitamin B12‐producing bacteria – proof of concept study BACKGROUND Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) can be produced de novo only by certain bacteria and archaea. It plays a crucial role in the health of animals and humans, which obtain it only through diet, mainl...

Last of a very long list publications: improving vitamin content in crops using microbiomes (a way around GMO-laws preventing the use of other fortified crops?)
scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

www.asps.org.au/phytogen/oct...

Poor Quality of Commercial Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculants Used for Agriculture and Home Gardening There is an urgent need to develop microbial inoculants that can consistently improve crop performance as part of efforts to implement sustainable agricultural practices and reduce the environmental ...

New study from @mvanderheijden.bsky.social lab, showing that many commercial mycorrhizal inoculants are snake oil. So important for this data to be published!

Between this, @lizkoziol.bsky.social and Matt Salomon’s work… well I think we make a strong point.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Sunrise over a large building on university campus

Photo taken to mark my first lecture at @w-u-r.bsky.social.

It was an 8:20am lecture and I was 40 minutes early to it 🙈 the lecture room wasn’t even unlocked until 8:00.

I’m so excited that I get to catch up with @lmueller.bsky.social at #ASPS2025!! All the way from Netherlands and California, meeting in Adelaide for #mycorrhiza catch-ups!

🎉

The river Rhine with a windmill in the background

Wow, they have blue skies in the Randstad! ☀️

A bike path littered with autumn leaves.

The last 100 metres home 🍂

And from next year the eligibility extends to ten years post-PhD, so even more competition (but also I become eligible next year, even though I’m not this year, so that’s nice for me) 🙃