Maitreya Dunham

Wow, incredible opportunity for a new Head of fermentation etc at Garden Path. Whoever takes it, please collaborate with me! gardenpathwa.com/2026/03/10/j...

🍺 Fixing brewing #Yeast! 🧬 Experimental evolution corrects mother-daughter separation defects in ale strain over 200 generations:
✅ fewer large clusters
✅ reduced foam accumulation during fermentation
🧪 #YeastResearch #SGD #MoreGoodPours @micropub7n.bsky.social
www.yeastgenome.org/reference/S1...

This happens all the time. David Botstein worked on so many important things over the years. He died last week and I haven’t known what to say about it. But I do know I will keep running across echoes of him forever, in the field and in myself.

I went to a medical genetics talk today and searched the disease gene name just out of curiosity to see if there’s a homolog in yeast. Turns out the gene was discovered by my PhD advisor’s lab back in 1982.

Latest version of the browser is deployed here. You can look through all of our accumulated @yevolab.bsky.social data from our various high school and college partners, and you can also upload your own yeast mutation datasets. yevo.org/mutation-bro...

Check out the new, improved version of our Mutation Browser preprint. We worked with a team from the Broad including their outreach office, a great summer intern, and the G2P project to add a new browser panel that maps mutations onto yeast protein structures! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

David Botstein, a titan within the scientific community, died last week. GSA mourns his passing and celebrates his legacy.

Read more about his significance to our community in this thread ⬇️🧵

a headshot of David Botstein

We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of David Botstein, a towering figure in modern #genetics and a foundational force behind SGD.
www.yeastgenome.org/blog/in-memo... #yeast #modelOrganism

Beakers with strips of various materials

What are all these beakers of different materials waiting to be autoclaved? Stay tuned for a new yEvo module on evolving adhesion! Beta testing in 2 classrooms this spring.

Seattle locals: thesis defense Tuesday at 11:30 in Foege! Mapping the functional landscape of the pharmacogene CYP2D6 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Gabby Ferra, joint student between my lab and @kelleyharris.bsky.social

We're doing an experiment with a "cluster hire" of undergrad researchers. Several people in the lab all turned out to be in a good place to take on a student, so we coordinated 5 (!) hires. Hoping this will let us rotate mentors for some group trainings and also cultivate more of a cohort feel.

Our new micropub is out, where we evolve yeast strains that are both scientifically interesting and practically useful! Using Experimental Evolution to Correct Mother-Daughter Separation Defects in Brewing Yeast doi.org/10.17912/mic...

Seattle locals: I'm giving a seminar tomorrow in Microbiology! It'll be 4-5 Tuesday in the Orin Smith Auditorium on "Evolving and engineering brewing yeasts" and will be followed by a tasting of beers made with some of the yeast strains I'll talk about.

Abstract submissions for the 2026 ASBC & CIBD Meeting close Jan 30. Share research that advances beverage science and connect with brewers, distillers, and scientists shaping what’s next.

https://bit.ly/44F6DyW

#abstractsubmission #ASBCCIBD

Novel killer yeasts and toxins from the gardens of fungus-growing ants | Applied and Environmental Microbiology Attine ants perform essential ecosystem services through the harvesting of substrates for fungiculture. The cultured fungi are a food source for attine ants. Characterizing antifungal toxin-producing ...

Fun new paper with @drpaulrowley.bsky.social Novel killer yeasts and toxins from the gardens of fungus-growing ants | Applied and Environmental Microbiology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Deadline Extended! This funding opportunity offers support that will integrate specialized resources across the NSCs of Oklahoma, the University of Washington, and the Jackson Laboratory. Learn more in the updated RFA here: bit.ly/4a1TN0B

Abstract submission for #Yeast26 is now open! 🍞🍺

Browse abstract submission topics online and start preparing your abstract today.

Topics include disease models & aging, evolution & population genetics, gene regulation, genomics & systems biology, and more!

Learn more: buff.ly/qotaLne

The lab is looking to hire 2 new undergraduate researchers! You'll get to work on yeast experimental evolution & genomics. UW students only (and this link won't work for others, sorry). Work study students very welcome to apply! Pays the prevailing minimum wage. app.joinhandshake.com/emp/jobs/106...

Coordination was via the daily meetings plus a shared lab notebook, dedicated slack channel, shared server space, and Google Drive with folders for stuff like relevant papers, protocols, etc.

People who already know a particular method might lead that part and let everyone know when they’ll be working on it so whoever wants to learn can join in. Methods new to everyone are a group effort. We ended the week with a big lab meeting to talk about the results and decide what to follow up.

We had a pitch meeting in December to decide on a project, then people volunteer to help get things ready like ordering supplies, making media, streaking strains, compiling datasets, and collecting any new data we want. Week of, we had a group meeting every morning to talk about plans/results.

Most importantly, people seemed to be having a good time trying new things and working together! (And we'll see if the project itself goes anywhere. I am still optimistic!)

Labathon week skill-building report: tetrad dissection (lots!), long read genome assembly, DNA copy number analysis, pinning, bulk segregant mapping, FACS ploidy estimation, mating type testing, AI for coding, lit review, learning about weird stuff like mating type switching and tetraploid meiosis

Interested in the Aging Gene Discovery (AGeD) Collaborative NSC Pilot Awards which integrates resources offered by the Nathan Shock Centers of Oklahoma, the University of Washington, and the Jackson Laboratory? Register now for the informational webinar to learn more: bit.ly/4jvyAPQ

Join us tomorrow! with @mehurles.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social and @maitreya.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social
Info and Link to join:
www.varianteffect.org/seminar-seri...

Systematic profiling of ale yeast protein dynamics across fermentation and repitching Abstract. Studying the genetic and molecular characteristics of brewing yeast strains is crucial for understanding their domestication history and adaptati

You may notice a pattern: here's the paper that resulted from a prior labathon project, on brewing yeast proteomics! Systematic profiling of ale yeast protein dynamics across fermentation and repitching academic.oup.com/g3journal/ar...

Great kickoff for 2026 with a sabbatical visit from @gsherloc.bsky.social who is conveniently here just in time to participate in our "labathon" (think hackathon, but for a project that has some computational and wetlab components). This year's project is an attempt at genetics with brewing yeast.

Lab freezer defrost day

Hit a new lab record of 89 yeast genomes sequenced in one run!