Brian Dilkes

Spatial variation in the mutation rate within the plant shoot apical meristem | PNAS The potential impact of new mutations on organismal function and evolution depends on the developmental fate of the affected cells. Stem cells in t...

🌱 From PNAS: Meristem layers mutate at different rates, with the germline-forming L2 protected and the L1 evolving faster. (Kirk R. Amundson, Mohan P. A. Marimuthu, Oanh Nguyen, Konsam Sarika, Isabelle J. DeMarco, Angelina Phan, Isabelle M. Henry, and Luca Comai)
▶️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

How much did you n’joy these?

🌱 Postdoc position in Plant Genomics/Bioinformatics!

Love genome plasticity, computational methods, and solving big questions in plant biology? Join our newly established Institute for Crop Biology at HHU Düsseldorf.

More info on schneebergerlab.org/career/
Apply by Nov. 30 | 3-year position

Tobacco twin and single spots result from genome instability, chromosome breaks, and translocations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.09.687472v1

The art (public, gallery, and guerrilla) is top notch. The city's history makes for an idiosyncratic and open culture. Get out and meet the people of Cologne. It is a city unlike any other and a fabulous experience.

The 2026 maize genetics meeting in Cologne (Feb 26 to Mar 1) is easily accessible from all US locations. #MGM2025 > #MGM2026.

Photos of the Cologne Maritim hotel.

The 2026 maize genetics meeting will be at the Maritim Hotel in downtown Cologne. #MGM2025 > #MGM2026.

Career Opportunities | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Careers

HISTORIAN OF THE LIFE SCIENCES position at CSHL!
I’m thrilled to announce that the CSHL Center for Humanities and the History of Modern Biology is inviting applications for this position.
This is a remarkable opportunity to join a unique, internationally recognized institution and the Center

Pre-ACA, I was a postdoc on an NSF fellowship at a university that didn't offer employment benefits to independent fellows. At that time, being a woman meant that my premiums were double that of my male counterparts. The extra cost came out of my grant's budget for benefits, equipment, and travel.

I love this short film about the Umbrella Man example. People are being themselves at all times. And pass in and out of our view with their own idiosyncratic reasons for being as they are. I love it about us. But we seek meaning so fervently …https://youtu.be/yznRGS9f-jI?si=xTjP9p1eZWtTc4Zr

Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.

Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...

PhD advert

I recently moved my lab to Purdue University and am looking for graduate students. We are working at the interface of population genomics, quantitative genetics and functional genomics to understand how plants adapt to extreme environments. Reach out if you would like to discuss potential projects.

So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

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

Awesome!

Mechanosensitive ion channel MSL8 is required for oscillatory growth and cell wall dynamics in Arabidopsis pollen tubes - Plant Reproduction The male gametophyte in flowering plants, pollen, both performs the critical role of fertilization and represents a unique and accessible system for interrogating plant cell mechanics. A key component...

Check out this new paper on the Arabidopsis MLS8 channel and its importance for oscillatory growth
and cell wall dynamics in pollen tubes!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

FAA reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 'high-volume' markets during government shutdown The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that it will reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 “high-volume” markets beginning Friday morning to maintain safety during the ongoing government...

"Trump canceled your flight" is about as easy as messaging gets.

10 out of 10.

[Exit Clown.]

Or my colleagues here and creationism.

We loved it as well! The prior “Mare of Eastown” was incredible.

Wood this indicate a new research direction for you?

Bee aye pee gee? Bah pag? Hella’s Genetics?

Blasphemy!

I look forward to meeting them in person so that my love for their work can be placed in context.

Blasphemy!

I have a colleague in cancer genetics who has forbidden my ever interacting with patients for this reason. We can’t find my off switch.

The BOY NAMED SUE Quantitative Trait Locus Confers Increased Meiotic Stability to an Adapted Natural Allopolyploid of Arabidopsis This work uses genomic sequencing and microscopy to examine the differences in meiotic stability and fertility between synthetic and natural allopolyploids

academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...

“Mystery”