Maridel 🐜🍄🌱🦠🏳️‍🌈

Vanishing Virulence: Investigating pathogenicity loss in a plant pathogenic fungus (TALBOT_T26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership What makes a plant killer lose its edge? This project will investigate why fungal pathogens lose virulence when they are grown in laboratory culture away from their host plant. Use cutting-edge…

New PhD opportunity in my group @thesainsburylab.bsky.social through the BBSRC NRP DTP Programme - see details of host to apply below

biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...

12.10.2025 17:20 — 👍 40    🔁 44    💬 0    📌 0

Understanding Host Compatibility in the Marchantia-Phytophthora System (CARELLA_J26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership The fossil record demonstrates that filamentous microbes invaded ancient plant cells with intracellular hyphal structures over 450 million years ago. To this day, a rich diversity of extant land plant...

New opportunity to undertake a PhD in my group ⁦‪at the John Innes Centre - if you’re interested in plant immunity and evolution check out the link!

12.10.2025 17:30 — 👍 46    🔁 62    💬 1    📌 0

Robin's pin cushion (Diplolepis rosae) on rose

A founding member of the society shows my 2 year old son a gall from a nearby oak tree.

Sputnik gall (Diplolepis nervosa) on rose

Eriophyes inangulis (mite gall) on an alder leaf

Had a great time treasure-hunting for galls with the British Plant Gall Society this weekend! Also proud to introduce my son to the amazing world of cecidology. 😍

29.09.2025 22:06 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.

The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

25.09.2025 22:09 — 👍 223    🔁 275    💬 12    📌 67

Amazing new method in single-cell gene editing from @gek0s.bsky.social et al, out today on biorxiv! Make sure to scroll down to see the video of him electroporating RNA into individual neurons 🤯

15.09.2025 10:11 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Assistant or Associate Professor - Fungal Biology/Mycology The Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) at the University of Georgia is recruiting for the position of Assistant or Associate Professor in Fu...

Assistant/ Associate Professor of Mycology at UGA - Go be part of a Legendary Fungal Group fungi.franklinresearch.uga.edu and dept of plant pathology plantpath.caes.uga.edu www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/445...

21.08.2025 19:51 — 👍 31    🔁 33    💬 1    📌 0

1st western blot vs. 128th western blot 🧪
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#science #westernblot #predoc #labscientist

13.08.2025 10:44 — 👍 14    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 1

We tackle this question using the bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa and its crustacean host, Daphnia magna, which coevolve under Red Queen dynamics and follow a matching-allele model. Theory predicts such a system should show a modular network structure. Our findings reveal a more complex picture.

12.08.2025 11:33 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Mixed network structure in a coevolving host–parasite system Abstract. Genetic interactions between parasites and hosts determine how these antagonists coevolve. Networks depicting infection outcomes between host and

💡Can we use network structure 🏁 to infer underlying genetics 🧬 of host – parasite coevolution?

🔎Find out in our new paper 🥳, published in the latest issue of @journal-evo.bsky.social 👇
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
#Parasite #EvolutionaryBiology #MicrobialEvolution

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12.08.2025 11:33 — 👍 14    🔁 7    💬 2    📌 0

What's impressed me the most is how collaborative and supportive the lab seems. Being a newcomer can be overwhelming, but I'm thrilled to be part of the enthusiastic and brilliant "Saplings" 🌱 team (those of us characterizing SAP proteins), and looking forward to doing some awesome science in 2025!

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

and I managed to have some fun with my labmates :)

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I also co-created and presented a poster for an internal conference...

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Learning the basics of agro-infiltration (like many of the techniques I'm learning, this one feels like magic 🪄 )...

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Handling plants: Transplanting tiny seedlings and watching them grow...

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Cloning genes into plasmid vectors...

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

First 2 months as a postdoc in the Hogenhout lab = whirlwind! Big goal: characterize bacterial effectors that turn plants 🪴 into zombies 🧟‍♀️. Really cool system that I've admired for years; also my first time working with plants and doing molecular work, so I'm learning A LOT! Some highlights:
Y2H...🧵

04.01.2025 00:08 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Many examples of the diversity in morphology of insect induced galls from hairy to colorful to spiky.

Why do insect galls have such varied shapes even among closely related species?? The Enemy Hypothesis, posits that pressure from parasitoids drives the dynamic evolution of external gall traits. We have a new paper in @rsocpublishing.bsky.social on this hypothesis see more in this 🧵! 🧪 #galls

17.12.2024 05:00 — 👍 49    🔁 21    💬 3    📌 1

I nominate @damiepak.bsky.social

20.11.2024 06:13 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

We’re delighted to share our latest preprint from the Hogenhout lab (@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social) on the molecular mechanisms on plant-aphid interactions. Here we show how the aphid Mp10 effector protein acts as a local anaesthetic to suppress the plant perception of aphid attack

18.11.2024 09:58 — 👍 68    🔁 39    💬 1    📌 2

A pint of the living dead – making beer with zombie plants | John Innes Centre One day, a few years ago, a local teacher found something strange in his garden. The story that follows is one of plants, beer, bacteria, insects and ZOMBIES! For this Halloween special edition blog…

www.jic.ac.uk/blog/a-pint-...

16.11.2024 10:32 — 👍 17    🔁 15    💬 0    📌 2

Thanks for putting this together! I'd be happy to join

17.11.2024 20:29 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0