Sara Branco

NSF BIO Virtual Office Hour: Updates from the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences Please join the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences for a virtual office hour on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

NSF will host virtual office hours next week. Please register if you’d like to know more
www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...

Policy Notice: Implementation of Policy Changes to Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 24-1, Supplement 1 This notice implements several revisions to NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 24-1.

NSF policy changes - some updates that PIs should be aware of.

www.nsf.gov/policies/doc...

The biodiversity, genomics, ecology and evolution of mushroom-forming fungi - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Mushroom-forming fungi have along evolutionary history and a suite of important ecological roles. This Review highlights advances in understanding of Agaricomycetes evolution and ecology driven by gen...

Everything you always wanted to know about mushroom-forming fungi! Great collab with amazing mycologists. Thanks Laszlo Nagy for leading this effort!

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Image of yeast spotted on an agar plate. Some grow well, others are dying.

We're looking for a PhD student! If you're interested in #fungal #genomics & #TEs, meiotic drive, or pathogens, please consider applying. The project is about toxin/antidote genes in the human fungal pathogen A. fumigatus. uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

NSF is open again!

A few comments:

*Please be patient.
During a shutdown NSF employees cannot open computers or respond to emails.

*Merit review will continue. However panels won’t resume until after Dec 8th.

*POs remain excited and committed to advancing science and the scientific workforce.

Opening for a postdoctoral position in my lab We are inviting applications for a postdoctoral researcher to support the Laboratory of Fungal Ecology and Evolution, and join our project studying obligatory multitrophic interactions. Project Ove…

I have an opening for a postdoctoral position in my Laboratory of Fungal Ecology and Evolution at the Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Entomology, in České Budějovice, Czechia. www.dannyhaelewaters.com/opening-for-... #LFEE #postdoc #hiring

Myco-Ed: Mycological curriculum for education and discovery Fungi are important and hyperdiverse organisms, yet chronically understudied. Most fungal clades have no reference genomes, impeding our understanding of their ecosystem functions and use as solutions...

Interested in training students in fungal biology and genomics in your classroom? Myco-Ed is for you!! Amazing educational program supported by JGI and described in journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

We have a new paper out in Molecular Ecology, led by @devinbendixsen.bsky.social ! Reproductive isolation due to divergent ecological selection is accompanied by vast genomic instability in experimentally evolved yeast populations onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I have open position for a postdoctoral research associate in my lab. Additional information and how to apply: tamus.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/TAMUCC...

I started this #Mycologists Starter Pack, aiming to get all professional fungal researchers on BlueSky in one place. DM if you want to be added.

go.bsky.app/UMrVSsp

AFGE Local 3403 President Jesus Soriano joined Rep. Zoe Lofgren and AFGE National President Everett Kelley to highlight the damage being done to NSF by the Trump Administration and discuss a letter sent to Congresswomen Lofgren signed by 150 NSF employees
#SaveNSF #SaveScience #FundNSF

Congrats, Priscilla!! So great!

Inspired and overwhelmed after SuilluCamp No.1 - amazing science, nearly 50 attendees, and an outline for a new strategic plan for the International Suillus Consortium. I *could not be* more grateful for this community, or more excited for what we’re building together. Thank you #TeamSlime!

Late-breaking workshop news! The NSF will be offering an information session to discuss new and ongoing programs and the merit review process. Registration is free. More information here:

www.xcdsystem.com/evolution/pr...

#Evol2025

We are looking for a Postdoc in the LaBella Lab!

Do you love fungi 🍄, genetics 🧬and bioinformatics 💻 - then this might be a good fit for you!

jobs.charlotte.edu/postings/63307

Applications accepted through July 1

Important and timely work from the Mycological Society of America.

Tomorrow is NSF's 75th anniversary. 😪

Hang in there, Brian! And know that you’re amazing and did not deserve any of this

U.S. scientists’ lives and careers are being upended. Here are five of their stories As the second Trump administration sends U.S. science into upheaval, countless researchers are fighting for their futures

I am extremely pleased to share this feature articulating why I have lost my sanity lately. www.science.org/content/arti...

#SaveNSF working to save funding for scientific grants through the U.S. National Science Foundation. Join in and distribute widely! www.savensf.com

Why is the U.S. National Science Foundation important?

Please share your stories!

Use the hashtags #WithoutNSF or #WithoutScience

Congrats!!! Such great news

For early-career scientists (postdocs, Assist. Profs) - a fun 6-day workshop on grant writing in the mountains of Virginia.

Think, write, hike, and interact with colleagues.

What’s not to love?

Workshop Dates: July 20 - 26, 2025

Deadline to register: July 6

mlbs.virginia.edu/grant-writin...

NSF plans to reinstate all probationary employees who were fired on 18 Feb!
NSF’s decision. 👏🏻👏🏻❤️

Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)

So unfair… I’m so sorry, Brian. You deserve so much better

Me! And Lotus Lofgren. Thanks Bala!

Jan 1, and my first day as an Asst. Professor at Berkeley. The lab opens in just a few weeks and I am currently staffing at all levels- www.lotuslofgren.com/new-page-1

Concept of a Starship transposon jumping out of a fungal culture. Illustration by Oen Gregory.

Thrilled to have our recent review on giant #fungal #transposons, called Starships, featured on the cover of Trends in Genetics! Accompanied by some fantastic artwork! With @mycomile.bsky.social. www.cell.com/trends/genet...