Jason Stajich

Text: The Evolution Exchange, a monthly conversation series from the Society for the Study of Evolution. Outlines of cartoon heads with speech bubbles.

💬 In the second installment of The Evolution Exchange, retired NSF Program Officer Dr. Sam Scheiner returns to discuss how to craft a successful research proposal. Watch or read the transcript here: www.evolutionsociety.org/the-evolutio...

Rosalie & Harold Rea Brown Distinguished Endowed Chair in Plant Pathology at Washington State University to lead a highly impactful research & extension program on diseases in Pacific Northwest dryland cropping systems. Apply by March 3, 2026

wsu.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WSU_Jo....

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/IDDJAE...

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 yeasts (killer yeasts) is vital to understanding how they might protect gardens from invasion by unwanted fungal species. This study also describes a new toxin named Ksino from the yeast Candida sinolaborantium, a member of a new group of toxins found across many different species of fungi. This work supports the role of killer yeasts in the ecology of fungicultures and competition between fungi. The observed high prevalence of killer yeasts in fungal gardens also enables the discovery of novel antifungal molecules with the potential to be applied against disease-causing fungi.

journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... new findings in the ant fungus gardens 🐜🍄

If this makes you mad, you can do something about it:

RALLY TO TAKE BACK SCIENCE! 🔬🧪✊
March 7th, 2026 in Washington, DC

Learn more at standupforscience.net/march7

#Standupforscience

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is funded by the National Science Foundation to create "points of entry" for students interested in research. Students apply from across the country to spend 10 weeks in Bozeman, Montana this summer (May 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026). Admitted students are paired with a faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor for a student's summer project. Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Our program leverages MSU’s unique microbiology expertise, focusing specifically on microbes living with little or no oxygen (like those in the hot springs of nearby Yellowstone). Low oxygen microbes are essential to human and ecosystem health. They influence (or control) such processes as the breakdown of food in the GI tract, removal of toxins from our bodies and the environment, and production of greenhouse gases. They are also models for understanding the origins of life on this planet, and the potential for life on other planets. A key goal of our program is to recruit students from schools with limited research infrastructure. Being in Montana, a state with a vibrant Native American community, we are particularly interested in applications from students at tribal colleges. However, ANYONE with an interest in microbiology - or biology/science in general - can and should apply. If willing and able, please share/tweet/spread the word far and wide. Applications are due February 14, 2026. Full details can be found through our website http://www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University.
www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided.

Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline
🧫🧪🦠#microsky

Uppsala in late autumn

Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. We’re searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Check out this amazing paper on the Umbilicaria lichen and a black yeast fungus that appears to be its ever-present component!

Black field with a macro image of a bright orange lichen Xanthoria in one of the corner. Little diagrams showing a structure of a lichen thallus with different layers in grey and green, a phylogenetic tree, and an alphafold generated structure of a protein. White text says "PhD position in Stockholm University / SciLifeLab. Lichen Biology, Symbiosis, Microbial Ecology & Evolution,Meta-omics Fully funded for 4 years. Start Apr-Sep 2026. Deadline for application: Feb 1st."

⚡️Fully funded #PhD position in my lab at Stockholm University / SciLifeLab! If you’re interested in #lichens, #symbiosis, fungal biology, or meta-omics, please apply. Deadline Feb 1. Read more here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Ancient oomycete honors Sophien Kamoun Sophien Kamoun, group leader at The Sainsbury Laboratory, has been celebrated in the most enduring way possible: a newly discovered fossil species has been named in his honour.

Our group leader @kamounlab.bsky.social has been celebrated in the most enduring way possible: a newly discovered fossil species was named after him!

Lead author @chistinesd.bsky.social shared the backstory behind this choice in an interview on our website:

Call for applications to the Postdoctoral Positions in the Tri-Institutional Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program (Tri-I MMPTP) at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University mmptp.mgm.duke.edu

I am excited to offer a postdoctoral research position in my lab in Oxford studying the distribution of small RNAs during plant sexual reproduction. shorturl.at/7Goxt
Reposts appreciated!
Obligatory cat video to brighten your day. :-)

Science and Industry Need to Push Back Hard - TimmermanReport.com The days of strongly worded letters, statements to the press, white papers, and op-eds are over. The people dismantling science are coming at all we care about with a pliers and a blowtorch. If I have...

We are no longer in a time of complacency. Listed here are action items. I add, join advocacy calls when asked. Too many times organizations are hurting for scientists to join them on the Hill. timmermanreport.com/2026/01/scie...

Science and Industry Need to Push Back Hard - TimmermanReport.com The days of strongly worded letters, statements to the press, white papers, and op-eds are over. The people dismantling science are coming at all we care about with a pliers and a blowtorch. If I have...

Powerful call to action from @cdelawalla.bsky.social founder of @standupforscience.bsky.social

timmermanreport.com/2026/01/scie...

Bioinformatician in Microbiome Research

🚨We are hiring a Bioinformatician who will be embedded in our lab and work with members of the NCCR Microbiomes at ETH Zurich, as well as the Institute of Microbiology.🚨
nccr-microbiomes.ch
jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Excited to share that PNAS published our research article focused on "Why are Ralstonia goofy?"

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

NSF building on Eisenhower Av. HUD now owns.

Destroying the NSF mural in the foyer. Of the Eisenhower building.

The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.

The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.

We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.

Getting asked about how academics can continue to do science & inspire trainees even in the midst of a continued (escalated) assault on science, reason, truth, & human rights. I don’t have great answers.

I would love to hear from mentors about advice they’re giving to trainees/ colleagues.

Climate change may be driving spread of a deadly fungus from U.S. Southwest Valley fever has exploded since 2000. Scientists are trying to figure out why

www.science.org/content/arti...

#fungifriends #mushrooms #mycology #nature #fungi #biology #photography
Holly has its very own fungus! Marasmius hudsonii (Holly parachute) yesterday. Sadly, without a macro lens the depth of field is very shallow.

FDA deletes warning on bogus autism therapies touted by RFK Jr.‘s allies The agency used to warn of chelation, used by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine ally David Geier.

There’s a big story everyone is missing—but this article hits on it.

We aren’t just seeing public health dismantled bc we’ve been taken over by conspiracy theorists and lunatics.

What we’re really seeing is the giant, predatory, underegulated wellness industry come to Washington.

Wow! Amazing and awesome work. What a great dissection of multicellularity evolution in this (i hope) emerging models for in these MCF/black yeasts. Agree so interesting to see the biotic interaction-associated emergence of this multicellular form.

Flier for conference with list of name of speakers and discussion leaders, Title for conference "Evolutionary Perspectives of Metabolic, Cellular and Genomic Diversity in Fungi", 50th Anniversary Conference Chairs: Bridget Barker & Elaine Bignell. held June 20-21 GRS, June 21-26, GRC. URL https://www.grc.org/cellular-and-molecular-fungal-biology-conference/2026/ and list of speakers names.

2026 is the 50th anniversary of the Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology GRC. It will be June 21-26, 2026. Consider attending this is a great meeting if you work in the fungal biology field at genetic / genomic / molecular scale. www.grc.org/cellular-and... 🍄🧬🖥️

Truly enormous amounts of effort are being expended by US universities right now to be compliant by April 26, 2026 with new ADA rules for accessibility of all online materials (for courses, websites etc.). The burden falls almost entirely on individual professors.
www.ada.gov/resources/20...

Schematic of key tidypopgen functions. Functions integrating with external packages are annotated with the package name.

📖Published📖

Carter et al. present tidypopgen, a new R package for population genetic analysis of SNP data which combines existing methods for computational efficiency with an easy to use object structure 🧬 🌍 🧪

buff.ly/huubYjs

Blue skies and clouds next to a vertical bel tower building

Blue skies after the rains. Happy first day of winter quarter @ucriverside.bsky.social

Tree trunk with hollow middle that may resemble a face

Shelf Mushroom on side of an upright small tree

Tree trunk with large split middle

Burl on tree looking like large bumps along the length of tree

Woods were lovely dark and deep for the holiday visit to east coast.

Green Moss closeup

Winter moss in the southeast

Mushrooms, lichen, and moss growing on the side of a tree.

There are some magic little lands out there in the world.