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Monika S. Fischer

@mofisch.bsky.social
1K followers 649 following 106 posts

Fungi. Fire. Genetics. Ecology. (she/her) 🍄🔥Assistant Prof at UBC Vancouver: @ubcbotany.bsky.social and @forestry.ubc.ca 📍grateful guest on the Salish Coast Lab Website: fischerlab.botany.ubc.ca

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Honestly one of the best articles I’ve ever seen on mushroom poisonings. Thank you @thetyee.ca and @michellegamage.bsky.social ! 💖🍄
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
ATTN: Spider nerds! I have a question. All summer long there’s been exactly one Orb Weaver hanging out on our balcony. What are the chances it’s been the same spider all along?? …I’ve grown rather fond of my little balcony companion 🤗 #spider
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Morgan Carter @morgancarterphd.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
There is a new volume in The Fungi Sessions!! I loved the first album by Hannah Read that she performed at Fungal Genetics two years ago. So excited for a part 2 and there are microscope videos of hyphae accompanying the songs in spotify 😍. 🍄🎶 open.spotify.com/album/5uGh16...
open.spotify.com
The Fungi Sessions, Vol. 2
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Currently at my first @gsb2026.bsky.social conference! Loving this discussion about QUALITY over quantity - we need more [funding for] fundamental science, b/c that’s what populates our databases that *so*much* microbial eco is based off now. #GSB2026 #GSB4
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
👏 thank you Anne Pringle & Soleil Young for highlighting the history of sex/gender in Biology (only since 1974!), the inaccuracy of 🍄“23,000 sexes”, and encouraging us to eliminate anthropocentric gender/sex from non-human biological sciences #fungal26
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Yessss 👏 Lauren McIntyre👏 calling in everyone to thoroughly cite *all* the tools, packages, databases, etc. that we use in our papers. Cite in the refs, not just a web link! #Fungal26
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
ATTN: everyone at #Fungal26 ! Thursday night is official beach party night!
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Woohoo!!! Here we go! Excited for my 5th Fungal Genetics Conference! This is such a special conference for me and I’m so excited for a fun(gal) week with some my favorite fun-guys! #Fungal26 @hyphaltip.bsky.social
Jason Stajich on stage welcoming a large crowd of mycologists to the Fungal Genetics Conference in a large wood room at Asilomar Conference Grounds
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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Could these strange and under-studied fungi help forests regenerate after wildfires? Had a fantastic time chatting with mycologists @mofisch.bsky.social, Matt Traxler, and Karen Hughes for this article. 🧪
biographic.com
How “Fire Fungi” Help Put Burnt Landscapes Back Together - bioGraphic
Before plants and animals recolonize after a wildfire, fungi get to work.
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
My department is hiring a non-seed plant assistant professor!! Come join us @ubcbotany.bsky.social! BC has spectacular non-seed plant diversity and I would love to nerd out with a future colleague about all those cute little green guys outside! 💚 pls share! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31140
academicjobsonline.org
University of British Columbia, Botany
Job #AJO31140, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN NON-SEED PLANT DIVERSITY (BRYOPHYTES, FERNS, LYCOPHYTES), Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
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Toby Spribille @spribille.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
New paper from our lab! ⤵️
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
My fellow profs at 🇨🇦Canadian universities! Please take a moment to read and sign this letter urging the Federal government to align its economic plans with climate change action and resilience: sustainabilitydigitalage.org/featured/sus...
sustainabilitydigitalage.org
Sustainable Canada Dialogues – open letter
Canada must lead on climate An open letter from scholars at Canadian universities Dear Prime Minister, In the face of vocal opposition to climate action, we cannot remain silent. As scholars from acro...
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
The one year anniversary of my arrival at UBC flew by a month ago. Thanks to fellow newPI and former grad school pal @mattolm.bsky.social for reminding me of one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned this past year: *make* time to reflect! Here are some reflections on my first year as a PI & prof… 🧵
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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
ecoevojobs.net 2025-26
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Tiffany Lowe-Power stands with Minnesota @tlowepower.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Please repost -- The Univ. California Davis dept of Plant Pathology is hiring a Fungal biologist / Mycologist Applications due Dec 1 Application portal: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07339 Screenshot shows part of the job posting (with alt-text of the same text)
he Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis is seeking applications for a fulltime, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Mycology, with a focus on plant pathogenic, symbiotic, 
or mycotoxigenic fungi and fungal-like organisms (e.g., oomycetes). We are looking for a highly 
motivated and creative scientist with a strong background in mycology and/or the biology of fungi and 
fungal-like organisms that interact with plants. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a 
world-class, externally funded research program that integrates both fundamental and applied aspects 
of fungal biology within the context of plant pathology. We welcome applicants pursuing a wide range 
of research topics related to plant-associated fungi, including but not limited to mechanisms of fungal 
pathogenesis or symbiosis with plants, population genomics and evolution of fungal plant pathogens, 
plant-associated fungal microbiomes and plant-microbe interactions, and/or one health approaches to 
fungal diseases and antifungal resistance. Applicants working in other relevant research areas involving 
pathogenic, symbiotic, or mycotoxigenic fungi or fungal-like organisms that affect plant health are also 
encouraged to apply. The successful candidate will have significant opportunities for collaboration with 
faculty in plant pathology, microbiology, genomics, and agricultural sciences, and to contribute to 
addressing issues of importance to California’s agricultural and natural ecosystems.
The appointee primary teaching responsibilities will be teaching Introductory Mycology, an upperdivision lab class, and SAS 30, Mushroom, Molds & Society, a general education class for non-majors. 
Additional graduate and undergraduate teaching responsibilities may be assigned based on 
departmental needs and the candidate’s expertise. The department offers modern instructional 
facilities, including a newly renovated teaching laboratory.
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Roman (he/il) @trcava.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
HELP WANTED! Calling all mycophiles in California, Oregon, Washington, or British Columbia! My research focuses on Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis, pictured below. I need to collect mushrooms from wild and urban areas across its range. Plz send mushrooms if you find any! I can pay shipping 💜 🍄‍🟫
A rusty-purple mushroom of the Western amethyst deceiver (Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis)
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
How is it possible that I only very recently learned about Hexaflexagons?! This is so bamboozlingly delightful! Math is just the coolest. vimeo.com/147799851
vimeo.com
Hexaflexagons
Hooraaaay flexagons! Happy October. Historical Note: This video is based on a true story. Arthur H. Stone really did invent the hexaflexagon after playing with…
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Sun is shining, birds are chirping, and a colleague just gave me a sack of 💩 (specifically some local alpine rabbit poops) …today is a good day and I officially have the best job ever!
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Dear Microbial Ecologists - has anyone directly tested sampling effort spread out over time vs. space? For example, 100 samples collected at a single time-point, vs. 100 samples collected across multiple timepoints (neither time nor space are significant factors for community assembly/dynamics/etc.)
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
@biorender.bsky.social put numbers to the vibes in the US right now... "87% of labs affected or expecting disruption" 💔 www.biorender.com/2025-science...
biorender.com
2025 Report: U.S. Science & Federal Funding Cuts
How 300+ researchers are navigating federal funding cuts in science. This report reveals strategies, challenges, and what institutions are doing to stay afloat.
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Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Our newest special issue is now live! Check it out to discover more about diverse and beautiful Fungi🍄🍄‍🟫🍄 On the cover: the fly agaric, Amanita muscaria, releasing its spores in the early morning light. www.cell.com/current-biol...
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Teaching prep for fall motivated me to revisit the awesome Oral History For Mycology project on YouTube. So many great stories, but shout out to @benwolfe.bsky.social for highlighting this incredible Bray-Curtis ordination from 1969 by Martha Christensen. So cool. So glad we have computers now 😅
Photo of a square wood board with several wood dowels rising up out of the board at various heights and positions
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LaBella Lab @lablabella.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
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
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
“Distribution of haploid chromosomes into separate nuclei in two pathogenic fungi”🍄🧬 a plot twist in the story of multinucleate filamentous fungi! Really cool and bizarre new work from the lab of Xin Li! @science.ubc.ca @ubcbotany.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/doi/full/10....
science.org
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Inaugural Fischer Fire Fungi Lab field trip was a huge success! We collected so many familiar faces (Pyronema, Geopyxis, Tricharina, etc.), learned a bunch about pyrophilous insects, and fell in love with the monsoon-moistened sagebrush/pine forests on the doorstep of BC’s desert landscape. ❤️‍🔥🍄‍🟫
Six happy mycologists standing in a line showing off their favorite finds of the day. In the background is a dry, mostly brown, recently burned forest.A tacklebox full of mostlt mushroom treasures, plus a few liverworts, a lichen, and some yellow flowers
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Jonathan Tonkin @jdtonkin.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
What I wish I knew: 33 thoughts for early career researchers Reflections I wish someone had shared with me early in my research career. predirections.substack.com/p/what-i-wis...
predirections.substack.com
What I wish I knew: 33 thoughts for early career researchers
Thirty three reflections I wish someone had shared with me early in my research career.
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
I’m so incredibly proud of Hemi Patel for presenting her Master’s thesis today, and humbled that she chose me to serve on her committee. She cultivated, in rigorous detail, a feasible method for rethinking the way we build, inhabit, and think about architecture using mycomaterials! 🍄
A femme South-Asian (Gujarati) grad student wearing a tan touque sits in front of a laptop and a small audience gathered in black plastic chairs. A projector screen displays the text, “The Roots We Are - Exploring Our Material Entanglement”. Behind the student is an aesthetic arrangement of several sheets of paper containing images and text, below which are 3D examples of mycomaterials in various stages of production.A collection of zines entitled “Animals”, “Fungi”, “Shrubs”, “Trees”, and “Herbs”. Which complimented the narrative of entangled ecosystem architecture
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
I didn’t think it was possible, but I just reviewed a manuscript and I literally have no notes. It’s elegant. It’s concise. It’s crystal clear. I couldn’t even find a typo. Bravo authors!!! I can’t wait to hype up this manuscript once it’s officially published!!
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Noam Ross @noamross.net · 19/04/2025
🚨Report your NSF grant terminations! 🚨 We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely! airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
NSF Grant Termination Information Collection Form

Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NSF grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025.


We are tracking these grants to increase transparency, organize affected PIs, and facilitate responses, including via litigation. Please share the form as widely as possible with your networks. 


We are actively building a pipeline to organize these terminations and will soon have a tracker akin to our NIH grant tracker at https://airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJLocRy/shrNto1NNp9eJlgpA


WE WILL NOT DISCLOSE THE IDENTITY OF ANYONE WHO USES THIS FORM TO PROVIDE INFORMATION. We will keep your identity confidential.


These resources are maintained by Noam Ross of rOpenSci and Scott Delaney of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, with input and support from additional volunteers. For any questions, please contact Scott Delaney on Signal (sdelaney.84).


THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE!
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of the words and narratives that we choose to use because language is fundamentally how we communicate data, how we share our observations of the world, and how we connect with each other - there are big implications for scientific integrity and ethics… 🧵1/3
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Nature @nature.com · 15/04/2025
To combat long-overlooked fungal pathogens, researchers and regulators must embrace innovative science and policy go.nature.com/4jbh96j
go.nature.com
High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
To combat long-overlooked fungal pathogens, researchers and regulators must embrace innovative science and policy.
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
What a fun way to get a glimpse of my lab! Huge thanks to Conlan, Nicole, Siddharth, and Jag for choosing to interview me about cell-cell communication and Neurospora for their SCIE300 class project! @science.ubc.ca read & watch here: medium.com/@leotard.tri...
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Huge News! It’s official - my lab has been awarded the NSERC Discovery Grant! Funding 5 years of fabulous fire fungi research! ✨🔥🍄🧫🔬🧬🍁 Huge thanks to @science.ubc.ca and @ubcbotany.bsky.social for supporting me through this big milestone! 🤓 #NewPI
Urn-shaped brown mushrooms fruiting amid a landscape of charcoal and pine needles. Photo taken last weekend near Cache Creek, BC
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Most days setting up a new lab feel a bit like xmas, but today REALLY felt like xmas! If you hunt mushrooms in Cascadia - you need this book!! 🍄 Mushrooms of Cascadia 🍄‍🟫 by the exceptional Schwarz & Siegel 🙌
Photo of a white bookshelf with 10 copies of the Mushrooms of Cascadia by Schwarz & Siegle, in addition to a smorgasbord of other books, most about fungi.
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Susan Prichard @susanprichard.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
This job at UBC (Vancouver Campus) also looks amazing. forestry.ubc.ca/career-oppor...
forestry.ubc.ca
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track): Wildfire Sciences | Job | UBC
Job Post: UBC Forestry is seeking an Assistant Professor in Wildfire Sciences to develop an novel research program and teach third-year courses. Apply now.
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Matthias C. Rillig @mrillig.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
About the importance of writing and how to do it; nice, short article in Nature Biotechnology, and not just for graduate students. rdcu.be/ee4Vt
rdcu.be
An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write
Nature Biotechnology - An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Come visit us, plant friends!!! 🤗🌱
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
There’s an easter egg hidden in my PhD thesis… and now that I’m serving on student thesis committees, I’m honestly motivated to read their theses partially just to find out if anyone else had the same idea as me.
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ucberkeleymicro.bsky.social @ucberkeleymicro.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
We're excited to invite everyone to the 24th Annual Microbiology Student Symposium on April 26th, 2025. Please join us for a day of research presentations, poster sessions, opportunities to network with local biotech companies, free food, and more! microstudentgroup.weebly.com/registration...
The Microbiology Student Group is excited to invite everyone to the 24th Annual Microbiology Student Symposium on April 26th, 2025 at Krutch Auditorium on Clark Kerr campus. We are happy to share that our keynote speakers this year will be Dr. Steven Allison from UC Irvine and Dr. Kathryn Fixen from the University of Minnesota. Please join us for a day of research presentations, poster sessions, opportunities to network with local biotech companies, free food, and more!

This FREE event is a great opportunity for graduate and undergraduate student researchers, postdocs, techs etc. to share their work and connect with other local microbiologists. Space is limited, so please register through this link by March 28th to reserve your attendance spot and sign up to present a poster and/or give a talk if you are interested. The form allows edits, so feel free to sign up now and submit an abstract later. Selected speakers and poster presenters will be notified by April 11th.

This symposium is open to students and researchers at all stages and from all institutions, so please share widely with anyone in your network who you think might be interested. We look forward to seeing you all in April!
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Walking through the set-up process for my new Agilent BioTek plate reader and the first time it extended it’s tray felt like a greeting, as if it was trying to say hello and shake my hand! Hello friend! Welcome! We’re going to do so much cool science together! 🤗
Photo of a beige box on a dark counter top - the box is the plate reader! A black rectangular tray extends out of the front of a box and a pale hand reaches toward it as if to shake hands
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Cat Adams PhD @scienceismetal.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
My friend found me a great resource for Spanish mushroom terms! Check it out! #FungiFriday www.setasdesiecha.com/partes-del-h...
setasdesiecha.com
Todas las Partes del Hongo; Guia ilustrada completa
Sabias que las 3 principales partes del hongo son el fruto, el micelio y las esporas y que todas sus partes suman mas de 35 partes, Conócelas !
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Sean Michaletz @seanmichaletz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Fully funded PhD in Plant Ecophysiology at UBC in Vancouver 🍁! Possible topics include leaf physiology, thermal ecology, microclimates, scaling, tree physiology, forest ecology & more. Start Jan/May/Sept 2026. michaletzlab.org Please share! #PlantEcoPhys #Ecology #Botany #PhDposition #GradSchool
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Great seminar today from @mcstitzer.bsky.social and I’m now officially obsessed with this perspective that a genome is an ecosystem - just like the biogeography of organisms, whats the geography (geneography?!) of genes across genome(s)?!
Image of an image being projected onto a screen, which says “the genome is an ecosystem” with an illustration of transposons jumping around the genome
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Fabulous lichen seminar today from @spribille.bsky.social Lichens contain multitudes - a truly incredibly diversity of microbes that evolved a different solution to multicellularity besides the usual developmental programming. Metagenomics! Auxotrophy! Resource economics and microbial interactions!
A cross-section of a lichen thallus is projected onto a large screen in a wood-paneled meeting room, with a man standing to the right, dressed in dark colors, talking and gesticulating
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Step 1: Spend the most money you’ve ever spent on any one thing (professionally or personally) Step 2: become a cat For real tho, I am AMPED for my labs new Agilent BioTek plate reader. Pretty sure it’s gonna be even more fun than the box it was shipped in, and it is a fun box.
A very happy lady wearing a pink scarf with her arms raised with glee as she sits comfortably inside a very large cardboard box
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Peter Moffett @moffettpeter.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Plant Biology faculty position @umontreal.ca @irbv.bsky.social : Assistant Professor in Quantitative Genetics www.nature.com/naturecareer...
nature.com
Assistant Professor in Quantitative Genetics - IRBV is located in the Montreal Botanical Garden, one of the largest in North America. job with Université de Montréal / IRBV | 12835129
Tenure-track Assistant Professor position to develop a research program related to quantitative genetics of plants or plant-associated systems.
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Just had a fantastic journal club discussion about this epic @nature.com paper from @tobykiers.bsky.social +team that extremely thoroughly details the network architecture of an AM fungus. We especially appreciated the color-coded mathematical variables :) ...but also>> 🧵 1/3
Computer screenshot of a Zoom window showing mathematical equations on the left, and people's faced in boxes on the right
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Dr. Rebecca Calisi-Rodríguez @rebeccacalisi.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
DEI is under attack, but the stakes are higher than many realize. Universities *must stand firm* in defending it. I lay out why in my latest piece for Nature. Silence is complicity. Without DEI, we fail our students, our research, and our future. www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪
nature.com
‘Silence is complicity’ — universities must fight the anti-DEI crackdown
Higher-education establishments must not be bullied into abandoning their mission of diversity, equity and inclusion.
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
I’d like to personally thank whoever invented image-to-text. I’ve been dreading transcribing all of these serial numbers, but then I realized I could just take a photo and copy&paste the serial numbers directly off the photo. 💫
Multiple stacks of many white boxes with text and barcodes.
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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
This is, just the coolest! I hope to one day be fortunate enough to visit this delightful library 🥹
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