iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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 · 21/03/2026

Hey thanks @fungalmom.bsky.social !! Hope to run into you IRL if you’re still here!

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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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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Super curious to get everyone’s feedback! Whatchya thinkin??? 👀

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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

My first year has been an epic parade of First’s. My students, colleagues, mentors, and community 10000% make it worth it, and it’s these people that motivate me to get out of bed and get to work every day (okay, some days it’s the mushrooms too)! With gratitude, onwards! 🍄

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Holy macaroni I am learning A LOT by teaching this class. I truly had no idea how much I didn’t know, but thanks to my mentors for normalizing this humbling sensation. I’m at the beginning of my career. Knowledge builds with time. And I am evermore in awe of my mycological and education elders. 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I’m also learning to teach as a prof for the first time. I’m currently teaching the mycology class that I’ve been dreaming of for 10+ years. I have a decent amount of experience with very similar classes as a former student and TA, but being the prof is totally different and a humbling experience. 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

The students in my lab are AWESOME and it’s just as much their lab now as it is mine. Progress feels slow at times, but it also feels intentional and good and I’m so excited for these data-driven stories we’re working on to get fleshed out a bit more so we can share them with you all! 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I made sure we had the equipment necessary to culture fungi and maintain my culture collection, and then I hired my first two students (undergrads) to help me get the lab set up while also fleshing out and finishing a project I started as a postdoc. 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Being financially insecure for the majority of my life, it was difficult to spend my precious start-up money at first, and it felt really overwhelming to build an entire lab from scratch. It helped to take it one project and one person at a time. 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

…I’m very much still figuring it out, but I’ve started adding things to my calendar like “prepare for meeting” and “reflect on meeting” to force myself to take the time I need to process and remember everything while also forging ahead with good intention. 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Time management is really real. There are so many cool fun things to do, and just plain necessary things that have to get done - and a lot of these come out of nowhere, with little warning (especially as a newPI), and it’s up to me to decide what’s important and manage my own time… 🧵

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I’ve stuck with this career path because I am so energized and enamored with the myriad of things an academic can do in any given day/week/month - e.g. reading, writing, teaching, mentoring, forging collaborations, field work, lab work, computational work, attending seminars, traveling, etc. etc. 🧵

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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 · 08/08/2025

…i feel like to answer these questions I need two datasets from one time-period and area: (1) dataset with a lot of samples at one time-point and then, l (2) a dataset with, ideally, the same number of samples, but spread out across a time series

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Testing for community assembly and membership - if you’re simply trying to detect all the organisms in a place, during a period of time - does it matter if you spread out sampling over time vs. space? Will you observe equivalent variation between samples across time vs. across space?

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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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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

🧵3/3 - “When we reach out across our painful divides and build bridges to those we disagree with, we are insisting, again, that no person is disposable.” ayinpress.org/the-distance...

ayinpress.org

The Distance We Have to Travel: Snapshot of an Intergenerational Jewish Conversation after October 7th

Letters between an American rabbi and her daughter in the wake of October 7th and the war in Gaza.

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Monika S. Fischer @mofisch.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

…beyond science, language is fundamental to society, and I am so moved by this exchange of letters between a leftist Jewish activist and her peacekeeping rabbi mother. It’s political at it’s surface, but I’m sharing it here for the exquisite writing and complex compassion for all humanity 🧵2/3

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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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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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