Adam Steinbrenner
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adsteinbrenner.bsky.social
Adam Steinbrenner
@adsteinbrenner.bsky.social
1.3K followers 350 following 77 posts
Associate Prof @UWBiology Seattle. How do plants recognize and resist pests 🐛? We study receptor function + evolution in plant innate immunity. steinbrennerlab.org
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Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
sloanevolab.bsky.social
Please share! Our lab at Colorado State University is recruiting a PhD student to join us starting fall 2027. We are broadly interested in plant molecular evolution and comparative genomics. More info about our lab and grad programs is available on our lab website.

sites.google.com/site/danielb...
Sloan Lab
Welcome! Our research focuses on the evolutionary process at the molecular level. In particular, we investigate how a mixture of natural selection and non-adaptive forces create and maintain the amazi...
sites.google.com
September 15, 2026 at 4:08 PM
adsteinbrenner.bsky.social
Two faculty searches at Berkeley Plant & Microbial Bio @PMB_Berkeley
Submit applications by Sept 30

Plant Responses to Environmental Changes aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05382

Plant-Microbe Communities aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05522
Assistant Professor - Plant Responses to Environmental Changes - Department of Plant and Microbial Biology
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
September 9, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
mfacette.bsky.social
UMass Amherst Dept of Biology is hiring a TT faculty member in Evolutionary Biology!

careers.umass.edu/jobs/assista...

We have a diverse and wonderful dept - please consider joining us!
Assistant Professor - Evolutionary Biology - Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
Title: Assistant Professor - Evolutionary Biology Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences Department: Biology Work Location: Amherst Schedule: Full Time Work A...
careers.umass.edu
August 28, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
suebiggins.bsky.social
Junior faculty position in Basic Sciences @fredhutch.org! Please repost!
fredhutch.org Fred Hutch @fredhutch.org · Aug 15
🔬 Fred Hutch Cancer Center is hiring an Assistant or Associate Professor in the Basic Sciences Division @basicsci.fredhutch.org. Join a world-class research community in Seattle and help advance discoveries in fundamental biology. Apply: https://apply.interfolio.com/190640
August 18, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
maizegdb.bsky.social
We are deeply saddened to share that Michael Freeling passed away on 7/20/2026 after a year-long battle with cancer. Our deepest condolences go to his family, friends, colleagues, and the many students he inspired. We will share additional memorial information soon.
We are very sorry to share the sad news that Michael Freeling passed away on 7/20/2026 after a year long battle with esophageal cancer. Mike was a long-time faculty member in the Plant and Microbiology Department at University of California-Berkeley, a groundbreaking plant geneticist, and an inspiring teacher and mentor to over two dozen Ph.D. students, four dozen postdocs, and countless undergraduates. He was best known for pioneering work on maize anaerobic metabolism and gene regulation, transposon biology, developmental genetics of the maize ligule, and the discovery of biased gene retention following whole-genome duplications in plants. Mike was hired by UC-Berkeley as an assistant professor straight out of graduate school in 1973, and he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1979 and to full professor in 1984. He was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow in 1980, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1994, and won the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies in 2017. Mike taught genetics, comparative genomics and scientific reasoning to our graduate students, and he also taught a popular genetics course for non-majors that had various titles over the years but was affectionately known as “Genetics for Poets.” Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and many colleagues.
July 27, 2026 at 2:47 PM
adsteinbrenner.bsky.social
Now out in Science Advances.

Inceptin Receptor helps attract predatory wasps in two years of field experiments.

Next steps: can we tune both receptor recognition and volatile blend traits in crops + companion plants?
adsteinbrenner.bsky.social Adam Steinbrenner @adsteinbrenner.bsky.social · Aug 2
How do predatory wasps find their caterpillar prey?

In our new preprint on Biorxiv we show that the host plant's immune system detects herbivory to sound the alarm. 🌱🐛

See thread from @nataliagupa.bsky.social -- a surprising role for a plant PRR in indirect defense against herbivores.
May 27, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
dangaristo.bsky.social
Good reporting from @weiss-a-woni.bsky.social on the reopening on the Indiana University labs.
USDA finishes IU investigation, Innes lab reopens
The investigation and shutdown drew considerable attention because of Professor Roger Innes’s defense of Chinese researchers convicted of illegally importing research material.
www.ipm.org
May 20, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
alexhaverkamp.bsky.social
Save the Date! SIP19 will bring the international insect-plant interaction 🌱 🐛 community to @w-u-r.bsky.social, 22 to 26 August 2027: event.wur.nl/sip19/home
Keynote Speaker: @nkwhiteman.bsky.social, Christelle Robert, @adsteinbrenner.bsky.social, @sunsicker.bsky.social,
@enricfrago.bsky.social
May 15, 2026 at 7:34 PM
adsteinbrenner.bsky.social
We are excited to release the BAT!🦇🚨

We've used this phylogenetic analysis pipeline in our lab for years, and grad Ben Sheppard now presents a Github release and preprint.

I run BAT analyses almost daily. It makes exploring gene families routine, customizable, and fun🧵
pipeline logo
May 13, 2026 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
gittacoaker.bsky.social
We are hiring! We’re excited to recruit a postdoc to our lab at UC Davis to work on plant immune engineering and single-cell analyses of plant pathogen interactions. Apply by June 1. Please repost. www.coakerlab.org/postdoctoral...
Postdoctoral Scholar position in the Coaker group University of California, Davis We are seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar to join our research program focused on immune receptor engineering and spatial analyses of plant pathogens interactions using computational and imaging approaches. The position will involve integration of molecular, imaging, and computational approaches. Relevant publications from the laboratory include Nature Plants (2025, PMID: 40721669), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024, PMID: 38814867), and Cell Reports (2023, PMID: 37342910). https://www.coakerlab.org/ Qualifications: • Ph.D. in plant biology, molecular biology, genetics, computational biology, or a related field • Strong background in genomics and/or computational biology • First author publications in peer-reviewed journals • Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment • Experience in plant innate immunity is preferred Application Instructions: The position is initially available for two years, with the possibility of extension based on performance and funding. Salary is based on the University of California postdoctoral salary scale (https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2025-26/represented-oct-2025-scales/t23.pdf). The salary range for this position is $69,073-$82,836 US Dollars/year. Review of applications will begin June 1, 2026 and will continue until the position is filled. Please submit a CV, a brief statement of research interests (~1 page), and contact information for three references to glcoaker@ucdavis.edu. The research statement should describe your previous work, how your expertise aligns with ongoing research in the lab, and potential future research directions.
April 17, 2026 at 11:06 PM
adsteinbrenner.bsky.social
This cherry blossom season is extra fun for us.🌸

Students sequenced the genome of one of the iconic Yoshino cherry trees on the University of Washington quad, and found nearly identical clonal relatives in Japan!

A great project with Alex Harkess and the American Campus Tree Genomes (ACTG) project
The UW quad with cherries in bloom
March 26, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
noamross.net
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
February 2, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
spicybotrytis.bsky.social
Ever wondered if diverse plant species respond similarly when infected by the same exact pathogen? Infect different asterids and rosids with the same Botrytis genotypes and teh short answer, quite differently.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social

(1/3)
A multi-plant transcriptomic atlas reveals conserved and lineage specific defense architectures in response to Botrytis cinerea
Generalist pathogens pose a challenge to plant immunity by infecting diverse hosts while harboring extensive intraspecific genetic variation. Whether evolutionary distant plant lineages rely on a shar...
www.biorxiv.org
January 15, 2026 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
weisbergaj.bsky.social
This position is still open. The Weisberg lab is recruiting a postdoc or Ph.D. student to study horizontal gene transfer in plant-associated microbial communities. Please see the job ad for more information and feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
weisbergaj.bsky.social Alexandra Weisberg @weisbergaj.bsky.social · Aug 25
The Weisberg Lab at Oregon State University is recruiting a postdoctoral scholar in molecular microbiology to study mobile genetic element host range and transmission in microbial communities. Please see the full job description here: files-dev.cqls.oregonstate.edu/Weisberg_Lab...
January 14, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
weisbergaj.bsky.social
The Weisberg Lab at Oregon State University is recruiting a postdoctoral scholar in molecular microbiology to study mobile genetic element host range and transmission in microbial communities. Please see the full job description here: files-dev.cqls.oregonstate.edu/Weisberg_Lab...
August 25, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
maddyseale.bsky.social
Out First Release in @science.org
A pollen ligand, SIPS, binds to the female receptor, SRK. SIPS binds to a conserved region of SRK, for interspecific incompatibility, unlike the self-incompatibility factor, which binds to a different, variable region
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#PlantScience
Pan-family pollen signals control an interspecific stigma barrier across Brassicaceae species
Pre-zygotic interspecific incompatibility prevents hybridization between species limiting interbreeding strategies for crop improvement using wild relatives. The Brassica rapa female self-incompatibil...
www.science.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
plantevolution.bsky.social
We (Nordborg & Weigel labs) need input on the next generation of genome browsers & data download modes for the #Arabidopsis #1001GenomesPlus project. We have now a curated collection of over 500 long read genomes.

Please help us by filling out this questionnaire: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Next generation of 1001 Genomes Plus browser and data download
Please indicate all features you would like to see in a browser that displays features of completely sequenced Arabidopsis thaliana genomes
docs.google.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
brendannyhan.bsky.social
A staggering statistic: "North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year." What are we doing?
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Nov 11
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 12, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
gensocuk.bsky.social
Congratulations to Joe Felsenstein on being awarded the 2026 Mendel Medal!
November 14, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
environmicrobio.bsky.social
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
nataliagupa.bsky.social
Now that Im finally here, I'm excited to announce that I've joined @salkinstitute.bsky.social as a postdoc with @lmueller.bsky.social Keep your eyes open for everything AMF symbiosis, peptide biogenesis, and the apoplast!
November 6, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
juliasaltz.bsky.social
My lab at Indiana University is searching for a *postdoc* and *technician* to contribute to our work studying the evolution of social behavior using fruit flies as a model system. Details below, feel free to email me with any questions! More info on our research: saltzlab.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
chenxinli2.bsky.social
It's grad school application season! My lab (cxli233.github.io/cxLi_lab/ ) will be recruiting a PhD student via the MPS program at MSU (mps.natsci.msu.edu) for Fall 2026.

Happy to take inquires via email (which can be found in the lab website) if you are applying this cycle.
Our current carbon economy relies on fossil fuels, from which we isolate small organic molecules to produce medicines, plastics, cosmetic, or other chemicals that we use everyday. However, sustainability requires a more biomass-based carbon economy, where we engineer plants to produce precursor molecules, which can then be assembled to desired chemicals that we use daily. Plants have evolved an amazing diversity of metabolites, but these metabolites are not produced in every cell of the plant. Therefore, it is essential to understand how plants can express different metabolic pathways across different organs, tissues, and even cell types. We are interested in the following questions: How are metabolic pathways (especially specialized metabolism) controlled by cell fate? How can we reprogram plant cell fates for biomanufacturing? How can we toggle between differentiated cell states for metabolic engineering and totipotent cell state for genetic engineering?
cxli233.github.io
October 6, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
theplantjournal.bsky.social
📢Announcement!
The call for 𝐓𝐏𝐉 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 is now open! 🌟
It is designed to offer support and mentorship to researchers transitioning from post-doctoral scientists to principal investigators

Info: 👉http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/TPJ-fellowships
& in 🧵
September 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Adam Steinbrenner
omfishient.bsky.social
🧪 Were you one of the many thousands of STEM students (and mentors) impacted by the sudden change in #NSF #GRFP eligibility last week?

We created a petition to NSF leadership and Congress to reverse the changes - please sign and share your stories here!!

laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
Petition to NSF to Restore Eligibility for the 2026 Graduate Research Fellowship Program Competition
laurenkuehne.github.io
September 29, 2025 at 5:02 PM