Professional head-shot of Dr. Richard Lankau in a blue button down shirt. Green text box reads: Capitalizing on Microbial Communities to Meet Restoration and Agricultural Goals Dr. Rick Lankau, University of Wisconsin–Madison April 14, 3pm CST NDSU Plant Pathology, Microbiology & Biotechnology Microbiome Webinar Series

The next Microbiome Webinar Series highlights research at the intersection of microbial ecology, plant health, and agricultural systems.

Join us Tuesday, April 14 at 3 p.m. CST.

Zoom link: ndsu.zoom.us/s/98324980871

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Join NDSU for the next session of our Microbiome Webinar Series

April 14 at 3 PM CST.

Dr. Richard (Rick) Lankau – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Title: Capitalizing on microbial communities to meet restoration and agricultural goals

Zoom link: ndsu.zoom.us/s/98324980871

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Headshot of Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai in front of trees. Green text box with white lettering reading- Reading, Acquiring and Accommodating Symbiotic Partners with Each New Generation: Lessons from the Squid-Vibrio Association Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai, Caltech March 24 3pm CST NDSU Plant Pathology, Microbiology, and Biotechnology Microbiome Webinar Series

NDSU will be hosting Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai March 24th at 3pm Central on Zoom. She will be presenting about the Hawaiian bobtail squid–Vibrio fischeri partnership & what it teaches us about host-microbe interactions. Join us for her talk!

ndsu.zoom.us/s/98324980871

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Join the NDSU Microbiome Webinar Series on Tuesday, March 3 at 3 PM CST via Zoom: ndsu.zoom.us/s/98324980871 for Dr. Fierer's talk.

Dr. Fierer will explore the hidden world of soil microbes that thrive in low-nutrient environments, and what they reveal about ecosystem function and environmental processes in his talk: “Never Invited to the Feast: The Ecology of Oligotrophic Soil Bacteria”

Join NDSU Microbiome seminar speaker Noah Fierer (Professor of Microbial Ecology at University of Colorado Boulder and fellow of Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) to learn about microbes you’ve probably never thought about, but should.
See below for more information

Seminar by Dr. Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe
Tuesday February 3rd, 3pm CST
Join us: ndsu.zoom.us/s/98324980871
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This week's NDSU Microbiome talk is by Dr. Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe, from the Université de Sherbrooke & Canada Research Chair in Applied Microbial Ecology. Her seminar will talk about how host-microbe interactions shape ecosystem health, resilience, & human well-being. 🦠 🧪
Link below

NDSU Plant Path, Micro & Biotech is hosting Dr. Andres Gomez, PhD at the U of M for an online seminar. He will discuss integrating the gut-brain axis into a One Health Framework.

Please join us!
When: Tuesday, January 13
Time: 3:oo PM CST
Click the link to join: ndsu.zoom.us/s/98324980871
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🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.

Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠

3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

5. March 24th, Dr. Margaret J. McFall-Ngai - Caltech
6. April 14th, Dr, Richard (Rick) Lankau – University of Wisconsin-Madison
7. April 28th – Dr. Shankar Thangamani, DVM, PhD; Purdue University

Scheduled Speakers are:
1. January 13th, Dr. Gomez University of Minnesota
2. February 3rd, Dr. Laforest-Lapointe - Université de Sherbrooke, Canada
3. February 17th, Dr. Zachary Noel, Auburn University

NDSU Department of Plant Path Micro & Biotech is hosting the 2026 Spring Microbiome Seminar Series!

Please join us for seminars on Tuesdays from 3-4pm (More information and Zoom links for each seminar to be posted closer to each seminar's date)

Friends, I am giving a free online talk about marine biology, ocean conservation, sharks, and my career tonight (noon Hawaii time, 6 P.M. my time). Sign up here:

🧪🦑🌎🦈 #SciComm

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

1) Are you an Assistant Professor studying evolutionary biology?

2) Are you in the US?

3) Would you like to give a research seminar in Iowa?

4) Are you available to travel September 4-6?

If you can answer YES x4, please DM me ASAP, or comment below.

Before this #PlantBio2025 thread closes: two exciting opportunities now open for early-career plant scientists.
1. Plantae Fellows program, apply by Aug 31 plantae.org/2026fellowsa...
2. @theplantcell.bsky.social Assistant Features Editor program, apply by Sep 15.
blog.aspb.org/the-plant-ce...

Saving the best for the last (I might be biased 🤪)
@carahaney.bsky.social shared our recent work on how RLKs help plants communicate with the diverse microbiota. There are so many RLKs, and we are just scratching the surface of understanding what they do!
#aspb #pb2025 #rhizosphere #microbiome

Molecular Exchange between Plants and their Interacting Microbes.

Cara Haney, Tatsuya Nobori, Gary Stacy, and Meenu Singla-Ragstogi

I'm excited for the final plenary at #PlantBio2025!
Cara Haney, Tatsuya Nobori, Gary Stacy, and Meenu Singla-Ragstogi speaking on Molecular Exchange between Plants and their Interacting Microbes. 🌱🦠
@tatsuyanobori.bsky.social
@carahaney.bsky.social
@msr20.bsky.social

Presentation slide introducing the "Plants Quest for Quality Microbial Partners" symposium session. Slide features overview of nodule formation in legume roots by rhizobia from the paper "Host-imposed control mechanisms in legume–rhizobia symbiosis" by Porter et (DOI:10.1038/s41564-024-01762-2) Pictures of each of the speakers for the session interspersed with the figure sections Speakers are: Feng Feng from OSU Siva Sankari of Stowers Barney Geddes of NDSU Kathryn Jones of FSU Sohini Guha of Penn State

Session co-chairs Barney Geddes and Chandan Gautam standing near a podium with the Plant Biology 2025 banner

Geddes lab members leading a symposium session at #PlantBio2025

Scientific poster titled "Uncovering genomic and symbiotic trait diversity in wild rhizobia strains" Poster presenter Tania Gupta of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

Scientific poster titled "Defining the contribution of accessory genes in Mesorhizobium japonicum Integrative Conjugative Elements (ICE) to effective and competitive symbiosis with Lotus japonicus" Poster presenter Gayathri Senanayake of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

A few more of our posters!
#PlantBio2025

Science. poster titled "Illuminating Legume - Rhizobia Symbiosis: Optimizing Fluorescent Reporters for Host-Specific Insights" Poster presenter Chandan Gautam of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

Scientific poster titled "Root microbiome can and structural traits vary across historically released soybean cultivars" Poster presenter Mohammad Al Mahmud Un Nabi of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster and talking with two other conference attendees.

Scientific poster titled "Engineering and evaluation of a Sinorhizibium meliloti nodulation (nod) gene reporter system in rhizobia and non-rhizobia" Poster presenter Chinh Luu of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

Scientific poster titled "Using high-throughput culturing to isolate non-rhizobia members of root nodule microbiomes" Poster presenter Olwen Paterson of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster and holding a cute small stuffed animal sheep.

Poster titled "Unraveling Host-Specific Microbial Recruitment and Preference in the Barley and Sugarbeet" Poster presenter Sareeka Kumari of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

Poster titled "Investing Dynamics and Outcomes of a Synthetic Community of Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes Inoculated on Barley and Corn" Poster presenter Somi Lim of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

Poster titled "Evaluating Soybean Microbiome Restructuring in response to Iron Deficiency Chlorosis" Poster presenter Urmi Das of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

Poster titled "High-Throughput Screening approach to enhance Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Dry Beans" Poster presenter Deevita Srivastava of North Dakota State University is standing in front of the poster.

#PlantBio2025
Some great posters from our lab today!

Image Text: Plants Quest for Quality Microbial Partners. Monday, July 28, 2025. 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM. Barney Geddes, Feng Feng, Siva Sankari, Manish Tiwari, Kathryn Jones, and Sohini Guha. North Dakota State University | Oklahoma State University | Stowers Institute for Medical Research | WKU | Florida State University | Pennsylvania State University

📣#PlantBio2025 daily highlight: Plants Quest for Quality Microbial Partners Concurrent Session!🌱 buff.ly/QuSCgrl

Learn more and register now!👉https://buff.ly/W7JZVeV

#plantscience

If you're a grad student or an undergrad interested in research I need to you listen to me very carefully.

You cannot learn to write good research papers if you do not read good research papers.

Stop asking LLMs to summarize papers for you.

I always tell this to my research assistants: if you use AI to summarize and write for you, you don't need to be my assistant. You don't need to do research at all.

Research should be selfish: *you* (not a machine) learn how to read, write, innovate, and dream. Otherwise, what is the point?

NDSU Microbiological Sciences Save the date Monday April 28th 3:15 pm CST NDSU Microbiome Webinar Series Dr. Nicole Hynson of the University of Hawaii at Manoa presenting "Ecology of plant and fungal microbiomes" Picture of Dr. Nicole Hynson doing field work at bottom of flier

Join us for the final talk in our Microbiome Webinar Series on April 28 at 3:15 PM CST with Dr. Nicole Hynson,

📍https://ndsu.zoom.us/j/95260612542

NDSU Microbiological Sciences Save the Date Monday, March 17th 3:15 PM NDSU Microbiome Webinar Series "Dynamics of soil microbes in space" presented by Dr. Janet Jansson from Pacific Northwest Nation Laboratory

How do soil microbiomes behave in space? Join Dr. Janet Jansson as she shares her NASA-funded research on this cutting-edge topic!

🔗 Watch here ndsu.zoom.us/j/95260612542

2025 Federal Financial Assistance Freeze On Monday, January 27th, 2025, President Trump issued an order to freeze virtually all of approved and legally required federal funding.

Please share:
@delauro.house.gov is cochair of the US House Congressional Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group.

They are looking for instances where the impoundment and restriction of NIH/NSF funds is having a negative impact. Submit examples here delauro.house.gov/constituent-...

The people who would be most harmed by the closures of financially precarious colleges and universities are poor people, first generation students, people of color, and students with caretaking responsibilities

That is who your small/no endowment schools disproportionately serve

NDSU Microbiological Sciences Save the date Monday February 24 3:15PM NDSU Microbiome Webinar Series Playing with Fire: How do microbiomes colonize and persist within wildfire impacted forest soil ecosystems Dr. Mike Wilkins Colorado State University (Picture of Dr. Mike Wilkins on left, words in green, yellow and white on right)

Join us for the next NDSU Microbiome Webinar Series on Feb. 24 at 3:15 PM CST!