Bought a lovely watercolor print of one of my favorite spots in Lansing as we're down to one week left here.

This fall I'm thrilled to be joining UMass Amherst (@umassamherst.bsky.social) as an assistant prof. My lab will study photosynthetic evolution, diversity & resilience, focusing on C4 photosynthesis, one of the most remarkably convergent traits in the biosphere. #PlantScience #Evolution #NewPI

Don't forget to join us for the next Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar featuring Dr. Matt Stata! His technical training workshop will be on "Exploring the Many Applications of RNA-seq Data." Learn more and register for this event here: bit.ly/4uDLobX @mattstata.bsky.social

Excited to be leading this WALII webinar on July 9. It's basically going to be a whirlwind tour of common uses for RNA-sew data, plus lots of example scripts that participants can modify and apply to their own datasets.

WALIIAnhydro@waliianhydro.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are excited to announce the next Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar! Join us July 9, 2026, for a technical training workshop by Dr. Matt Stata on "Exploring the Many Applications of RNA-seq Data" Register Here: bit.ly/4uDLobX @mattstata.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social

New review out in Current Biology with colleagues in the Plant Cell Atlas (@plantcellatlas.bsky.social)! We discuss how single-cell genomics is reshaping our understanding of plant cell-type identity and evolution across the Green Lineage. bit.ly/4eAip2Q

Golden oyster mushrooms are both delicious and invasive in Michigan, which is nice because it means I don't have to feel bad about completely pillaging and plundering every single cap I find...

We're excited to share that Rhee Lab member Karine Prado (MSU) will be presenting her research on thermo-adaptation in Death Valley at the BioEM Talks webinar on March 19 at 11 AM EDT! 🌵 Learn more and register: www.bioemtalks.org/march-19-2026 #plantscience

MSU Plant Resilience Institute@msupri.bsky.social · 5mo ago

MSU Plant Resilience Institute Research Specialist Karine Prado will be featured in the next #BioEMTalks webinar on March 19th! Register for free to learn more about Karine's research on thermoadaptation mechanisms: bioemtalks.org/march-19-2026 #PlantScience #Microscopy

Why yes, I *am* the Mushroom Man.

East Lansing Makers: Do You Know the Mushroom Man? - East Lansing Info

Matt Stata has been cultivating mushrooms at his home for years.

eastlansinginfo.news

I'm very pleased to have been a part of this great study, which is now out in Current Biology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A somatic mutation seems to have occurred in my pineapple mint yielding a single albino shoot.

New preprint up: "Single-cell-level response to drought in Sorghum bicolor reveals novel targets for improving water use efficiency." www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Here we show that drought response supersedes differences in cell identity and identify key transcriptional regulators.

This was a long time (too long) in the works, but I'm thrilled that it is finally out: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... "How evolution repeatedly builds complexity: a case study with C4 photosynthesis in Blepharis (Acanthaceae)" And this was chosen for a cover photo:

Will you be attending PSNA 2025? Join PMN members Charles Hawkins, @mattstata.bsky.social ( @msupri.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social ) & Gabrielle Wyatt ( @ucdavisplants.bsky.social ) June 28 at #PSNA2025 To Learn More, Visit: www.psna2025.com @psna-official.bsky.social

We are pleased to announce our new paper "UnigeneFinder: An Automated Pipeline for Gene Calling From Transcriptome Assemblies Without a Reference Genome" is officially in press at @plantdirectj.bsky.social! Available here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

UnigeneFinder: An Automated Pipeline for Gene Calling From Transcriptome Assemblies Without a Reference Genome

For most species, transcriptome data are much more readily available than genome data. Without a reference genome, gene calling is cumbersome and inaccurate because of the high degree of redundancy i...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Made friends with a squirrel during a morning coffee break.

New methods paper out: UnigeneFinder is a software tool designed to reduce the redundancy of de novo transcriptome assemblies and produce sets of primary transcripts, coding sequences, and proteins, along with gene expression data. dx.doi.org/10.1002/pld3...

UnigeneFinder: An Automated Pipeline for Gene Calling From Transcriptome Assemblies Without a Reference Genome

For most species, transcriptome data are much more readily available than genome data. Without a reference genome, gene calling is cumbersome and inaccurate because of the high degree of redundancy i...

dx.doi.org

#TansleyReview: #C4 #photosynthesis, trait spectra, and the fast-efficient phenotype Monson et al. 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #LatestIssue

Matt Stata (@mattstata.bsky.social), @rheelab.bsky.social postdoc, has been awarded a PRI Seed Grant for "Cell-Specific Metabolic Remodeling: Mapping C₄ Evolution Through snRNA-seq and Metabolomics in Parallel Intermediate-Rich Lineages." Matt is joined by Co-PIs Beth Holland & Kelem Gashu Alamrie!

Don't forget to register to join PMN members Charles Hawkins, @mattstata.bsky.social ( @msupri.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social ) & Gabrielle Wyatt ( @ucdavisplants.bsky.social ) at #PSNA2025 Early Bird Discount deadline is April 20! To Register: www.psna2025.com @psna-official.bsky.social

Amazing resource for the Arabidopsis and plant community www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

An Arabidopsis single-nucleus atlas decodes leaf senescence and nutrient allocation

A comprehensive single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of Arabidopsis across multiple tissues enables the quantification of leaf cell aging state at a single-cell level, highlighting the senescence-relat...

cell.com