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mossmatters.bsky.social
Matt Johnson, PhD
@mossmatters.bsky.social
1.3K followers 330 following 190 posts
Associate Professor, Texas Tech University
Director, E.L. Reed Herbarium
bryophyte evolution, plant phylogenomics
mossmatters.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-1958-6334
he/his
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mossmatters.bsky.social
Matt Johnson, PhD @mossmatters.bsky.social · Nov 18
Interested in target capture sequencing?

@madiraibullock.bsky.social and I are happy to announce a new service at TTU. Send us DNA, get reads enriched for your probes. Angiosperms353, GoFLAG, Compositae1061 & more!

Funds go to grad student stipends and tuition!

mossmatters.com/blog/TargetC...
Flyer for Target Capture DNA Sequencing at Texas Tech by the TTU Center for Biotechnology and Genomics. We provide targeted DNA sequencing for $30/sample for Angiosperms353, GoFLAG408, and other probe sets. Funds from our service go to fund a graduate student who is running the samples. We can use as little as 100 ng of DNA in 30 uL and provide at least 1 million reads per sample from a NovaSeq6000 SP 2x250 Illumina sequencing. For more information and the full text of this flyer, visit mossmatters.com/blog/TargetCaptureService.html
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
botsocamerica.bsky.social
Improving plant DNA #metabarcoding accuracy with ecological filters and #Angiosperms353: Field and pollen microscopy validation

New in #AppsPlantSci by Benkendorf, @sophietaddeo.bsky.social, Fant et al

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #botany #PlantScience #herbaria #ecology
A queen bumble bee (Bombus bifarius) foraging on a pale green and white Frasera speciosa flower, with her proboscis extended into a nectary. Her orange pollen basket is prominently visible on her hind leg. Photo credit: Jane Ogilvie.
October 31, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
sarraceniamason.bsky.social
Hey #Botany2026 we're actively looking for potential speakers at ALL experience levels for our proposed colloquium: Side-quest! – Level up your science!. If you have an interesting story, project, or idea to share that qualifies as a “Side-quest” we want to know about it!

More info below⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
October 15, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
asherelbein.bsky.social
Dr. Maxine “Max” Abbott (née Langford) is an oft-forgotten paleontologist of early 20th century Texas. Born in the 1920s, this pint-sized paleobotanical powerhouse worked on the Carboniferous swamps of North America and the Cretaceous jungles of Texas.

(All photos from her papers at Sul Ross.)
A dark-haired woman with an upturned nose, a white shirt, a ribbon and a plaid skirt holds up a piece of carboniferous plant material from her work desk, where she's been painting it with clear varnish to preserve it A 1950s news article about Maxine Abbott's NSF grant, which notes that she was previously conducting her paleobotany research as a volunteer while at Cincinnati and working in a local department store office three days a week to pay research costs. A black and white photo of a young Maxine Langford in the 1930s at Texas Tech, smiling at the camera from a bench. She's wearing a knee-length dress, a plaid short sleeved shirt, and glasses. She's clearly very small. A photo of undergraduate Maxine Langford posing climbing in through the window of an abandoned stone building new Mexico, wearing field pants, boots, and a short sleeve shirt. It's a great look, honestly.
October 14, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
shellygaynor.bsky.social
Updated tutorials for nQuack today. Want to predict ploidy level of sequence data? See this new tutorial on how to process and model data faster: mlgaynor.com/nQuack/artic...
a little boy is driving a red toy car on the street .
Alt: a little kid is driving a red toy car on the street.
media.tenor.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:32 AM
mossmatters.bsky.social
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/t...
Texas Tech chancellor limits academic mentions of transgender and nonbinary identities at five universities
Advocacy groups say the new state law, presidential executive order and gubernatorial letter Tedd Mitchell cited do not prohibit classroom discussions of particular LGBTQ+ identities.
www.texastribune.org
September 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
madiraibullock.bsky.social
Excited to share what I've been working on with the science community! Starting to get my PhD papers out as I get closer to graduating, and looking into next steps in my career. If anyone has any postdoc ideas, please reach out! 🙂🌱
September 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
New preprint from our lab - how miniaturized library prep drives down costs for target capture sequencing with minimal impact on recovery. Led by @madiraibullock.bsky.social and with two undergrad coauthors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Fun-Sized Library Prep: Miniaturization is a valid method for per-sample cost reduction in targeted sequencing of angiosperm DNA
Genomic analysis of population structure is important to the conservation of plant species of concern. A limitation of using genetic information in conservation is the cost of obtaining large datasets...
www.biorxiv.org
September 22, 2025 at 1:06 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Is it possible to learn this power?
September 18, 2025 at 12:19 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Interesting pilot study on paid peer review. From the thread, $250 US significantly increased "rate of conversion" for review invitations without decreasing a metric of review quality in a medical journal.
elisabethbik.bsky.social Elisabeth Bik - Perpetrator 5, a fraudulent microbiologist @elisabethbik.bsky.social · Sep 4
DM: Incentivized reviewers had slightly higher positive response, and were a bit faster in sending in reviews.
The incentivized manuscript surprisingly had a slightly longer time-to-acceptance. The peer review time, however, is just a small fraction of the total editorial time.
#PRC10
Results day with a table with percentages. Conclusion slide with a photo of a painting of the Venice Arsenale.
September 4, 2025 at 10:05 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Are you a mammologist whose research involves natural history collections? Apply to be my colleague!

Assistant professor position with the Department of Biological Sciences and the Natural Science Research Laboratory at Texas Tech University.

sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear...
Job Search Welcome | Texas Tech University System
Search for Internet job openings.
sjobs.brassring.com
September 2, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
erikarmoore11.bsky.social
So excited to be co-leading this special issue! Cannot wait to see all the innovative ways target enrichment sequencing is being used!

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions ☺️
botsocamerica.bsky.social Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · Sep 2
SPECIAL ISSUE CALL FOR PAPERS

#AppsPlantSci invites proposals for “Beyond #phylogenomics: Innovative applications of target capture data,” led by @emcassey.bsky.social, @erikarmoore11.bsky.social, Mafe Torres Jimenez & ‪@yannickwoudstra.bsky.social‬

Deadline 30 Nov 2025

botany.org/home/publica...
The text at the top reads: “APPS Special Issue Call for Papers: Beyond phylogenomics: Innovative applications of target capture data”. The image beneath the title: On the left side of the image is a large circle divided in two halves: the left side of the circle comprises four images of flowers/herbarium specimens and the right side of the circle contains the text “Target Capture.” Five dotted line arrows point from the large circle to five smaller circles on the right. Smaller circles (clockwise from top): (1) “Off Target”, (2) “Biodiversity assessments”, (3) “Population genomics”, (4) “Evo-Devo”, (5) “Species identification”. The text beneath the image reads: “Proposal deadline November 30, 2025”. The Applications in Plant Sciences logo is in the bottom left corner, and a QR code is in the bottom right corner. Image credit: Yannick Woudstra.
September 2, 2025 at 11:18 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Yes thank you very much for the design idea, Powerpoint, that is exactly the right vibe for this lecture.
Generated slide idea for "Introduction to Plant Taxonomy, BIOL4302: Field Botany and Natural History Collections" featuring a large industrial plant with several stacks billowing smoke. Might actually be a nuclear power plant? Still, wtf Powerpoint
September 1, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
emjo.bsky.social
MSU Plant Bio is hiring a new herbarium director! Our herbarium is a wonderful resource on campus and I'm excited to have the opportunity to make it even better by bringing in a new director. Details here: plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...
plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu
August 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
saristolochia.bsky.social
FREE TEACHING RESOURCE! 📣
I illustrated this poster as a project during the ComSciCon-ATL conference in 2024 on sunflowers and their unique inflorescence architecture. I am happy to share it here now! Feel free to download, use, and share!
You can also contact me for a higher resolution version 🌻
Infographic showing drawings of sunflowers and sunflower parts. There are explanations to each type of flower within the sunflower inflorescence and their function
August 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Hey #Botany2025 was so fun we’re ready for #Botany2026 … maybe we’ll wait for y’all here in Tuscon!
Selfie of the lab in front of the entrance to Starr Resort in Tuscon, the location of Botany 2026. Saguaros in the background!
August 1, 2025 at 1:44 AM
mossmatters.bsky.social
When in California… #botany2025
Me in a tie dye shirt hugging a tall pine tree
July 31, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
paigethebotanist.bsky.social
#UpAllNightWednesday at #Botany2025 will be at Street Bar!!! The first gay bar in Palm Springs 🏳️‍🌈 Be ready for karaoke!! 🎤 🕺 💃🏽 ✨
July 30, 2025 at 11:10 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Opening night of #botany2025 means matching lab t-shirts!

Check out the alt text to read all of our "plant band" names!
Nine botanists in bright green E.L. Reed Herbarium t-shirts at Botany2025 Botany July 27-31, 2025 Palm Springs CA Monday: Panicum! At the Disco Hall & Sideoats • Kate Subshrub • OK Glomus Tupackera Shakur • Postoak Malone • My Chemical Bromeliad Bryum Adams • Imagine Snapdragons • Moss Def • Green Day  RUBISCO Speedwagon • Blue Bonnet Jovi • Arctic Monkeyflowers Tuesday: Chapparal Roan Philadelphus Collins • Fleet Phloxes • Van Xanthisma Durian Durian • Guns ‘N’ Rosaceae • The Notorious G.D.C. • AsteraceDC Ceratodonovan • Scurfy • Dexy’s Midnight Stolons • Violet Femmes The Mammas and The Chaetopappas • Buddy Ilex • Smashing Curcurbita    Up All Night Wednesday Featuring PEAT Lab @ TTU: CorgiOne • JellyJam • Mycelial Network • Youthful Eyes Junior Ranger • Plant? • Tequilia Greg • Babagooya • Flora 
July 28, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
shellygaynor.bsky.social
Packed room for the @soltislab.bsky.social #Botany2025 workshop.

If you cannot make it, all the resources can be found here: github.com/soltislab/Bo...
July 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Our lab is out in force at #Botany2025 - come check out our talks and posters this week in Palm Springs!
Peat Lab at Botany - Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University. Featuring seven talks and three posters by: Matt Johnson (PI) Assessing BCEENET CUREs Monday • 8:45 AM • SmoketreeC Madison Bullock (PhD Candidate) Conservation Genomics: Gettin SNPpy with it Monday • 10:15 AM • Ventura Nan Hu (Post-doc) IDing plants in Mixed DNA with A353 Monday • 11:15 AM • MesquiteC Anna DesHotels (MA Student) The Comanche Plant Footprint Monday • 2:00 PM • SmoketreeDE Jazlyn Salazar (Post-bac) 100 years of Stomatal Change in GUMO Tuesday• 8:30 AM • SmoketreeAB Mara Hosaka (MS Student) AMF Diversity from Herbarium Specimens Tuesday • 10:30 AM • Santa Rosa Oluwaseun Shodipo (PhD Student) Phylogenetic Systematics of Xanthisma Tuesday• 2:45 PM • Sierra Undergraduate Posters Monday 5:30 - 7 PM • Oasis 2 Rylee Creek • P206 Fun-sized Library Prep Bowen Forman • P209 Phylogeny of Texas Flora Charles Huff • P11 GPU-Accelerated HybPiper PLANTS: Everything About Them!
July 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Y’all, big news, I found out where they’re keeping them all
Green road sign on the highway that says: Grants City Limit Elev 6470
July 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
The PEAT* Lab is on its way to #Botany2025! A mere 16 hours to Palm Springs, see y’all there!
A van of smiling botanists at the beginning of a very long road trip
July 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
wile-phylote.bsky.social
V pumped for #Botany2025! So much so that I just can’t wait to post all the projects the #BulbousLab will be sharing with everyone! 🌷🧅🪻🧄
A graphic with a text header saying “Bulbous lab at Botany 2025”. Underneath is a list of names, times, locations and topics of different projects to be presented at Botany 2025.
June 26, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Matt Johnson, PhD
savageplantphys.bsky.social
Cannot wait to see all the great talks and posters from folks in my lab!!! Come and hear about our research at #Botany2025 .
This is a image highlighting 4 presentations and posters in my lab. Amelie LeTierce (Floral physiology, Tues. 10am talk, Mon 5:30pm poster). Annie Peterson (Coastal phenology, Tues. 2:30pm talk), Caleb Jones (Phloem callose, Mon. 5:30pm poster), and Jessica Savage (Phloem and senescence, Mon. 4pm talk).
July 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
mossmatters.bsky.social
Why is the “4th of July” the only day of the year that Americans say the date the British way?
July 4, 2025 at 2:24 PM