The IMPRS for Evolutionary Biology is offering up to ten new doctoral positions for the 2026 cohort, all will be located at the MPI-Plön.
Applications can be submitted now, the closing date for the submissions is 11th January. The program starts in September 2026.

Happy to present my research at the Kiel Plant Center Mini Symposium yesterday.
Thanks @lizflorez.bsky.social for chairing, @estukenbrock.bsky.social for the invitation 😃

Looking forward to the KPC Mini-Symposium tomorrow — a great event for all plant scientists in the Kiel area! Speakers are: Hanin Alzubaidy, @lies-nerd.bsky.social and @molecularmax.bsky.social . Don’t miss these exciting talks and discussions!

I had a couple of great days at our first @plantscochallenge.bsky.social annual meeting. Inspiring to discuss diverse aspects of multiple stress responses with colleagues from other parts of the plant sciences
www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/n...
Big thanks to @estukenbrock.bsky.social for organising.

Corné M.J. Pieterse speaking for all of us! #2025ISMPMI

Celebrating 5 days of science at #ISMPMI2025 with my colleagues from @envgenlab.bsky.social @anmaylin96.bsky.social @ruhansen.bsky.social @Leonhard and @Eva 🎉🌾🍄

To wrap up…!
Why keep an effector the plant can recognize?
Our postdoc Liz Florez shows Z. tritici’s effector AvrStb6 shapes the wheat microbiome, esp. Pseudomonas spp., in susceptible cultivars. A hidden microbial modulation role beyond host recognition?
🗓️ Poster P-166
🔗 doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

How does heat reshape plant immune responses?
Our PhD student Anica Schmauch shows higher temperatures boost ROS bursts in barley and potentially affect Z. passerinii growth, revealing abiotic-biotic cross-talk in disease resistance.
🗓️ Poster P-424
#2025ISMPMI

What makes wild wheat resistant to domestic Zymoseptoria?
Our PhD student Rune Hansen found wild wheat relatives that stop infection by domestic Zymoseptoria at the stomata, with a pool of candidate genes that could potentially boost resistance in domestic wheat.
🗓️ Poster P-015
#2025ISMPMI

3rd day of #ISMPMI2025, means poster présentation day 😌

🌿 Curious about microbiomes, effectors, resistance genes, and temperature stress?
Come meet our team at #2025ISMPMI
We’ll be presenting posters all week on Zymoseptoria–plant interactions, wild relatives, and immune manipulation!
🧵 Thread with posters & schedule ⬇️

How does mowing and grazing shape the leaf and root microbiome of a wild grass?
Our PhD student Eva Tanneau tracked 3 years of Agrostis capillaris microbiomes and found striking shifts under different management regimes, including pathogen emergence in leaf networks.
🗓️ Poster P-303
#2025ISMPMI

Can fungal pathogens manipulate the plant microbiome to aid infection?
PhD student Leonhard Pachinger shows Z. tritici expression of killer-like protein effectors KP-4 & KP-6 that inhibit apoplastic bacteria, suggesting a microbiome-targeting strategy during infection.
🗓️ Poster P-217
#2025ISMPMI

Can fungal pathogens hijack host signaling peptides?
Our PhD student Maxim Faroux @molecularmax.bsky.social uncovers a Zymoseptoria KEX2-processed effector putatively mimicking the plant hormone peptide phytosulfokine (PSK) known to lower immunity against hemibiotrophs.
🗓️ Poster P-226
#2025ISMPMI

Excited to present my poster (P-226) tomorrow at #ISMPMI2025. Looking forward to nice scientific discussions!

Being a plant biologist also means loving plants. Since phytochambers are not affordable for private use, nothing better than a DIY greenhouse full of #amorphophallus

Found a small grass (or ringed) snake (natrix natrix) 🐍

Northern Lights in Kiel on October 10th. Nature is amazing 🌃