Alright now that I’m home I guess it’s time to officially announce some really good news: I have received an NIH R35 MIRA!! This award will fund five years of research in my group using Aiptasia to study context dependency and GxGxE interactions in animal-microbe symbioses!

How it feels having secured the largest grant of my career in this climate… (Of course with new OMB rules that explosion could be coming for me too… but at least I kicked the can a little farther down the road)

Those NOA vibes (kiwi edition)

If you’re planning your afternoon schedule at #ICRS2026, I’ll be speaking on a multi-institutional project investigating how holobiont interactions shape resistance and response to SCTLD. 4:15 in room 515!

Feeling those “award prepared” vibes…

Not quite office door worthy, but the dim sum that preceded it was fantastic.

Girls come on.. leave the Hawaiian shirts at conferences to the men? I don’t think so! #evol2026 (Also if you get this reference and get my shirt we should be friends)

One more talk from my lab today at #Evol2026. Postdoc @calebcbutler.com will be presenting on our collaborative project with @raulgoch.bsky.social searching for conserved mechanisms of cnidarian symbioses. Come hear more about this exciting project.

Also a reminder that I’m recruiting students (and a tech), so come find me if you’re interested!! I’ll be at our lovely TXST Biology booth during coffee breaks and poster sessions to talk about all the exciting graduate opportunities at our institution.

Gearing up for a full first day at #Evol2026 which includes two presentations from my lab group! I’ll be talking this morning about recent work investigating patterns of disease resilience in tropical corals. Then tonight MS student Carly Travers has a poster on her thesis studying immune memory!

Upside: I managed to snag a coveted Airport Pikachu (though not full sized unfortunately) before leaving out of Haneda!

Fighting jet lag on a 24 hour travel day with a 5 hour layover is freaking rough. Seven more hours til I can sleep… For now taking in gorgeous views of Minneapolis.

So… something just a little exciting happened this week. Eternally thankful to everyone who’s helped me get this far. Excited for what comes next!

I have been living a lie. For 36 years I was certain I did not like red meat (except for all beef hotdogs). Heck I had brisket like a year ago accidentally and hated it. Turns out there are actually 2 exceptions to this rule cause this steak was damn delicious.

Happy birthday to me!

IYKYK

Flight update… more mimosas and editing response to reviewers for our upcoming manuscript. Not a bad way to spend a morning!

When the first class upgrade is only $25 more than it would cost to fly economy with a checked bag. Mimosas to celebrate a little Christmas break were definitely in order!

Lab Christmas party last night had a surprising star… Motsenbocker was the life of the party. Made sure to supervise the white elephant exchange as well.

Follow up: I still can’t get over the fact that this man sold out Dickies arena and then showed up looking like he belongs in a Progressive commercial. Fully embracing the “Dad rock” vibes and honestly, I’m here for it.

Back in the town where I got my PhD tonight, seeing two of the musicians who defined that period of my life. One of them I haven’t seen live since I was a newly minted PhD, 4 days post defense and a week out from getting engaged. You could say I’m feeling just a little nostalgic

Science friends and collaborators!! This week I will be giving my tenure review seminar! It will be available via zoom to accommodate some folks travel schedules. So, if you’d like to hear more about what the labs been up to over the past five years please reach out and I will give you the link

5 years of hard work on this guys brain at shows has really paid off. He’s starting to feel like an old pro. Did he try to kill himself in the trailer on the way over? Yeah. But did that bother him when he got there? Nope. Set a first level PB & exceeded our 2nd level debut goal by 4 points!

Yall some company is making equestrian jumpsuits and I can’t even….. who in their right mind??? 🤮🤮🤮

It absolutely helped that we hit the wildlife jackpot… saw a moose as soon as we entered the park & the rest of the “big four” (Dahl sheep, bears, caribou) by the time we left. Then there was the lynx, marmot, tons of ground squirrels & pica, & even a snowshoe hair sighting. Absolutely incredible.

Still processing what an incredibly special place Denali National Park truly is. I’ve never been anywhere like it… when I first read that the park was mostly trail-less I was so intimidated, but after visiting and experiencing I am already plotting a proper trip back for some true off-trail hiking.

Yall I opened up a job talk from 5 years ago (yikes…) looking for something random, but the future directions caught my eye… Five years later we’re wrapping up NSF funding to do exactly this, and the concept is basically the foundation of my funded CAREER. 🤯🤯 #promisesmadepromiseskept

One more thing as I sit here reflecting… It took exactly 10 years to go from NSF GRFP awardee to NSF CAREER awardee (with a BRC-BIO in the middle). And at every milestone and step along the way I’ve had this adorable boy by my side. My heart cat. ❤️

Celebrating this Friday evening!! After 7 long months I can finally share that I have received an NSF CAREER award to study the link between bleaching and disease in cnidarians!! Stay tuned for more info about postdoc and graduate student positions!

Boat day for our summer undergraduate trip as part of our NSF funded project. A nice break after a busy day of infection trials yesterday. Love bringing together all the students on team Astrangia for some great science and cohorting!