Examining the causes and consequences of microbial composition at the population and community scales
Welcome to the lab!
Our lab believes that excellence requires multiple viewpoints and lived experiences. We aspire to achieve a complete workplace, community, and world. Whomever you are, there is space for you here.
Amend Lab
Recent News
Summer updates to the Amend lab
It was a busy spring! We’re so happy to welcome new postdocs Jason Baer and Jiho Yang to the lab. A huge congratulations to Rayne who completed her UROP project with aplomb! and graduated with her BS. Rayne is sticking around to lend a hand on yeast projects. Daehlin got funding to work for the summer in the tissue lab at Lyon Arboretum where sheʻs
Plastic Degradation Paper Published and on Radio
Check out the paper published in Mycologia, and Ronja’s interview on HPR: Steinbach, R. M., Whitner, S., & Amend, A. S. (2025). Marine fungi degrade plastic and can be conditioned to do it faster. Mycologia, 117(1), 1-8.
Postdoc and Student Opportunities
Weʻre recruiting 3 postdoctoral researchers to work on projects funded by the National Science Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, two are focused on the diversity, evolution and ecology of Basidiomycete yeasts in Hawaiʻi, and the second is focused on examining the roles of microbiomes in experimental food webs. In all cases, the trainee would have substantial latitude to develop independent lines of