Annie Hatmaker, Ph.D.
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annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Annie Hatmaker, Ph.D.
@annemakerofhats.bsky.social
270 followers 140 following 130 posts
Bioinformatician working in microbial genomics, hiking fan and reading fanatic | she/her | opinions are my own & may not reflect the views of my employer or funding agency
Fungi >>>
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annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Happy Halloween, everyone! As always, I’m grateful for the opportunity to work on fungal pathogens, a fun (yet spooky!) topic of research 🍄👻
My hand holding a black mug with orange dots and a jack-o’-lantern on the mug. The background is a white table cloth with little bats and more jack-o’-lanterns
October 31, 2025 at 2:33 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
We also tested virulence in a zebrafish model. All the isolates were capable of causing disease, BUT isolates from population A were the most deadly.

The A. oryzae isolates were the *least* virulent, which is very good news for culinary enthusiasts.
October 7, 2025 at 8:04 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
We found evidence for multiple domestication events for A. oryzae (blue clades O1 and O2), & we saw that the A. oryzae isolates were interspersed in the newly defined population D, which has a LOT of clinical isolates--pretty weird and unexpected! 👀
October 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
“So here’s to you, old Tennessee, our alma mater true.“

Had a great time this weekend as part of the Herbert College of Agriculture Young Alumni Council at UTK! Really excited that we were able to participate in Ag Day this year 🧡🍊 #gbo #vfl #GoVols
A football field with checkerboard end zones and a lot of spectators in orange. The band on the field has created hearts out of their bodies The outside of a stadium with a sign that spells V-O-L-S A statue of a hound dog in a little orange and white outfit that says Tennessee. A banner behind the statue says “Welcome! Ag Day” A banner that reads “it’s Football time in Tennessee! VOLS for LIFE” in hand drawn letters with a football drawn on the left and an orange and white checkerboard-filled heart on the right.
September 20, 2025 at 8:45 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Ready for day 2 of #CFN25 with my @canfunnet.bsky.social mug from the 2023 meeting!
A hand holding a mug with a design of maple leaves and seashells. The leaves have spots on them. A mug that says “4th Annual CanFunNet Fungal Biology Conference” and has the date June 2, 2023. The last line of text on the mug reads “from coast to coast”
August 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Happy #FungiFriday 🍄
Don’t have IDs for any of these, but they were all fun to see/photograph at a Tennessee state park or just in the yard at my parents’ house.
Beige mushrooms from the side. The gills are visible under the little caps. More than five mushrooms are in the picture, with pine needles in the foreground and greenery in the background (out of focus). Many many many tiny, light purple mushrooms. Their caps look like sea shells A light brown mushroom with little “hairs” on the edges of the cap Several small, light brown mushrooms growing in mulch. A white woman’s finger points to them (for scale)
June 13, 2025 at 2:33 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Happy #FungiFriday
Here is a picture from a tree in my neighborhood. 🍄
Moss, several types of light gray-green lichens, and orange-ish fungi grow on a tree
May 30, 2025 at 9:02 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
My mom just called me (very excited) to tell me that CNN's 5 Things to Know newsletter mentioned Aspergillus. Nice to know she was paying enough attention to remember the genus I worked on for my Ph.D. 😂
A screenshot of a website In bold text: "There's a fungus among us" In regular text: "As the climate crisis intensifies, researchers say Aspergillus, a common group of infection-causing fungi, will spread to new regions of the planet." There is a line under some of the text indicating a link.
May 28, 2025 at 1:37 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Today's news has been bad, but at least there are cats.
The two in the box are my cats, the orange one is a neighborhood cat.
A gray and white cat lays in a cardboard box, the sunshine lighting his face and belly. His nose is pink and he has one back leg on the back of the box. A fluffy orange cat eats wet food on a white plate on a concrete patio. The camera is very close to him but there is grass visible to one side. A brown and gray tabby cat sits in a cardboard box
May 22, 2025 at 9:23 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
This #Caturday was a day for naps all around
A brown tabby cat sleeps on the back of a couch. One paw is curled in front of her.
April 26, 2025 at 11:07 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Happy #Caturday to all
Two cats lounging under a piece of furniture.
April 5, 2025 at 6:20 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
#ECFG17 #Dublin
Buildings along a riverfront The Samuel Beckett bridge across the River Liffey The Conference Center Dublin at night, with green lights across the River Liffey. The reflection of the lights can be seen in the dark waters. Blue skies and white fluffy clouds above the River Liffey. The photographer stands on the middle of a bridge so you can see buildings on both sides or the river and another bridge in the distance.
March 10, 2025 at 12:32 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Good morning! Here are some of my favorite pictures from #ECFG17 in Dublin. Sadly I didn’t get any pics with @lablabella.bsky.social or @linder-surprise.bsky.social which I regret! So please enjoy these tourist pics instead 😂 had a great time but happy to be back home.
Rooftops of Dublin at sunset. Dark clouds over old buildings. A grand building with columns in front. Made of white marble (I think?). The Irish flag flies above, along with the EU flag. A different grand old white building with columns and a dome. The dome has scaffolding around it. The River Liffey is in the foreground. A bird flies above the building. The clouds are gray. Christ Church Cathedral as photographed from the garden courtyard. A vibrant blue sky is behind the building with fluffy white clouds. The cathedral is old and has a tower, along with arched windows along the nave.
March 10, 2025 at 12:27 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Lichens in Dublin after #ECFG17
🥰🥰🥰
Yellow lichen grows on stone. Light blue-green lichen is also visible Yellow and also light blue-green lichen grows on stone. There is also a little bit of moss
March 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Making friends with my feral feline neighbors. This cat looks big in the picture but it’s actually pretty small!! The plate had wet food…it got eaten VERY quickly. #catsky
A brownish cat with white paws and a striped tail looks up from a food dish outside on a concrete patio. An empty plate is in front of the cat. A little bit of grass is visible behind the cat.
February 28, 2025 at 1:31 AM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Update: not a goose.
A crow sits in a tree.
February 17, 2025 at 10:24 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Apparently geese are the only birds I can manage to get a half decent picture of these days. #BirdSky
A goose stands on a rock in a river, facing toward the right side of the picture. Moss covers a rock in the foreground.
February 17, 2025 at 1:47 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Love your bird pictures! This is the best bird picture I have to offer back
A goose crosses the road, right outside a crosswalk.
February 6, 2025 at 10:54 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Happy #caturday from Cypress (gray and white) and Tulip (tabby)
#CatsOfBluesky
A gray cat with a white face and pink nose sits curled up in a small space on a cat tree. His paws are not showing and the photo is a little blurry. The cat is looking through a small arch in the cat condo at the photographer. A tabby cat drinks out of a faucet with her paws in the sink. The fur on her head is wet from the water dripping on her face. The cat's tongue is out licking her lips. The reflection in the mirror shows the cat's body and tail but is distorted by water on the mirror.
January 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Feeling a little overwhelmed at the end of the year, especially since I lost about a week of work due to the common cold. But here is a picture of my cat Tulip to spark joy. Hope you have a restful break! Happy holidays!
A very cute (slightly obese) tabby cat sits on the edge of a couch in front of a lit Christmas tree. The cat is looking at the camera and the tree has ribbon wrapped around it and many ornaments. The ribbon is gold and has small mushrooms on it. Some ornaments are sparkly, some are snowflakes, and there is also a blue-topped mushroom ornament in the center near the cat.
December 20, 2024 at 7:20 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Reasonably sure my PI isn't on here, so he won't see these unhinged Twilight themed memes I made about fungi

But here's the graphical abstract of my dissertation defense, lol jk
(My defense is in slightly less than 2 weeks!)
A picture of fungal hyphae with a cartoon of Edward Cullen saying "say it. out loud." and then a cartoon of Bella Swan saying "Aspergillus" A picture of fungal hyphae stained pinkish purple with a cartoon of Edward Cullen's face and the text "This is the hyphae of a killer, Bella" beside it
November 15, 2023 at 10:35 PM
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
Working from home means cuddles from the kitties :)
A gray and white cat curls up next to a person's leg and laptop. A tabby cat sits on a blue blanket on a couch and looks up at the camera with wide eyes.
October 30, 2023 at 10:52 PM