Ten things we learned in 2010-2019 (aside from everything else)

He who has studied himself is his own master. –Sri Lankan proverb.

By the time this gets posted, you’ll probably be sick and tired of all those retrospective articles looking back at the 2010-2019 decade. I feel your pain. But hey, we’re still early in the new decade and I have a good reason for writing this. This last decade has been such an exhilarating period of exploration and discovery for me, my team and my collaborators that I just can’t resist the urge to write this post. The decade took us through unexpected research paths that I would have never imagined ten years ago. As I’m drafting these words during my holidays break in Sri Lanka—in between tasting the local milk rice curries and soaking the soft Indian ocean December sunshine—I’m reflecting on the local proverb above and I’m using it as my lame excuse to offer you yet another list of decadal achievements. 

Please note that this is my personal highly biased perspective on ten things we have learned in 2010-2019. This list is by no means meant to be comprehensive review of advances in our research field but rather a reflection of my own personal take on the scientific topics we investigate.

2010. Two-speed genomes, everywhere?

2011. WY fold—commonalities amid diversity.

2011. The haustorial interface—where it all happens?

2013. Genome editing made easy.

2013. Field pathogenomics—just sequence it!

2013. Going back to the past to better prepare for the future.

2014. Effector adaptation after jumping hosts.

2015. The beauty of a protein complex structure.

2017. Do NLRs work in pairs—it’s more complicated!

2019. The coming of age of the plant resistosome.