Thank you for the profile @newphyt.bsky.social! 🌱💖

New Phytologist@newphyt.bsky.social · 5d ago

'I want my kids to grow up in a habitable world. I hope that our work can contribute to understanding and engineering plants in ways that support agricultural resilience and a sustainable, abundant future.' Profile: @jennbrophy.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #PlantScience

What drives T-DNA integration? We couldn’t get a convincing answer with existing tools, so we built one! Our new preprint introduces a synthetic biology approach to tracking T-DNA delivery and integration in plants 🌱 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/7)

Are plant roots really made up of concentric layers of homogeneous, differentiating cell types? In our new study, out now in @nature.com, we show a more complex picture: two distinct cell states within root lineages, shaped in part by the environment. 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An environmentally regulated dichotomy in cell lineages of the root - Nature

An environment-regulated state is identified across multiple cell types at the root tip, revealing a shared dichotomy between cells with and without this state.

nature.com

Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity - @kunjapur.bsky.social @jennbrophy.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity - Nature Biotechnology

The noncanonical amino acid O-methyl-L-tyrosine is used as a tool to control microbial protein synthesis across diverse plants.

nature.com

Finally, this work is out in Nature Biotechnology, amazingly done by Jennifer Brophy, Aditya Kunjapur et al. Nature Portfolio @natbiotech.nature.com @jennbrophy.bsky.social @kunjapur.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity - Nature Biotechnology

The noncanonical amino acid O-methyl-L-tyrosine is used as a tool to control microbial protein synthesis across diverse plants.

nature.com

Huge congratulations to @vivzhong.bsky.social, @michaelajonesphd.bsky.social and team on the publication of their work in Nature Biotechnology today! They engineered plants to produce a non-canonical amino acid that regulates gene expression in engineered microbes! 🌱 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity - Nature Biotechnology

The noncanonical amino acid O-methyl-L-tyrosine is used as a tool to control microbial protein synthesis across diverse plants.

doi.org

Jenn Brophy@jennbrophy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Excited to share our new preprint "Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity", a fantastic collaboration with @kunjapur.bsky.social lab! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

This work led by @jennbrophy.bsky.social and her lead student Vivian in collaboration with my lab & lead student Michaela published online this morning at Nature Biotechnology www.nature.com/articles/s41... Helps limit engr'd microbial functions to target plants Exciting science & amazing collab

Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity - Nature Biotechnology

The noncanonical amino acid O-methyl-L-tyrosine is used as a tool to control microbial protein synthesis across diverse plants.

nature.com

Jenn Brophy@jennbrophy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We engineer both plants and bacteria to establish non-standard amino acids as a new molecular language for programming plant-microbe interactions. This work contributes to the growing toolkit for precision agriculture and we hope it accelerates the path to a sustainable future!

While mammalian delivery technologies are advancing to translation at an exceptional rate, delivery to plant tissues faces challenges, limiting their practical applications www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Turns out the way DNA is packed inside the nucleus can tune the mechanics of the entire cell! Super excited that our first paper is out in Nature Communications! www.nature.com/articles/s41... !

Chromatin decompaction within the nucleus increases plasma membrane tension promoting NETosis execution, independently of transcription - Nature Communications

Chromatin organizes nuclear DNA, but whether it actively regulates whole-cell mechanics remains unknown. Here, we used NETosis to show that chromatin decompaction within the nucleus increases plasma membrane tension and cell volume, establishing chromatin as a regulator of cell mechanics.

nature.com

Earlier this week, the Plant Cell Atlas SynBio Hackathon brought together early-career researchers at MIT for two days of collaboration and innovation in plant synthetic biology. Thanks to all the organizers, mentors, participants, and sponsors who made this inspiring event possible! 🌱🧬

🌱 The CSHL Frontiers & Techniques in Plant Science course has just kicked off! 14 students, 24 international lecturers, 3 weeks of intensive plant biology at Cold Spring Harbor. Thrilled to co-instruct alongside Aman Husbands & Sharon Kessler! 🌿 👉 meetings.cshl.edu/courses.aspx?course=C-PLAN

🌿 From cancer research to food allergies, Prof. Sattely and her team, which includes several Stanford Chemistry students, explore how plant chemistry can improve human health and food security. Learn more: bit.ly/4uFw2m9

Elizabeth Sattely reveals the hidden talents of plants

The Stanford researcher views plants as nature’s ultimate chemists. Her work has the potential to innovate everything from food allergies to cancer treatment.

bit.ly

For liverwort mavens, I've needed to shift our Marchantia resources to a new website (I've reached retirement from academia in Cambridge) - and the plant synthetic biology stuff has moved to https://www.haseloff-lab.info (Now have more time for DIY builds! Updates to come)

🌱 NEW PREPRINT & SPECIAL day! We unveil an advance for plant science, engineering, and synbio in first (of many) Khalil <> Gehring collabs, led by the one-and-only @willshaw.bsky.social. Thread below on principles + design of a new, single-integrating T-DNA vector for precision plant xformation! 👇

Will Shaw@willshaw.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New preprint out 🌱 We present a new T-DNA vector system for Arabidopsis that supports clean, genomically mapped, single-copy T-DNA insertion with predictable cell-type/conditional gene expression. @mokhalil.bsky.social + Gehring labs biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵1/16

New preprint out 🌱 We present a new T-DNA vector system for Arabidopsis that supports clean, genomically mapped, single-copy T-DNA insertion with predictable cell-type/conditional gene expression. @mokhalil.bsky.social + Gehring labs biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵1/16

Rational design of T-DNA vectors enables predictable, single-copy integration in Arabidopsis thaliana

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is the dominant method for plant transgenesis, yet it frequently produces multi-copy, structurally complex T-DNA insertions associated with transgene silencing, u...

biorxiv.org

5 days left now to apply for the postdoc opportunity in my lab at Imperial in London 🇬🇧 - there’s a chance that we can hire 2 people into the team on this synthetic biology and materials theme. Application link is here - www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Excited to share our new preprint "Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity", a fantastic collaboration with @kunjapur.bsky.social lab! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

So proud to share our latest publication @CellCellPress! Yue Rui reveals that the same enzyme that makes the wall, cellulose synthase complex (CESA), also tethers the plasma membrane to the wall during water-deficit stress, providing resilience. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

This is going to be so exciting! Reach out with ideas! And come find me at ICAR in Singapore to learn more.

Development@dev-journal.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Call for Papers Submit your latest plant and multicellular algae #DevBio research to our upcoming special issue – Plant and Algae Development #DevSIPlantAlgae Editors: @stanfordstomata.bsky.social & Susana Coelho Deadline: 2 November 2026 journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pl...

If you work with R6K plasmids for transient DNA delivery, our latest SHARK strains might be of use! Work out at ACS Synthetic Biology led by Shivang Joshi and strains plus plasmids for their assembly will be available @addgene.bsky.social very soon! doi.org/10.1021/acss...

📣 We are now accepting applications for the second Plant Synthetic Biology Hackathon! 📣 Check out this unique opportunity to learn the newest tools and approaches in plant engineering! Hosted by Nicola Patron and myself as part of the Plant Cell Atlas RCN, July 12-13, 2026 at MIT.

Plant Cell Atlas@plantcellatlas.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The Application deadline for the SynBio Hackathon has been EXTENDED until June 8, 2026! Apply Now Here: www.plantcellatlas.org/2026-synbio-... *Participants will be reimbursed up to $800 for travel and lodging costs.

The Application deadline for the SynBio Hackathon has been EXTENDED until June 8, 2026! Apply Now Here: www.plantcellatlas.org/2026-synbio-... *Participants will be reimbursed up to $800 for travel and lodging costs.

My poster on flower bioengineering at the #AIEBaB26 conference in Bristol last week 🌹 🧬 ✨

#plantsynbio peeps, has anyone played around with cell penetrating peptides? some of the papers look fairly convincing for delivery of DNA e.g. 10.1021/acs.biomac.8b00323. but am curious why not used more widely. Viruses and agro are just easier for most applications?

Nominations are now open for awards to be presented at the 2026 North American Plant Phenotyping Network Annual Conference. This is a great opportunity to recognize our outstanding colleague’s contributions to plant phenotyping research and innovation. mailchi.mp/ce99f293f3f6...

Interested in learning about the latest and greatest research in how plants respond to excess salt, too little or too much water? Come to the GRC in Salt and Water Stress in Switzerland. Lots of opportunities for all career levels. www.grc.org/salt-and-wat.... Please repost!

Very excited to finally share my PhD paper, about advancing #chloroplast #synbio through high-throughput plastome engineering of #Chlamydomonas. Huge thanks to the whole team! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A modular high-throughput approach for advancing synthetic biology in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas - Nature Plants

This study reports a modular-cloning-based platform for high-throughput chloroplast engineering in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that allows large-scale characterization of genetic parts and prototyping o...

nature.com

Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology@mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social · last yr.

Turbo platform for plant research 🚀🪴 Extreme weather events due to #climatechange reduce crop yields. @reneinckemann.bsky.social & team led by Tobias Erb @synmikro.bsky.social has now developed a microalgae platform for fast and efficient tests of chloroplast gene variants s.gwdg.de/hznfNe

The @plantcv.bsky.social team is hosting a workshop at the @nappn.bsky.social 2026 conference in Feb. at Michigan State and is able to support the travel of up to 20 participants. Please apply for the workshop and submit an abstract to the conference if you are interested: mailchi.mp/3afecdddf6de...