Congratulation @transitionalform.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social for publishing the next chapter of your thesis @currentbiology.bsky.social ! Great work showing that the two fundamental vascular tissues - xylem and phloem evolved asynchronously. Read Laura's thread for more details 👇👇

Laura Cooper@transitionalform.bsky.social · last mo.

Our paper on the origin and evolution of phloem, a big part of my PhD work, is out in Current Biology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our last invited speaker for the #NRPDTP26 conference is @hee-kyung-ahn.bsky.social from the @instmolplantsci.bsky.social!

Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences are at the Meadows Festival! Please visit if you'd like to know more about what we do and why we study molecular plant sciences 🌱 @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

To celebrate this year's Fascination of Plants Day (18 May), students & postdocs from @instmolplantsci.bsky.social ran a number of exciting activities at @thebotanics.bsky.social. We had plant fossils, 3D-printed plant models, and more! Well done to our amazing team of volunteers! 🌱🌸

Last week, to celebrate Prof. Andrew Hudson’s new Emeritus status, members of @instmolplantsci.bsky.social competed in a friendly cricket match: the Snapdragons 🌸 vs. the Tomatoes 🍅. The Snapdragons, fittingly Andrew’s team, were determined to be the best model system of the match!

Delighted to see this piece in The Biologist, the magazine from @rsb.org.uk. Tried to capture themes that emerged from valuable conversations with many great 🌱 colleagues. Thank you @tomireland.bsky.social for the opportunity to contribute!

Royal Society of Biology@rsb.org.uk · 3mo ago

With the number of students studying #PlantScience declining each year, a community of educators is taking steps to transform the subject into an engaging, modern subject, central to the green jobs of the future. Read the article: biologist.rsb.org.uk/regrowing_pl... #FascinationOfPlantsDay

With the number of students studying #PlantScience declining each year, a community of educators is taking steps to transform the subject into an engaging, modern subject, central to the green jobs of the future. Read the article: biologist.rsb.org.uk/regrowing_pl... #FascinationOfPlantsDay

Super excited to see Atlas of Botany in print!!! A pleasure to work with the wonderful team from DK and the @thebotanics.bsky.social I wrote the Ancient Biomes section covering some of my favourite stories about plant evolution from the last 500 million years! @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

With wonderful colleagues, talking about plants walking through the beautiful greenhouses @thebotanics.bsky.social! couldn't ask for a better Away day @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences (SBS) - U. of Edinburgh@instmolplantsci.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The leadership team of the @instmolplantsci.bsky.social had its Away Day on Wednesday. There were lots of valuable discussions and enjoyable walks among the plants! 🌻 Thank you @thebotanics.bsky.social for hosting us!

The leadership team of the @instmolplantsci.bsky.social had its Away Day on Wednesday. There were lots of valuable discussions and enjoyable walks among the plants! 🌻 Thank you @thebotanics.bsky.social for hosting us!

We are delighted to see that our colleague @drannisr.bsky.social has been chosen to be part of the inaugural cohort of the @royalsoced.bsky.social new Research Leadership Scheme! It is great to have 🌱 plant scientists among Scotland’s next generation of research leaders rse.org.uk/building-sco...

Building Scotland’s green future: The inaugural Research Leadership Scheme cohort is announced

Thirteen of Scotland’s most promising academics, representing eleven Higher Education Institutions across the country, have been chosen as the inaugural cohort to take part in the RSE’s new Research L...

rse.org.uk

Huge congratulations @tearei.bsky.social ky.social for passing your viva!! Big thanks to Justin Goodrich and Luke Mander for acting as examiners @instmolplantsci.bsky.social 🌿🌿

If you have nice photos of orchids, please consider helping our colleague @milneorchid.bsky.social!

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI)@bsbibotany.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Our friend @milneorchid.bsky.social needs your help! He's working on an orchid book for the Collins New Naturalist series, and needs more orchid images. Find out how you could help Richard & maybe get one of your orchid photos (with credit) into this prestigious new book: bsbi.org/blog/2026/04...

A new blog is out on our @instmolplantsci.bsky.social website! Go check it out! Our Head of Institute, Prof. Catherine Kidner, discusses how taxonomic changes in the genus Begonia impact present genomic research! biology.ed.ac.uk/plant-scienc...

Blog - A change of name | Molecular Plant Sciences | Biology

We've been working on Begonia luxurians for 10 years. It is a very photogenic species, and popular amongst house plant collectors for its lush leaves.

biology.ed.ac.uk

Huge congratulations to the newest Dr from the lab - Dr @sannie-zishanfu.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social!!! A special thanks to Jacob Suissa for making the trip over from the US! It’s been great spending the last couple of days chatting about all things ferns and lycophytes 🌿

This #FossilFriday we welcomed Dr Artai Santos from @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social to our Evo-Devo seminar. Artai shared amazing findings on Cretaceous seagrasses with evidence of herbivory from El Chango, México. #palaeobotany #EvoDevo @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

Thank you @sandyheth.bsky.social for being an amazing supervisor!! It was a wonderful PhD journey working in the group at the @instmolplantsci.bsky.social. Thanks so much Andrew and Jacob, for the enjoyable discussion. Look forward to continue exploring ferns and more in the future!

Sandy Hetherington@sandyheth.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Huge congratulations to the newest Dr from the lab - Dr @sannie-zishanfu.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social!!! A special thanks to Jacob Suissa for making the trip over from the US! It’s been great spending the last couple of days chatting about all things ferns and lycophytes 🌿

A wonderful seminar by @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social today! Thanks for making the trip north to @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

What to learn more about the enigmatic organism Prototaxites?? Have a read of our new Quick Guide in @currentbiology.bsky.social It includes another great palaeo-reconstruction of the Rhynie ecosystem from @matt-humpage.bsky.social

Laura Cooper@transitionalform.bsky.social · 5mo ago

www.cell.com/current-biol... Our new quick guide to Prototaxites is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social !

A new blog is out on our website! Go check it out! For International Women and Girls in STEM day (11.02) @hee-kyung-ahn.bsky.social reflects on the gender gap in science, highlighting achievements and remaining challenges. biology.ed.ac.uk/plant-scienc...

Blog - Celebrating women in science | Molecular Plant Sciences | Biology

International Day of Women and Girls in Science celebrates the contribution and important roles of women and girls in STEM.

biology.ed.ac.uk

New Publication: The frequency and importance of polyploidy in tropical rainforest tree radiations @instmolplantsci.bsky.social @edinburghbiology.bsky.social #polyploidy #plantevolution nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The frequency and importance of polyploidy in tropical rainforest tree radiations

The presence of more than two copies of the genome in an organism, termed ‘polyploidy’, is a crucial force in plant evolution, generating genetic, phenotypic and ecological diversity. [Correction ad...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Very proud to present, together with @plantteaching.bsky.social, Agnes Uhereczky, @yoselin.bsky.social, Sofie Goormachtig and @mehta-lab.com, our @jxbotany.bsky.social community resource paper on building a diverse and inclusive plant science community 🌱. academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-... (🧵 1/2)

Plants use cell-surface and intracellular receptors that collaborate to detect pathogens🦠. We discovered that a key #ubiquitin recognition event recruits both receptor types into an unexpected dual receptor complex that boost the translation of defence proteins and establishes robust #PlantImmunity👇🏾

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Ubiquitin recognition integrates plant immune signaling by cell-surface and intracellular receptors https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.06.703835v1

Read all about Diego's hunt for lycophytes around Scotland in this post! 👇👇

Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences (SBS) - U. of Edinburgh@instmolplantsci.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A new blog is out on our website! 📄 Go check it out! Diego Sanchez Ganfornina from @sandyheth.bsky.social's lab talks about the field work he just completed in Scotland. He is trying to generate a lycophyte living collection – likely UK’s largest! 🌿 biology.ed.ac.uk/plant-scienc...

A new blog is out on our website! 📄 Go check it out! Diego Sanchez Ganfornina from @sandyheth.bsky.social's lab talks about the field work he just completed in Scotland. He is trying to generate a lycophyte living collection – likely UK’s largest! 🌿 biology.ed.ac.uk/plant-scienc...

Blog - Bringing the wilderness to IMPS: Fieldwork in Scotland to generate a lycophyte living collection – likely UK’s largest! | Molecular Plant Sciences | Biology

This blog was written by Diego Sanchez Ganfornina, of the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group (Hetherington Lab | Biology MPEG), collating considerations and reflections through his spring fiel...

biology.ed.ac.uk

This week we had a special celebration. Paul (from our Plant Growth Facilities team) performed a Wassailing blessing for the young apple trees 🍎 around the institute. Wassailing is a tradition from the west country region of England - famous for its apples - and... (🧵 1/2)

It was wonderful to present our Manifesto for Plant Science Education (published in @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social) at the Botanic Garden Education Network (BGEN) conference today. 🌱 Thank you Lauren Baker & organising committee for the invite! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

A manifesto for plant science education

Plants provide oxygen, food, shelter, medicines and environmental services, without which human society could not exist. Tackling pressing and global challenges requires well-trained plant scientists...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

The very first Dr from the group! Congratulations Laura @transitionalform.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social for passing your viva yesterday!! 🎉🎉 Thanks so much @seanhmcmahon.bsky.social and Paul Kenrick for acting as examiners

Really exciting to get some press coverage on our Prototaxites paper @instmolplantsci.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Aberdeenshire fossil dating back 410 million years joins museum collection

Researchers say the fossil found in Aberdeenshire is neither plant nor fungus as previously thought.

bbc.co.uk

Excited to share our new investigation of Prototaxites! We found no support for a fungal affinity and instead suggest it is best considered an entirely extinct complex eukaryotic lineage Great team effort @transitionalform.bsky.social Corentin Loron, and many others! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...