A new plant-bacteria immunological connection in the first preprint of our group at @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social @plantevolution.bsky.social! Straight from the top of Mt. Olympus ⛰️🦅 Led by Eirik @eiriklag.bsky.social, in collaboration with @geminiteamlab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Very excited to share the first preprint from my PhD with the community! This is also the first paper from the Plant Immunogenomics group with @galofir.bsky.social, so stay tuned for more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n 🧵

NO VEIN is an ancestral immunity protein involved in plant-virus interaction

The conservation of immune systems from prokaryotes to eukaryotes can guide discovery of immunity genes across the tree of life. Most studies to date have focused on metazoan systems, while the extent...

biorxiv.org

We’re wrapping up #CraftYourResearch as part of #PostdocAppreciationWeek with Maryam Mahmoudi—postdoc in Detlef Weigel’s lab & one of the reps behind the idea! Maryam uses deep learning to explore genetic diversity in plants. Thanks to everyone who joined in! #PAWGermany #PAW2026 #PostdocCommunity

Highly recommended long read. (If opened in Substack app, should be automatically translated into English.) florianaigner.substack.com/p/die-ruckke...

Florian Aigner@florianaigner.at · 4w ago

Die Rückkehr der Rassenlehre: Ich habe lange über den Fall Jason Arday recherchiert, und mir wurde rasch klar, dass es hier um etwas viel Größeres geht. Internationale rechte Netzwerke wollen die "woken" Unis politisch umdrehen. Und es läuft gut für sie. Der Text ist lang geworden - aber wichtig.

Meet the first of our creative postdocs: “I'm Daniela Ramirez, a postdoc studying plant-bacteria interactions and fascinated by microbes living within plants. My research uses bGWAS to uncover how Pseudomonas infects and colonizes Arabidopsis thaliana.” #PAWGermany #PAW2026 #PostdocAppreciationWeek

Our PhD student reps organised the 12th MPI Tübingen Campus Soccer Tournament this month, bringing together all three institutes on campus for an afternoon of football, BBQ and friendly competition. A big shout-out to our PhD student reps for making it happen — and those who joined in!

New GreenRobust publication by the group of Eric Kemen on using machine learning to identify beneficial microbiota: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Machine learning reveals biocontrol agents shaping disease outcome in natural Arabidopsis populations - Nature Communications

Plants can recruit beneficial microbes to suppress pathogens, offering a route to rational biocontrol beyond empirical screening. Here, the authors use machine learning to identify disease-associated ...

nature.com

Congratulations to @sheilaroitman.bsky.social, postdoctoral researcher in Detlef Weigel’s department @plantevolution.bsky.social, on receiving the Women’s Postdoctoral Career Development Award in Science from the Weizmann Institute! Her research explores how viruses shape plant microbiomes.

Career Development Award for Sheila Roitman

bio.mpg.de

Science beats the heat! Last Saturday, our researchers @najafae.bsky.social and Gesa Freimann took to the streets for @soapboxscience.bsky.social in Tübingen, bravely presenting their work to a great crowd despite the temperatures. Thanks for bringing science to the public!

Had lots of fun presenting my work at #SoapboxSciene Tübingen yesterday. I talked about natural diversity, plant immune genes and how I use the former to find the latter. Explaining my research to the public was definitely an exciting challenge. Huge thanks to the organizers and all the helpers! 💜

Back on social media for SMBE 2026! I'll be presenting the fascinating microbe Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis at Poster A048!

A highly significant step for European plant sciences: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/de/pres...

Neue genomische Techniken für Innovationen in nachhaltiger Landwirtschaft | Aktuelles | Europäisches Parlament

Das Parlament nahm heute neue Vorschriften an, die den Zugang zu neuen, klima- und schädlingsresistenten Pflanzen erleichtern.

europarl.europa.eu

Great to see two of our doctoral researchers taking part in this year's Soapbox Science event in Tübingen on July 11th. Watch their videos on what inspires Naja and Gesa and why science communication is important to them: tinyurl.com/429fz48n tinyurl.com/h84vsnww

1/8 🔥 New preprint dropped: Dynamic co-existence of bacteriophages and their hosts 🦠 in the Arabidopsis thaliana 🌱 phyllosphere Work led by the indomitable @sheilaroitman.bsky.social‬ #plantscience #microbiome #holobiont www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Join us this week for the next exciting talk in our 2026 DSSS series by Prof. Yasin Dagdas from the Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University. Everyone welcome! ▶️More info: tinyurl.com/46xdmxa9 📆: Thursday 22nd Jan at 11am 📍: Max Planck House lecture hall, Max-Planck-Ring 6 #DSSS

Pumpkin carving contest 2025🎃 Creative pumpkins from labs across @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social Our lab's @plantevolution.bsky.social "Carveolution" evolved it's way to 1st place 🏆