Preprint! How do "friendly" rhizobia build a legume nodule? @albinteulet.bsky.social found that some may carry hidden transcription factors - proteins that mimic DNA-binding folds to enter the plant nucleus and rewrite its developmental program. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/6)

#MicroscopyFriday Even fungi have attitude. 🖕🍄😅 Captured during last week's microscopy session: a powdery mildew (Blumeria hordei) haustorium inside a barley leaf cell. Stable fluorescence-expressing barley line, with the colors representing z-slice depth.

Excited to share that I’ve been selected to attend the TSL Summer Conference 2026! Looking forward to two weeks of inspiring science, great discussions, and meeting fellow plant researchers at The Sainsbury Laboratory. See you in Norwich! 🌱🧬 #PlantScience #TSL #AcademicLife #ECR

#PlantScience Research Weekly: July 10, 2026 plantae.org/plant-scienc... Lichen super pangenome reveals interaction repertoires; Maize multi-omics predicts phenotypes; Role of Tre6P in root development; A host-viral regulatory circuit affects chloroplast stability (1/2) @bobvanburen.bsky.social

Growing love - when a root meets a symbiotic #Mycorrhiza #fungus See what happens with MycorRhize3D. schornacklabslcu.github.io/MycorRhize3D/ Simulate a tap root in soil with spores. Roots turn red when colonised, just like in this paper journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... Reply for suggestions!

In the future, foundation models will become more accessible to every plant scientist, accelerating the pace of scientific discovery. @johninnescentre.bsky.social @slcuplants.bsky.social @newphyt.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epub/10....

What a fun day at #BOTANICON where we celebrate all things plant science and connect with other plant researchers in #Cambridge. All organised and run by us ECRs! @slcuplants.bsky.social @niab-uk.bsky.social @cropscicentre.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social

Excited to share that our work on single-nucleus RNA-seq of the shoot apical meristem — the shoot stem cell niche — has found a home. #Plantascience #scRNAseq #stemcells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Single-nucleus transcriptomics resolves multiple fate dynamics between inflorescence meristem and primary stem

snRNA-seq reveals shoot stem cell heterogeneity and traces their differentiation into primary stem cell types.

science.org

Lovely study, congrats to your team! Curiously, our similar spatial transcriptome study of developing wheat spikes appears in the same issue, and GH3 genes showed interesting expression patterns too! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Spatial transcriptomics identifies distinct domains regulating yield-component traits of the wheat ear

Mapping gene activity in the wheat ear reveals domains that regulate spikelet number and yield potential.

science.org

New insights into cell fates of the Arabidopsis inflorescence meristem @sebamorenor.bsky.social generated the most detailed map to date of this critical stem cell niche, identifying 18 distinct cell type clusters, including precursors to cortex & vascular tissues www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/new-ins...

On the modelling side, Steven Oud and Maciek Zurowski did an amazing job developing this model and analysing the data to identify the boundary cells. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do now that we're including petal growth...

Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU)@slcuplants.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🌺 How does a hibiscus flower pattern its petals? A new computational model reveals hidden "boundary" cells can spontaneously emerge during flower development, helping to create stable petal patterns. Prediction confirmed experimentally! 🔗 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/how-hib... #PlantsInTheSpotlight

🌺 How does a hibiscus flower pattern its petals? A new computational model reveals hidden "boundary" cells can spontaneously emerge during flower development, helping to create stable petal patterns. Prediction confirmed experimentally! 🔗 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/how-hib... #PlantsInTheSpotlight

One-year taught MSc in Global Plant Health with five-month research project. David Sainsbury 50% Fee Scholarships available for home students. Apply now for 21 September entry. Deadline 28/8/26 for home students. www.tsl.ac.uk/msc

Research Assistant (Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge) Join @robinsonsci.bsky.social's team studying plant development & mechanics. Work with Arabidopsis, Marchantia & maize. Applications close 15 June 2026. 🔗 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/research/rob... 🔗 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... #plantscijobs

Shape Makers: How plants take shape. First time using LEGO to communicate how plants shape their leaves - huge hit! Leaf Bingo and dissecting a flower also popular! Despite rain lots of fun at The Festival of Plants. Thank you to our amazing scientist volunteers!

Shaping the future of Biological Sciences at Cambridge How do you design research environments for the next 30–50 years? Our Future Estate Programme is rethinking how science, sustainability and people come together. Find out more: www.bio.cam.ac.uk/future-estat...

The excitement is building for the return of the Festival of Plants 🌱 Join us on Saturday 6 June for Garden tours, expert talks, live music, crafts, hands-on activities, Ask the Gardener and more 🌼 A perfect chance to see the Garden in full bloom this summer. https://bit.ly/4uJRFms

We are pleased to announce this year's cohort of our Summer Studentship! Phoebe Allen, Nalo Magar and Tinotenda Matemera who are all going to be based at The Sainsbury Lab, Cambridge University. Get to know them more by heading to our website: buff.ly/I3XZ59a

Registration for our long-awaited NoCaSS symposium is now open! Register here: nocass.org/registration... 🌱🦠✨ Join us for two days of fascinating science including ECR talks, poster sessions, workshops, industry presentations, and a career panel. Only for Cambridge and Norwich-based researchers

We're delighted to announce Uta Paszkowski as the new Russell R. Geiger Chair in Crop Science - a prestigious academic chair at @cam.ac.uk that serves as a cornerstone for cutting-edge agricultural research, sustainability and global food security. 🌍🌱🧪 tinyurl.com/39k489sd

Only a few days to go until the symposium this Friday! 🎉 Check the detailed programme here: ucammorphogenesisseries.com/cambridge-mo... For those who missed in person registration, online registration is still open :) Looking forward to see you all there!!!| Tag us #Morpho5

🌍 Are we alone in the universe? Join Prof Nikku Madhusudhan from @cambridgeastro.bsky.social for a Branching Out public talk on the search for life beyond the Solar System 🗓 Thu 4 June, 1pm BST 📍 Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge UK 💻 Also via Zoom More details: www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/events/searc...

#PlantSciJobs 🌱 Postdoctoral Research Associate (x2) and Research Assistant (x2) Dr Edwige Moyroud is seeking 2 Postdocs and 2 Research Assistants to join her team investigating petal patterning Applications close: 5 June: Research Assistant bit.ly/4a32ffK 17 June: Postdoc bit.ly/4dT2LOC

Mechanical forces & cell shape guide how plant stomata form🥬👄 @leoserra.bsky.social & Euan Smithers from @robinsonsci.bsky.social's team uncover how the interplay between cell shape & mechanical stress influences the orientation of stomata doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/mechani...

New lab, similar setup - still working… kind of 😅 First barley–mycorrhiza experiment for me in Freising. Colonization isn’t quite where I want it yet, but found some really nice arbuscules 🔬 Here, a barley root cell with F. mosseae arbuscule, stained with WGA-Fluorescein #Microscopyfriday

We've put one of the UK's most beloved plants under the microscope for International Plant Appreciation Day! 💚🌱 🔬 🔗 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/bluebells-th... Thank you Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge University Herbarium & @camplantsci.bsky.social for collaboration #bluebells #plantsci

💚We Appreciate Plants💚 Plant science research is vital to solving some of the biggest problems facing us & our planet. With our 'Want to change the world?' poster & resources, you can inspire your students to find solutions & make a difference with a career in #plantscience. #PlantAppreciationDay

This Plant Appreciation Day, we’re celebrating the British bluebell 💙🌿 Together with colleagues from Cambridge University Herbarium, @camplantsci.bsky.social and @slcuplants.bsky.social, we explore the science behind this much-loved native plant. Read more: https://shorturl.at/Iauxq @cam.ac.uk

🧵1/X 🚨New Preprint🚨 Root pathogens are hard to manage, and we know little about plant genes enabling infection (susceptibility genes). Here, we show that SCARs are susceptibility factors in barley roots - and their loss affects pathogens/symbionts in distinct ways www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We’ve received some great abstracts so far for #SLS26. However, we’ve heard from a few of you that you need a bit more time over the Easter break to finalise submissions, so we're extending the deadline to 20 April! Reviews are underway & we will let you know results on 4 May www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/sls