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camplantsci.bsky.social
Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
@camplantsci.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.6K following 150 posts
News, research and updates from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge.🌱🔬 🌾

https://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/
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Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
cambridgebiosci.bsky.social
🔬 Experience Research Life at Cambridge!

Applications are now open for the 2026 Experience Postgrad Life Sciences Programme. Gain hands-on lab experience with an 8-week summer placement, in partnership with @corpuscambridge.bsky.social!

🔗 www.exppg.lifesci.cam.ac.uk

#SummerPlacement #Cambridge
2025 summer students in Cambridge
November 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
websedgescience.bsky.social
#COP30 in Belém is underway!
Our brand new documentary, With Science We Can, made with @cgiar.org premieres today. youtu.be/wJ9BmZHBomk?...

Supported by KAUST Center, @camplantsci.bsky.social, Plant2Food, TOWING and LISD Center at @princeton.edu

#ClimateAction #FoodSecurity
With Science We Can: How the Global South Is Farming the Future
YouTube video by WebsEdgeScience
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 8:38 PM
camplantsci.bsky.social
New film premiered at #COP30 today shows how @cam.ac.uk Crop Science Centre's global partnerships are empowering farmers for future food security.

📽️ tinyurl.com/5ac6ymmd

👉 tinyurl.com/mr2ke37s

@cgiar.org @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @stjohnscollege.bsky.social
Growing More With Less | Crop Science Centre
The world is changing rapidly. Across Africa and Asia, smallholder farmers stand at the frontline of a global challenge: feeding growing populations in the face of climate stress, soil degradation, and dwindling natural resources. How can we grow more food — with less land, less water, and fewer emissions - while ensuring every community has enough to eat? At the University of Cambridge, a team of scientists, partners, and innovators are working together to answer that question. The Crop Science Centre is a global hub where science meets society to create a fairer, more sustainable future for farming. Its mission is to make global food production more equitable, sustainable, and resilient. They are driven by the belief that innovation must serve everyone — not just those who can afford it. https://www.cropsciencecentre.org/
tinyurl.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
cambridgezero.bsky.social
How can science empower farmers & feed the future?

New film premiering at #COP30 shows how global partnerships are delivering sustainable agricultural innovations from Cambridge to Ghana to Nigeria.

🎥 Watch: youtu.be/YNWbNrqozO8?...

@camplantsci.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk #WithScienceWeCan
Growing More With Less | Crop Science Centre
YouTube video by WebsEdgeScience
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
slcuplants.bsky.social
Read about the microscopy techniques employed to detect and distinguish traces of organisms long after their DNA has vanished.
www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/scienti...
The original thin polished sample of Windyfield chert (left) was placed on a slide and imaged under a Keyence microscope. Zooming in on the sample revealed exquisitely preserved fungal structures, including details of hyphae and arbuscules. Images by Gareth Evans taken using a Keyence brightfield microscope.
November 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
slcuplants.bsky.social
Confocal scanning laser microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging & Raman analyses allowed @nhm-london.bsky.social, @slcuplants.bsky.social & @cambridge-ee.bsky.social researchers to resolve plant & fungal structures fossil
Read in @newphyt.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/nph....

@dromius.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
fromani.bsky.social
Don't forget to register for the Non-seed. The deadline is on Friday.
gensocuknonseed.bsky.social Genetics Society Non-Seed Plant SIG @gensocuknonseed.bsky.social · Sep 12
Registration for #nonseedUK25 is officially open: www.jic.ac.uk/event/4th-ge.... If you wish to be considered for a talk, please submit your abstract by 30th October. Thanks to @philcarella.bsky.social for acting as local organizer this year 😃
a sign that says open with red lights on it .
ALT: a sign that says open with red lights on it .
media.tenor.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
jacobwwwsmith.bsky.social
Got me thinking about system resilience, translatability and local context: this afternoon's research symposium on Safer Environments in the light of changing climate and infectious diseases, thanks to @cambridgezero.bsky.social and Cambridge Infectious Diseases for organising!
November 6, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
dromius.bsky.social
Plz RP. Come join us at @slcuplants.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk to study effector-targeted plant processes impacting plant cell biology and development.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/post-do...
www.schornacklab.net
advert text as bitmap picture of the Schornacklab team
November 6, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
cubotanicgarden.bsky.social
🌿 This Week 🌿
We were thrilled to welcome @plantlifeuk.bsky.social and @channel4news.bsky.social to celebrate the Fen Orchid - brought back from the brink of extinction!
See our latest Plant Picks and don’t miss #CambridgeBotanicLights: https://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-botanic-lights-2025/
A small yellow orchid with green leaves. A flower with white petals and purple spots, with green foliage in the background. A close-up image of a plant in bloom, featuring a strikingly dark purple and blue flower against a backdrop of lush green leaves. A vibrant display of purple flowers growing from a fleshy, green-leafed plant in a terracotta pot, situated in a greenhouse environment.
November 7, 2025 at 3:07 PM
camplantsci.bsky.social
PhD Opportunity!

PhD in Ecology and the evolution of tree size

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge
Fixed term
Closes on Thursday 20 November 2025.

www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/esquivel-mue...

#PlantSciences #PlantSciencePhds #Ecology #EcologyPhds
November 7, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
c-jake-harris.bsky.social
Very excited to share our work published in Nature Comms last week! Here we describe a range of cool things that can be done once you have the power to control deposition of H3K4me3…

rdcu.be/eNEf4

A short thread:
CRISPR targeting of H3K4me3 activates gene expression and unlocks centromere-proximal crossover recombination in Arabidopsis
Nature Communications - Binenbaum et al. demonstrate that precise CRISPR-based targeting of a key chromatin mark (H3K4me3) can switch on genes, boost disease resistance, and unlock meiotic...
rdcu.be
November 5, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
hartman-plantlab.com
Promising epigenome editing paper by the @c-jake-harris.bsky.social lab! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
CRISPR targeting of H3K4me3 activates gene expression and unlocks centromere-proximal crossover recombination in Arabidopsis - Nature Communications
Binenbaum et al. demonstrate that precise CRISPR-based targeting of a key chromatin mark (H3K4me3) can switch on genes, boost disease resistance, and unlock meiotic recombination in plants, opening ne...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
eos.org
Carbon emissions are helping make older trees in the Amazon bigger. But “it doesn’t mean carbon dioxide is good for the forest," says Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert @camplantsci.bsky.social. "What we’re seeing is resilience, not relief.”

eos.org/articles/as-...
As CO2 Levels Rise, Old Amazon Trees Are Getting Bigger - Eos
New data show resilience among the rainforest’s giants, though scientists warn that nutrient limits and rising heat could end the trend.
eos.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
plantlifeuk.bsky.social
A rare wild orchid has been brought back from the brink of extinction!🥳🌱One of Britain’s most endangered orchids, Fen Orchid, is no longer considered threatened in the UK, according to the bsbibotany.bsky.social 's new GB red list. Find out how we did it👉 loom.ly/02JCV8w
November 5, 2025 at 10:13 AM
camplantsci.bsky.social
Find out more from @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social about the rare Fen Orchid brought back from the brink of extinction: tinyurl.com/yc5wxy9h

@cambridgebiosci.bsky.social
@cam.ac.uk
November 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
cubotanicgarden.bsky.social
As we head into winter, our Head of Horticulture, Sally Petitt, offers some simple ways you can support wildlife at this time of year, no matter the size, shape or style of your garden. Look out for her latest column in this month's Cambridge Edition & read more here: bit.ly/43QIUey
Bright yellow flowers of Mahonia x media 'Winter Sun' attracting a bee Dipsacus fullonum (teasel) seed heads covered with frost Tall upright seed heads of Phlomis russeliana (Turkish sage)
November 4, 2025 at 4:53 PM
camplantsci.bsky.social
Annie Shelton, PhD student @alexwebblab.bsky.social, was one of 5 Gates Cambridge Scholars to present at the Future of Humanity symposium last week.

She talked about issues to do with eating in space – from eating in zero gravity to growing edible plants in space.

Read more: tinyurl.com/mpkm8ytr
November 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
camplantsci.bsky.social
New tool to fine-tune plant genomes without changing their DNA could offer a fast and precise alternative to GM breeding & play a key role in developing resilient crops in response to climate change.

tinyurl.com/5n88wrju

🧪#PlantSci @cam.ac.uk @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social
Conceptual 3D rendering of chromosome. Credit: Koto Feja (Getty Images).
November 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
nicolabiologist.bsky.social
Last week we held the 2nd @blackinplantsci.bsky.social conference in Leeds, full of 🌱science, 🌸art, African crops, careers & mentorship and talent. Highlight was seeing the impacts of our Research Excellence Awards & Studentships. So proud to honour and promote the excellence in our community 💓
Group photo of ~80 people outside a concrete and glass building Photograph of a row of six people of African origin at a desk with attention focussed on an object to the right and out of view of the camera. Other faces in the background. A photo of a white much with the words ‘connect, celebrate, cultivate’ in black capital letters sitting on a white branded notepad with the Black in Plant Sciences logo in green and black. These objects are on a conference chair with similar chairs out of focus in the background.
October 29, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
slcuplants.bsky.social
Ever seen a pumpkin under a microscope? 🎃🔬

This Halloween, Raymond Wightman & Daniel Sparrow used @slcuplants.bsky.social’s powerful imaging tools to reveal:
🔬 Skin detail with the #Keyence microscope
💡 Beta-carotene via #Raman spectroscopy
❄️ Flash-frozen oval cells via cryo-SEM

#HappyHalloween
Composite image showing a pumpkin used for microscopy. A photo of the whole pumpkin with a small 2mm square cut out indicates the area imaged. The main background shows the orange flesh captured with a Keyence digital microscope, with the darker ridge on the left marking the skin. An inset black graph displays the Raman spectrum with strong beta-carotene peaks, explaining the pumpkin’s orange colour. Another inset image from cryo-SEM reveals tightly packed oval cells that make up the pumpkin’s fleshy interior. Images by Raymond Wightman and Daniel Sparrow. Pumpkin on the Raman microscope Flash frozen pumpkin in the vacuum chamber of the cryo-SEM before undergoing cryofracture and then coating in gold/palladium. It was then passed in to the cryo-SEM itself for imaging.
October 31, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
slcuplants.bsky.social
🎃✨ Pumpkin perfection!

We were seriously impressed by the beautifully carved and brilliantly lit pumpkins from @thesainsburylab.bsky.social🕯️

We also got spiritedly competitive with our annual team pumpkin carving competition 😄🎃

Who knew plant scientists were such talented artists? 🪚🎃🌿
Collage of 13 pumpkins that have been carved in various designs and painted for the annual SLCU Pumpkin Carving Competition
November 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
apaterlini.bsky.social
Very excited to announce that our collaborative manifesto for 🌱 #PlantScience #Education has now been published! Educators from >10 countries and 30 institutions have contributed to it and we are incredibly proud of the final output. Here is a short thread 🧵1/4 doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...
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....
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
cubotanicgarden.bsky.social
✨ Cambridge Botanic Lights returns in just 4 weeks - with a brand-new theme: Night Pollination! 🌙
🌼 Moths pollinate 30% of the world’s flowering plants.
🦇 500+ species rely on bats - including the agave for tequila!
Celebrate our amazing night pollinators!
#CUBG #WinterLights #Cambridge
October 29, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge
mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social
Huge thanks to Alison Smith from @camplantsci.bsky.social for visiting our institute and sharing her expertise in “Manipulating the Chlamydomonas #chloroplast #genome.” 🌿

Our #PhD students loved the chance to meet and exchange ideas at lunch and are still buzzing with inspiration! 💡✨
Group of eight people posing in front a blue wall.
October 29, 2025 at 2:26 PM