PhD students from across Europe have arrived in Olomouc for the international HeatDDR training school. This week, they are exploring how plants respond to DNA damage caused by heat stress – a topic closely linked to climate change.

We had the pleasure of hosting an excellent lecture by Christian Fankhauser at the Institute of Experimental Botany in Prague.
Thank you for an inspiring visit, outstanding talk, and the opportunity to exchange ideas during individual meetings.

#new_paper: Introduction of the Ribo-BiFC method to plants using a split mVenus approach
@springernature.com: Translation, Ribosome, Translation rate, Bimolecular fluorescence complementation
doi.org/10.1186/s130...

JUNIOR STAR GAČR starts at IEB this January! Jakub Hajný, who recently discovered the CANAR protein regulating sugar transport in plants, will explore how understanding of these mechanisms can lead to higher crop yields.
Project "Programmable sugar distribution in plants“
lgr.upol.cz/en/

Proud to be the first institution in Central Europe to host it.
Our new Mirava Polyscope from Abberior Instruments brings cutting-edge imaging for plant research at the cellular and molecular level — and is open to external users via Czech-BioImaging.
@ifieb.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social

#new_paper: A novel mechanism of auxin habituation: upregulation of auxin receptor TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE 1 allows cell proliferation independent of external auxin
@newphyt.bsky.social: auxin, auxin autonomy, cell division, cell line, habituation, Nicotiana tabacum,TIR1
doi.org/10.1111/nph....

#new_paper: HSP90-mediated stress resilience in male gametophyte of Arabidopsis thaliana
@elsevierconnect.bsky.social: Heat stress, Pollen development, Male gametophyte, Arabidopsis thaliana, HSP90 knockdown, Genetic stability, Cellular integrity
doi.org/10.1016/j.st...

#new_paper: Epigenome and interactome profiling uncovers principles of distal regulation in the barley genome
@cellpress.bsky.social: epigenetics, chromatin states, Hordeum vulgare, Morex, embryo, regulome, Vrn3,
LEA genes, genome browser
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

Congratulations to our colleague Ondrej Novák, who has once again been ranked among the world’s most highly cited scientists by Clarivate Analytics. He is one of only seven researchers from the Czech Republic to reach the top one percent of most-cited experts this year.
@czechacademy.bsky.social

#new_paper: A combined biochemical and computational approach provides evidence for membrane remodelling by the structural scaffold of the endocytic TPLATE complex

DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02146-y
@natplants.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lectures and hands-on workshops in 3D-STED super-resolution microscopy, Lattice Lightsheet 7 and other state-of-the-art microscopy techniques during the Multimodal Light Microscopy Imaging in Plant Research course, hosted by the Imaging Facility of IEB CAS.
@ifieb.bsky.social

For the first time in history, we can watch plants activate their defense system in real time — thanks to a protein sensor.

Tang B, et al. (2025): SALICYLIC ACID SENSOR1 reveals the propagation of an SA hormone surge during plant pathogen advance. Science doi.org/10.1126/scie...
@science.org

Using state-of-the-art microscopy, scientists have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism underlying root growth.

Vukašinović N, Hsu C-W, Marconi M, et al. (2025): Polarity-guided uneven mitotic divisions control brassinosteroid activity in proliferating plant root cells.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Researchers from Moldova State University in Chișinău are getting hands-on training from our experts in new genomic techniques (NGTs), so they can apply them back home.

👉 These methods can significantly accelerate the breeding of crops more resilient to climate change, diseases, and pests.

IEB and the Korean Institute of Natural Products Research (KIST) will collaborate on a unique project. For the first time on an international scale, they will systematically combine two different approaches – cultivating plants in smart farms and using natural microorganisms living in symbiosis.