News

SLCU's newest Group Leader introduces himself

I have always held a deep fascination with the natural world and this was almost certainly fuelled by my early years living in Zambia and seeing first-hand the amazing African wildlife. My first experiences working with plants came when I joined the group of Brian Staskawicz at the University of California, Berkeley, to do...

New discovery reveals how plants regulate cell division

SLCU researchers have discovered a way in which cells order progress through cell division - by keeping certain regulatory components “locked in” the nucleus until needed. All parts of a plant – the stem, leaves, flowers, roots, come from a pool of cells found in plant meristems. To keep the supply of these meristem cells...

Plants and a seaweed species independently evolved a strikingly similar way of placing new organs

Plants present a multitude of patterns to the world. One of the most obvious and striking is phyllotaxis (from Ancient Greek phýllon meaning leaf and táxis meaning arrangement ), the position of organs around the stem. In new work by PhD student Marina Linardic, in the Braybrook Group, potential patterning mechanisms for...

Of bees, blue halos and spaghetti

Disorder in convergent floral nanostructures enhances signalling to bees

Biosensor imaging of a seedling, measuring how the concentrations of the plant hormone gibberellin change as the plant grows. Credit: Annalisa Rizza.

Hormone gradients visualised using a new fluorescent biosensor

Small amounts of a chemical hormone can reprogram a plant cell and change it’s growth and physiology. Which plant cells produce these chemicals? Where and when do these chemical hormones go? And what genetic programs do they influence once they arrive? These questions are now easier to answer for one such chemical, the...

Hormone gradients visualised using a new fluorescent biosensor

How to breathe well: new insights into stomatal mechanics in leaves

New research published this week, as a collaborative effort between University of Cambridge, University of Sheffield and The John Innes Centre, is changing the way we understand plant ‘breathing’. On almost every leaf of every plant, tiny active pores called stomata act as channels through which carbon dioxide enters and...

Introducing SLCU's newest Group Leader- in her own words

I grew up bringing home living things I wasn’t supposed to take inside. I just wanted to watch them grow and figure out how they did it. I find the idea that living creatures start with one single cell that multiplies and differentiates to create a fully functional organism (and that evolution can act on these processes to...

Plant science research team including SLCU’s Helariutta reveals a missing link in plant transport

Phloem is celebrated for its role in moving the products of photosynthesis from ‘source’ tissues, e.g. leaves, through the plant body-plan to ‘sink’ tissues, e.g. roots. Despite this central role in plant physiology, the photosynthate delivery interface between the phloem and the surrounding sink tissues is not well...

Beyond Arabidopsis – Pioneering microscopy techniques and Botanic Garden expertise reveal the inner workings of Saxifraga plants

New research reveals the science behind a silver lining – SLCU researchers and CU Botanic Garden staff combine forces to discover the how and why behind the Saxifraga’s silver-white crust.

Plant science at Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is home to one of the largest concentrations of plant research anywhere in the world. Visit the below organisations to find out about their work in sustainable agriculture, conservation and fundamental research.

Department of Plant Sciences

Crop Science Centre

Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Cambridge University Herbarium

Cambridge Global Food Security

Cambridge Centre for Physical Biology

Conservation Research Institute

Plants @ Cambridge Hub

TIGR2ESS