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Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser awarded Royal Society’s Croonian Medal and Lecture

Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser FRS, Group Leader at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU), Regius Professor of Botany in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, and Chief Executive Officer of UK Research and Innovation, has been awarded the Royal Society’s 2023 Croonian Medal and Lecture...

Image Reconstruction in Light-Sheet Microscopy - Spatially Varying Deconvolution and Mixed Noise

Novel deconvolution method advances in vivo imaging results

A novel method that improves the images captured in light-sheet microscopy looks set to help advance the future of in vivo biological imaging. Light-sheet microscopy is less damaging to cells and tissues than other forms of imaging like confocal and electron microscopy and allows scientists to image live biological samples...

Fascination of Plants Day 2022

A day just for plants The sixth international “Fascination of Plants Day” is on Wednesday 18 May 2022. It is an initiative of plant scientists across the world under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) . Why do we need a Fascination of Plants Day? The goal of this activity is to get as many...

New high-throughput method to quantify flower organ development

Illustration of the tissue-level segmentation workflow showing different processing stages, consisting of the 1) raw data, 2) contour, 3) surface mesh, 4) mesh curvature, and 5) the final, segmented mesh. From the segmented data, sub-tissue geometrical properties can be quantified. New high-throughput method to quantify...

An engineered barley plant that ‘orders’ soil bacteria to manufacture ammonia fertiliser

Scientists have accomplished a key step in the long-term ambition to engineer nitrogen-fixation into non-legume cereal crops by demonstrating that barley can instruct soil bacteria to convert nitrogen from the air into ammonia fertiliser. This development empowers non-legume crops to communicate directly with nitrogen-...

3D reconstruction of Marchantia (left) and barley meristem using the new Flip-Flap protocol

New protocol Flip-Flap enables deep tissue imaging and 3D reconstruction in plants using a confocal microscope

Plant scientists at Cambridge and Oxford have come up with a clever method that can produce full three-dimensional (3D) images of plant tissues using a laser scanning confocal microscope.

Images of African Yam Bean growing in field, close-up of plant with flowers, pods, tubers and beans. Images by Ademola Aina (IITA)

How forgotten beans could help fight malnutrition in Africa

An African Yam Bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) crop and the pods, tubers and beans produced by the plant. Images by Ademola Aina (IITA). Dr Nadia Radzman discusses why forgotten crops should be remembered on World Pulses Day in her article for The Conversation . February 10 marks World Pulses Day . A day dedicated to...

Diagram of phloem in root: “We have shown how global signals in the root meristem interact with the cell type specific factors to determine distinct phases of phloem development at the cellular resolution.” Pawel Roszak

Blueprint reveals how plants build a sugar transport lane

A tiny region at the root tip has been found to be responsible for orchestrating the growth and development of the complex network of vascular tissues that transport sugars through plant roots.

The Automatic Mycorrhiza Finder (AMFinder) allows for automatic computer vision-based identification and quantification of AM fungal colonisation and intraradical hyphal structures on ink-stained root images using convolutional neural networks

New method to quantify arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonisation of plant roots

SLCU researchers have developed an automatic computer vision-based system to identify and quantify AM fungal colonisation called the Automatic Mycorrhiza Finder (AMFinder).

Important discovery will facilitate future engineering of nitrogen fixation into cereals

SLCU researchers have discovered that a protein involved in the early formation of root nodules in legumes also plays a key role in transforming the nodule into a nitrogen-fixing factory.

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

Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser awarded Royal Society’s Croonian Medal and Lecture

Novel deconvolution method advances in vivo imaging results

Fascination of Plants Day 2022

New high-throughput method to quantify flower organ development

An engineered barley plant that ‘orders’ soil bacteria to manufacture ammonia fertiliser

New protocol Flip-Flap enables deep tissue imaging and 3D reconstruction in plants using a confocal microscope

How forgotten beans could help fight malnutrition in Africa

Blueprint reveals how plants build a sugar transport lane

New method to quantify arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonisation of plant roots

Important discovery will facilitate future engineering of nitrogen fixation into cereals

Plants in the spotlight

Feature articles and opinion pieces by SLCU scientists.

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