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Humans of SLCUDr Dora Cano-RamirezResearch AssociateLocke Group | Sainsbury Laboratory | University of CambridgeConnect with Dora on Twitter https://twitter.com/Dodka_Science of the extremes – what does it take for plants to survive?Dr Cano-Ramirez is a scientist studying the extremes!Her research, which focuses on understanding how plants respond …

The biosynthesis of the principle component of native wood in real time has been observed for the first time thanks to advances in deep tissue super-resolution microscopy – revealing the wood-forming cells to be highly efficient material makers. Research up until now has relied on artificially induced wood-making cells that manufacture wood in 3-4…

Sebastian Schornack and the MycoRed research undertaken in collaboration between his and Sam Brockington's team in Plant Sciences was featured on prime-time BBC One TV on the programme Countryfile.Watch the episode* (Seb appears at 14:40-17:40)*You need a TV licence to watch the episodeRead more about MycoRed

Pulses are packed with goodness: Five cool things you should know about themWritten by Dr Nadia RadzmanEach year on February 10, the United Nations commemorates what probably sounds to many like a strange occasion: World Pulses Day.But, as a researcher focused on forgotten and underutilised legumes, I think the initiative is an important step towar…

There is a clear visible difference between striated and smooth petal surfaces when the petals are viewed under microscopes: Hibiscus trionum (left) has microscopic ridges on its petal surface that act as diffraction gratings to reflect light, while Hibiscus sabdariffa (right) has a smooth surface.Cambridge researchers have shown that plants can re…

Join the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) at this year's Big Biology Day at Hills Road Sixth Form on Saturday 15th October 10:00 - 16:00.This is a free, fun-packed education day showcasing biology. There will be hands-on activities for all ages, information about biology careers and an opportunity to chat with research scientists, i…

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. Presented for ‘playing a c…

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. As a result, light-sheet …

A day just for plantsThe 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 people as possible around the world…

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 flower organ developmentA new…

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-fixing bacteria and takes us a …

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-fixing bacteria and takes us a …

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.3D reconstruction of Marchantia using the new Flip-Flap protocol.The simple imaging method uses innovative ideas and involved designing new tools to enable imaging…

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 celebrating beans and lentils doesn’…

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.In a paper published in Science, an international team of scientists present a detailed blueprint of how plants construct phloem cells – the tissue responsib…