Quantitative and computational plant developmental biology
We combine experimental and computational methods to address fundamental questions in plant development.
Working in interdisciplinary teams, we apply precision measurements to molecular, cellular and tissue dynamics, along with computer simulation and modelling, to understand how plants grow, develop, respond and evolve.
Research Leadership Team
Professor Henrik Jönsson
Director and Research Group Leader
Professor of Computational Morphodynamics
The Jönsson Group develops computational morphodynamics models at the cellular level describing multicellular tissues such as the shoot apical meristem.
Professor James Locke
Associate Director and Research Group Leader
Professor of Quantitative Plant Development
The Locke Group investigate gene expression dynamics in microbial and plant systems.
Dr Alexander Jones
Research Group Leader
alexander.jones@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Jones Group investigates how plant hormones serve as signal integrators and master regulators of physiology and development.
Professor Ottoline Leyser
Immediate Past Director and Research Group Leader
The Leyser Group studies the dynamic properties of plant hormone networks and their role in plant developmental plasticity, using the regulation of shoot branching as a model.
*Professor Leyser is on secondment to UKRI until June 2025 and is not currently accepting any new students or research staff team members.
Professor Elliot Meyerowitz
Inaugural Director, Distinguished Associate
elliot.meyerowitz@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Meyerwitz Group combines real-time live imaging, mathematical models and experiments to study the development of flowers, shoots, and shoot meristems.
Dr Edwige Moyroud
Research Group Leader
The Moyroud Group studies the mechanisms that account for pattern formation in petals at the molecular, cellular, biophysical and ecological levels.
Dr François Nédélec
Research Group Leader
francois.nedelec@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Nédélec Group studies cell morphogenesis and developmental biology using synthetic and systems biology approaches, and computer modelling.
Dr Sarah Robinson
Research Group Leader
The Robinson Group uses a combination of novel biophysical tools, genetic manipulation and mathematical modelling to investigate how plant development (cell division and cell expansion) is controlled.
Dr Katharina Schiessl
Career Development Fellow
Email: katharina.schiessl@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Schiessl Group uses coloniser-induced plant organs such as symbiotic root nodules and parasitic root galls to advance and refine our understanding of the common principles that underpin plant organ diversification.
Dr Sebastian Schornack
Research Group Leader
sebastian.schornack@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Schornack Group aims to characterise the extent to which beneficial and detrimental microorganisms employ similar plant developmental processes for colonisation.
Dr Renske Vroomans
Carer Development Fellow
The Vroomans Group studies long-term processes in plant development using evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) models.
Dr Chris Whitewoods
Career Development Fellow
chris.whitewoods@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Whitewoods Group studies how plants pattern themselves in three dimensions, using leaf air spaces and carnivorous plant traps as models.