Research groups
Meet our research group leaders
Our group leaders head interdisciplinary teams that combine experimental and computational approaches to address fundamental questions in plant developmental biology.
Together, they span a broad range of expertise, from molecular and cellular processes to whole-organism and systems-level modelling, working collaboratively to uncover how plants grow, adapt and evolve.
Sainsbury Laboratory 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.

Professor Madelaine Bartlett
Research Group Leader
The Bartlett Group focuses on grasses to answer fundamental questions about the genetic basis of plant development and morphological evolution.
Dr Neha Bhatia
Research Group Leader
The Bhatia Group investigates how cytokinins regulate cell proliferation and differentiation and, how these distinct cellular effects are coordinated in space and time during aerial organ development.

Professor 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 Elliot Meyerowitz
Inaugural Director, Distinguished Associate
elliot.meyerowitz@slcu.cam.ac.uk
The Meyerowitz 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.
Professor 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.