Andrea Paterlini (he/him)

Dr Stephany Veuger wearing pink glasses and a patterned dress. She is smiling at the camera while leaning against the balustrade of a wooden straircase.

For our series of profiles of senior academics, we hear from Dr. Stephany Veuger, Associate Professor (Education) at @northumbriauni.bsky.social. She shares ideas to support early-career researchers in their journeys. To read her profile, join our LinkedIn group: www.linkedin.com/groups/13191...

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling Johnston et al. report that defense hormones suppress cytokinin signaling, causing yield penalties. Restoring cytokinin in autoimmune plants relieves reproductive defects, confers broad pathogen resis...

Our beautiful work is out in Current Biology! @currentbiology.bsky.social

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science The Japanese media sensation has inspired generations of researchers in fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity.

I can say with full confidence that engaging with Pokemon games as a child laid the foundation for my interest in the living world, of exploring biological systems, and curration of living collections. I am who I am today in part due to this game.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Job losses at research-intensive universities double in two years - Research Professional News Exclusive: Scale of redundancies revealed branded a “disaster” for UK research capacity

Job losses at UK research-intensive universities double in two years.

Exclusive: Scale of redundancies branded a “disaster”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Holden Thorp’s slides from a recent talk.

The fundamental flaw with @holdenthorp.bsky.social’s argument is thinking that organizations and people can only do one thing at a time (even though he is really close to acknowledging it!)

Let’s break it down, bc I’m tired of this. 🧵

(cred: @ianlmorgan.bsky.social)

What to learn more about the enigmatic organism Prototaxites?? Have a read of our new Quick Guide in @currentbiology.bsky.social
It includes another great palaeo-reconstruction of the Rhynie ecosystem from @matt-humpage.bsky.social

Opinion | What Happened in Chicago When Science Became the Enemy

This is a good article, gift link.
It illustrates the real impacts that are occurring from the current US government's attacks on science funding 👍
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...

YouTube video by Edinburgh TV Festival The James MacTaggart Lecture 2022: Emily Maitlis | Edinburgh TV Festival 2022

In these surreal political times, I find myself re-watching the excellent lecture @maitlis.bsky.social gave in Edinburgh. Highly recommended. We shall not normalise this moment. youtu.be/e0dRBtSAvLM

Brilliant synergy between research and teaching!

Quantification of cell‐type‐specific plasmodesmata distribution in Arabidopsis roots reveals spatial and patterning dynamics Plasmodesmata are cytoplasmic channels essential for intercellular communication in plants; yet their organ-scale distribution and regulation remain poorly understood. Here, we establish a quantitati...

⚙️Technical Advance

How are plasmodesmata distributed across tissues? 🌱

Davis et al. developed a 3D quantitative imaging pipeline to map pit fields at cell-type resolution in Arabidopsis roots.
They’re developmentally reallocated and spatially patterned by BR signaling.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70726

Why are so many academics in the Epstein files? It’s not just about money | Christopher Marquis In a university ecosystem that breeds hunger for status, Epstein made scholars feel like celebrities

"In a university ecosystem that breeds hunger for status, Epstein made scholars feel like celebrities... Too many people – even those who were not involved directly in exploitation – took the deal because it was easy to do and because it felt good."

#AcademicSky

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Evolution of moss leaf-like organs through variations in deeply conserved developmental principles https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.18.706666v1

Announcing the publication of TAIR12: Consult the fully reannotated genome on the European Nucleotide Archive - Phoenix Bioinformatics TAIR (The Arabidopsis Information Resource), together with our nonprofit host Phoenix Bioinformatics, is pleased to announce the public release of TAIR12

🎉📣 #TAIR12, the latest reannotation of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, is now available under accession number PRJEB100887 on ENA and NCBI!

Thank you all the volunteer researchers whose hard work has made this possible!

#plantscience #plantbiology 🧪

bit.ly/3ZHtneT

Making Metrics Matter: A more ambitious approach to tackling racial inequity in higher education - HEPI A new paper by Dr Katharine Hubbard, Making Metrics Matter: Tackling Racial Inequity in Higher Education (HEPI Debate Paper 43), argues progress towards racial equity in English higher education has b...

New publication! My report in @hepi-news.bsky.social looks at racial equity in UK higher education, and finds that even in TEF Gold institutions there are large awarding gaps and serious underrpresentation of Global Majority staff #HigherEducation #Equity www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/maki...

Does hidden protein biology live in the suboptimal alignment space?

When we align two divergent proteins, we usually trust a single optimal alignment. 🧬

But what if the real structural signal lies in the space of near-optimal solutions?

With EMERALD-UI you can unfold this perspective.

A framework for plant science education drawing together the five key themes discussed in the article.

A #manifesto for #PlantScience #education

@lizalvey.bsky.social, @apaterlini.bsky.social and @PlantTeaching.bsky.social, et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#LatestIssue

A manifesto for plant science education Plants provide oxygen, food, shelter, medicines and environmental services, without which human society could not exist. Tackling pressing and global challenges requires well-trained plant scientists...

It was a joy to bring together a community of plant science educators to write this manifesto now out in @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social - so much potential for plant science education if we come together and address the really key issues. #PlantScience #STEMeducation

Edinburgh Uni staff are losing their jobs. Their boss has two Sir Peter Mathieson appears to have confirmed he is being paid for a board role at a university spin-off at the same time as many staff face uncertainty about their futures.

Ah, surprise, surprise. Our VC's second job at a UoE spin-off *is* paid after all. We'd like to know since when, and why his SFC declaration of interests has only recently been updated.

www.theferret.scot/edinburgh-jo...

If like us you are in need of a pick-me-up, take a lunch break and join us for: Wellbeing for Early Career Lecturers on 26.02.26 1-2pm. Join us for an hour of top tips and some live relaxation techniques (including some takeaway short videos for quick breaks). Sign up here: tinyurl.com/ECLBio

Image features photo of Marie Clark Taylor

Botanist Marie Clark Taylor transformed plant science education, modernizing curricula, advancing microscopy, and mentoring generations of scientists at Howard University. 🔬

#BlackHistoryMonth #PlantScience

Blog - Celebrating women in science | Molecular Plant Sciences | Biology International Day of Women and Girls in Science celebrates the contribution and important roles of women and girls in STEM.

A new blog is out on our website! Go check it out! For International Women and Girls in STEM day (11.02) @hee-kyung-ahn.bsky.social reflects on the gender gap in science, highlighting achievements and remaining challenges. biology.ed.ac.uk/plant-scienc...

OryzaNet is a new BBSRC-funded rice research network launching Spring 2026.

We are inviting researchers, social scientists, stakeholders & innovators to register interest ahead of launch.

www.oryzanet.com

Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 logo - Shaping Life-Mechanisms of Morphogenesis. Timelapse of a developing Arabidopsis leaf imaged at 9-12 days old under a confocal microscope, with cells segmented and coloured using MorphographX software. Images by Sarah Attrill.

Registrations now open for #SLS26 Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 in Cambridge, UK — Shaping Life: Mechanisms of Morphogenesis!
Join us explore how cellular, genetic & mechanical forces sculpt plant form
📅 22–24 Sept 2026
In-person + livestream
Limited fee waivers
www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/sls
#plantsi

An evaluation system for scientific journals - EMBO Reports EMBO Reports - Scientific journals disseminate research findings and serve as a currency for measuring the reputation of scientists. Given their importance for science and for scientists’...

An evaluation and certification system for scientific journals is proposed, building on the growing concept of journal accreditation

#ScholarlyPublishing #JournalPublishing #JournalAccreditation

Can confirm

Cross section of hypocotyl of 8-week-old Arabidopsis thaliana. The ovac mutant displays enhanced secondary vessel differentiation (red) at the expense of parchenchyma cells. Images A2 and B2 show the vessel cells only. SR2200 and Fuchsin staining. Imaged by Donghwi Ko.

How plants control fleshy & woody tissue growth🥕🪵
Ykä Helariutta’s labs at @slcuplants.bsky.social & @helsinki.fi reveal how plants fine-tune xylem development to balance growth — with big implications for crops and forestry

📜@science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
ℹ️ shorturl.at/YLnUw

Recruitment of bifunctional regulator thermospermine to methylated ribosomes directs xylem fate Polyamines are often associated with ribosomes and are thought to stabilize their integrity. In Arabidopsis, the polyamine thermospermine (tSpm) affects xylem cell fate. tSpm induces translation of SU...

Recruitment of bifunctional regulator thermospermine to methylated ribosomes directs xylem fate | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨 Positions available in Plant Science! Please share. We’re hiring:
1. Postdoc
2.PhD (UK applicants only)
Focus: root oxygen dynamics, developmental signalling. Come help us uncover how O2 shapes root development.
More info here-
sites.google.com/view/root-re...
#plantscijobs #plantscience

The cover of Vol 77 | Issue 3 | 2026 of the Journal of Experimental Botany, Special Issue: Plasmodesmata: Current perspectives on plant intercellular communication and signalling. Teal coloured banners border the top and bottom of the page and in the centre is an image of multicoloured Nicotiana benthamiana cells under a microscope. Fluorescent proteins (mTurquoise2, mEGFP, mCitrine, mScarlet-I) move between cells via plasmodesmata in the epidermis of N. benthamiana. (Image credit: Rory Greenhalgh, Jacob O. Brunkard.)

📣 Check out JXB's newest Special Issue 📣
📜 Issue 3 of 2026 📜

🔬 Plasmodesmata: Current perspectives on plant intercellular communication and signalling 🔬

📘 Guest edited by Jake Brunkard & Tessa Burch-Smith

🔗 academic.oup.com/jxb...

#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪 SEBiology

Giant chromosomes of a tiny plant—the complete telomere-to-telomere genome assembly of the simple thalloid liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia (Jungermanniopsida, Marchantiophyta) AbstractBackground. The liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia, a dioicous, simple thalloid species, is notable for its cryptic diversity, habitat adaptability,

Tiny plant, giant genome! 🌱🧬

We’re excited to share the final version of our paper in @GigaScience: the first complete telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly of the liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia.
Thanks @ncn.gov.pl

Check out the full open-access study here: doi.org/10.1093/giga...