Andy Plackett

And when I (finally) grow up I want to be as amazing a scientist as @bkoskella.bsky.social, who gave not one but two entirely separate inspirational talks about her science whilst visiting us at Uob!

We had a stellar end to #NGS2025 today! 🎉 Thank you to everyone for coming, it was a pleasure to host you at the University of Birmingham. A massive thank you to the local committee and especially the New Phytologist Foundation for making this work. 🙂
All the best for next year's NGS!
#PlantScience

Today was Careers focused at #NGS2025 Thank you so much to all our panellists for their time and for sharing their varied experiences and views with our delegates. 🙂
#PlantScience

A purple water lily flower in full bloom with pointed petals surrounding a bright yellow center dotted with purple stamens. The flower floats on water surrounded by large green lily pads in soft focus in the background.

Advances in understanding seed formation could be crucial for future food security. Dr. Duarte Figueiredo explains why studying the molecular mechanisms behind reproduction matters and shares advice for aspiring botanists.

wp.me/pdRZhH-mgq

#Botany #PlantScience

New Phytologist next generation scientists 2025 starts very soon - at 13:30 BST (UTC+1)!

Join in for free online via the livestream: www.newphytologist.org/nextgenevent...

#PlantScience #Botany

We've had a great first day of the New Phytologist Next Generation Scientists Symposium, with fantastic talks from delegates and a lively panel discussion on publishing. Looking forward to tomorrow!
#PlantScience
#NGS2025

Just a reminder about this opportunity - closing date is tomorrow 🙂

Research Fellow (Postdoctoral) at University of Birmingham An opportunity for an academic position as a Research Fellow (Postdoctoral) is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.

I have a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position starting in January to study the evolution of seed gene networks using the fern Ceratopteris! Interested? More info here:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNU179/r...

Closing date 31st July. 🙂
#PlantScience
#PlantSciencejobs

I was extremely flattered to be asked to contribute to this Voices piece. Hope folks find it interesting and that it tempts you to try working with new models. 😁
#PlantScience

Image Text: Plant Reproduction: From Sporogenesis to Seed Formation Under Normal and Stress Conditions. Monday, July 28, 2025. 3:45 PM - 5:30 PM. Dazhong (Dave) Zhao, James Walker, Sharon Kessler, Min Ni, and Ravishankar Palanivelu. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | The Salk Institute for Biological Studies | Purdue University | University of Minnesota | University of Arizona

📣#PlantBio2025 daily highlight: Plant Reproduction: From Sporogenesis to Seed Formation Under Normal and Stress Conditions Concurrent Session!🌱
buff.ly/GOvIDIt

#plantscience

#Plantscience

Final photo- just to show everyone the scale of the evo-repro-devo community out there. Auf wiedersehen, until next time (hopefully)!
#ICIPS2025
#Plantscience

We have another opportunity to join the lab!

We and @jmhibberd.bsky.social are looking for a technician to focus on the development of a NAM population in the orphan crop and C4 model species, G. gynandra 🌱☀️

Includes collaborations with partners at NIAB, Wageningen 🇳🇱 and in Cotonou (Benin) 🇧🇯

Ahh, this was such an amazing symposium. Thank you so much to all the speakers and especially the @icips.bsky.social community for organising this. 🙂
#ICIPS2025

Great start to the final day of #ICIPS2025 with a talk by @dromius.bsky.social showcasing the work of @davidjhoey.bsky.social about genetic control of marchantia reproductive strategies

Amidst a great programme of topics @icips.bsky.social today, we had multiple gymnosperm research talks! I was really excited to see these kinds of projects coming through, they're going to be great for the field. 🙂
#ICIPS2025
#Plantscience

Day 3! Into the mysteries of double fertilization...
#ICIPS2025

And yes, Maddy was also successful in her plan to get this song stuck in my head today...
#ICIPS2025

Other highlights include getting to see a talk by Claudia Kohler about her group's advances in understanding the mechanisms underlying parental conflict in endosperm development, and Ned Friedman giving an amazing perspective on its origin. It makes ferns seem simple!

Another great talk today was by @ucdflowerpower.bsky.social
Forget the drugs, cannabis plants have reinvented sex chromosomes!
#ICIPS2025

My favourite slide of the day, from Madeleine Bartlett. Angiosperm reproduction: simples, right..?

Congratulations everyone! 🎉

VRN2-PRC2 facilitates light-triggered repression of PIF signaling to coordinate growth in Arabidopsis Osborne et al. show that the angiosperm-specific PRC2 subunit VRN2 is enriched in hypoxic regions of the Arabidopsis shoot, where it is required for stable deposition of H3K27me3 in key PIF4 target ge...

Happy to see our latest paper by @drosborneplantsci.bsky.social et al out today in Developmental Cell @cellpress.bsky.social! We identify a role for VRN2-PRC2 in regulating light-responsive growth in Arabidopsis through the conditional epigenetic repression of PIF signalling. tinyurl.com/swbyff24

Whoof, that was a long day. We had a lot of GREAT talks, but I think I'm only just starting to realise how little I know about reproductive evolution.

Great work Zoe! 🙂

Cracking the Code of Hazelnut Tree Architecture A new model of hazelnut enhances our understanding of its growth and development.

Scientists unveil the first architectural model of hazelnut trees, studying 104 shoots over two years to understand growth patterns. This could revolutionize cultivation of the world's third most popular tree nut.

Story at wp.me/pdRZhH-lQp
Paper at doi.org/pdj5

#Botany #PlantScience 🧪

LEAFY demonstrates ancestral reproductive functions in the gametophyte and not the sporophyte of the fern Ceratopteris richardii Flowers are a key reproductive innovation of the angiosperms. They evolved as a modification of the ancestral plant life cycle whereby the haploid gamete-producing generation (gametophyte) became encl...

Another preprint! I was privileged to be asked to be involved with this project. Well done to everyone, particularly the first author, Hannah McConnell of Veronica di Stilio's lab at UW, who's tenacity and hard work really shines through 🙂
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Plantscience
#Fern
#LEAFY

About to start day 2 of the International ICIPS Symposium focussed on the evolution of plant reproduction. I'm going to learn so much!
#Plantscience
#ICIPS2025

The international ICIPS Symposium is starting NOW !

A great first day at the International ICIPS Symposium here in Berlin. Thank you @icips.bsky.social for organising!