Katie Murphy, PhD

Don't want to set up your own chamber? We offer Raspberry Pi imaging in our Phenotyping Core Facility as a service for academic and industry researchers!

Raspberry Pi–powered temperature monitoring of growth chamber microclimates Premise While controlled environments are desirable for growing and measuring plants, growth chambers and greenhouses typically have microclimates that impact plant growth, development, and stress r.....

New paper - build a Raspberry Pi phenotyping chamber for imaging and temperature sensing! Thanks to Malia Gehan and her team for leading this work. bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Pivot to Plants: Training Program for Plant and Data Science | Danforth Plant Science Center The Pivot2Plants Fellows Program is a 1-year training program for people interested in pivoting to a career in plant science or data science but have limited research experience.

Applications open now for our Pivot 2 Plants program! Please share widely, 1 year paid opportunity to transition to careers in plant and data science. www.danforthcenter.org/our-work/edu...

Congratulations to Danforth Center Associate Member Tessa Burch-Smith! 🎉 She will become President of American Society of Plant Biologists in October of this year.

💐 Stop and smell the science! Our #BioanalyticalChemistryFacility is featured in the new #SmellingtheBouquet: Plants and Scents in the Garden exhibition at @mobotmuseum.bsky.social! Follow your nose to @mobotgarden.bsky.social to discover how plants’ scents influence insects, ecosystems, & people!

Congratulations, Dior! Very well deserved!

I am excited to emcee this event - join us, it's FREE and the science is great!

We are lucky to have Russell as a colleague! The Bioanalytical Chemistry Facility works with both internal and external users - get your metabolite and proteomics analyses done here.

Tess has been an awesome addition to our team, I am proud to be a co-PI on this great training program!

This is a devastating and essential read. Here is a gift link for those without subs. The part about outside perceptions of scientists compared with almost a blue-collar reality is spot on (without even mentioning meager salaries). www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Our newest PlantCV Quarterly Newsletter is here, with great updates and highlights! Check it out, and subscribe to get it in your inbox: preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webvi...

PlantTech Jam 2025 - Danforth Plant Science Center The PlantTech Jam is hands-on science, tinkering, and robotics fun for the whole family. This interactive event features science innovation and technology related activities for all ages. Learn more a...

The PlantTech Jam is a FREE hands-on science, tinkering, and robotics fun for the whole family.

This is an interactive event with a tour of Danforth Center scientific facilities & prairie.
#PlantTechJam

loom.ly/bSnbPtY

New paper from my team! Set up your own cost-effective photo studio to easily capture, label, and transfer images, then analyze those images in @plantcv.bsky.social ! Video protocol coming soon. app.jove.com/t/67619/imag...

We also share new tutorials for analysis of thermal (FLIR) images and microscopy images of stomata in @plantcv.bsky.social . Thank to my amazing postdoc advisors, Malia Gehan and Doug Allen, and all the authors who contributed to this work!

Excessive leaf oil modulates the plant abiotic stress response via reduced stomatal aperture in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Understanding the response of future crops to adverse conditions, including high temperatures, is crucial. We describe the impact of high temperature stress on a high lipid producing biofuel tobacco ...

New paper alert! We found huge oil droplets in the guard cells of a high oil tobacco variety. The stomata of these tobacco plants have a smaller aperture, which increases leaf temperature and decreases transpiration. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Picture of Cologne at night.

The 2025 maize genetics meeting is over. Looking forward to having the 2026 maize meeting from Feb 26 to March 1 in Cologne (Köln), Germany 🇩🇪. Please already mark your calendars. #MGM2025 > #MGM2026.

I'm honored #STLMade profiled me and our Phenotyping Facility! I'm proud to work and live in St. Louis, and represent the great work our team is doing at the Danforth Center.

A huge congrats to Erin for winning the Maize Genetics Early Career Award! We are lucky to have the Erin joining @danforthcenter.bsky.social this summer as a joint faculty member.

ExPOSE: a comprehensive toolkit to perform expansion microscopy in plant protoplast systems This method provides a robust approach for performing expansion microscopy in plant protoplasts for imaging single-cell and subcellular compartments at greatly enhanced resolution.

Some of my postdoc work has been "exposed" today in @theplantjournal.bsky.social! 😁🎉🔬 We developed ExPOSE - a method to perform expansion microscopy in plant protoplast systems. Here's a quick🧵of the details: @meter76.bsky.social @lily-oconnor.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Congrats @kcox-bioguy.bsky.social , his expansion microscopy method is a big deal folks!

The EMBO communities – FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Awardees – EMBO Outstanding female life scientists and role models.

On #InternationalWomensDay, nominate a female scientist for the next FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award. Deadline is 15 May 2025:
www.embo.org/the-embo-com...

#WomeninScience #ForAllWomenAndGirls 🧪

Nature Awards Inspiring Women in Science Celebrating and supporting the achievements of women in science, and all those who work to encourage girls and young women to engage with STEM subjects and stay in STEM careers around the world.

Women in research need the credit & recognition they deserve for the amazing contributions they make.
Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science are open for applications - take a look 👇🏻 & help spread the word
#WomeninSTEM #AcademicSky 🧪
@natureportfolio.nature.com
www.nature.com/immersive/in...

Crowd of people standing outside the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri in a Stand Up for Science Walkout.

Thank you to the Maize Genetics Meeting - yesterday we had an advocacy session, followed by Stand Up for Science walk-out. We are missing our USDA colleagues, who were not allowed to attend the meeting!

Can't wait for our field trip to the Sachs Museum tomorrow for the Maize Genetics Meeting!

Thank you to the speakers, moderators, and attendees (in-person and virtual) of NAPPN Annual Meeting 2025! I've been inspired by great new technologies, applications, and stellar trainee presentations this week. 🌱

a cartoon drawing of a potted plant with a smiling face ALT: a cartoon drawing of a potted plant with a smiling face

~290 participants at our Annual @nappn.bsky.social meeting this year! This is a virtual conference with in-person activities at several 'hub' sites @danforthcenter.bsky.social, MSU, Winnepeg/Manitoba, NCSU, UMN, and Corteva. #CelebrateScience @noahfahlgren.bsky.social @kmurphyphd.bsky.social

Data Scientist I - Phenotyping/Data Science ...

We are HIRING! Join us as a Data Scientist or Postdoc working on geospatial (UAV/satellite) analysis and PlantCV development. See details in the job ads.

www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.p...

www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.p...

Meet the Danforth Center’s next President! We’re thrilled to welcome world-renowned plant geneticist @gilesoldroyd.bsky.social to the Danforth Center this October.

2025 Black History Month: Black Plant Scientists Spotlight | Plantae An initiative originated by Kevin Cox Jr., PhD, Plantae carries on Kevin’s tremendous effort of bringing visibility to several exceptional scientists and their work across the science community.

It's Black History Month and I'm excited to bring another edition of "28 Days, 28 Black Botanists" - now posted as a blog on Plantae! Thanks to @aspbofficial.bsky.social for continuing to support this fun tradition of mine! 💪🏾👨🏾‍🔬🌻🌱
plantae.org/2025-black-h...

White orchid growing on a tree, has a 1-foot long green nectar tube down the center of the image.

Darwin's orchid at the @mobotgarden.bsky.social (check out the orchid show this month)! The long light green piece (center) is the nectar tube, he hypothesized a long-tongued insect must exist to pollinate. The moth was discovered many years later.