Simon Stael

📢 2 PhD Positions Available in Plant Immune Receptor Bioengineering at Imperial College London
🌱 Start: Oct 2026
📅 Deadline: 10 Feb 2026
🇬🇧 UK/settled status only
💰 Fully funded (48 months)
ℹ️ Info: shorturl.at/po61I
#PlantImmunity #PlantPathology #SyntheticBiology
🙏 Share with interested candidates!

@labcosta.bsky.social Out now in ScienceAdvances
our new work with @AndreaBassi78

MAcro Plant Projection Imaging (MAPPI): An open, scalable platform for whole-plant fluorescence real-time imaging | Science Advances science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Blue light decreases ER Ca²⁺ in stomatal guard cells, with refilling in the dark. Our new @newphyt.bsky.social study shows how ER Ca²⁺ shapes cytosolic Ca²⁺ dynamics
doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Registration for the 7th International Plant Protease Conference is now open! #pp2026 #plantprotease #plantproteolysis Check out the website for more info and registration: www.plantprotease.org

Plants at Cambridge : growing the future YouTube video by Cambridge University

Plants @ Cambridge brings together partners in the University of Cambridge and our partners at NIAB to form one the largest groupings of plant scientists in Europe. From molecules to ecosystems. We have a new video youtu.be/4kl0XNYOA4Q?... . 🧪 #plantresearch

In Other Journals Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

My pick for In Other Journals this week
Zooming in on light stress
Water droplets focus light on the surface of a leaf leading to an increase in chloroplast Ca2+, probably coming from a store in the ER. @simonstael.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
#PlantScience

Thanks Maddy for highlighting our manuscript! (pun intended)

Hi all!!! 👋

New to Bluesky, but...

I'm hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg...
www.verwaltung.uni-halle.de/dezern3/Auss...

Please repost if you can!!
Thank you!!!

We found that high light can trigger calcium responses in the chloroplast stroma, cytosol and ER, dependent on photoinhibition, ROS formation, and temperature, revealing an unexpected connection between ER and stromal calcium pools!

The burning glass effect of water droplets triggers a high light-induced calcium response in the chloroplast stroma Plants rely on water and light for photosynthesis, but water droplets on leaves can focus light into high-intensity spots, risking photodamage. Excess…

What started as a 'funky' observation back in 2017 while visiting the lab of @labcosta.bsky.social, and after skilfull execution of Dominic Kuang, Shanna Romand, and many more, now found a home in Current Biology. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...