Kalika Prasad

Latest from ours: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

This is two stories in one: a case study/cautionary tale on developing genetic tools in new organisms, and the first hint at a gene regulatory network for choanoflagellate multicellular development (which turn out to involve a Hippo/YAP/ECM loop!) A 🧵

Webinar on Quantitative Approaches to Cellular Aspects of Plant Ion Homeostasis on Thursday October 16th: 3-4pm BST
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

It's official! We are moving to Stowers!
Very exciting opportunity to expand our studies of insect-plant interactions. We have many opportunities available in biochemistry, development, behavior, genetics, evolution, genomics, AI, and even pest control. Interested in any of these things? Reach out!

How do plants regenerate after wounding? Our new work shows that HSFA1 transcription factors are among the earliest wound-activated regulators of cellular reprogramming in plants!

I really like the series of profiles @newphyt.bsky.social is currently publishing.

The new one is on @stanfordstomata.bsky.social:

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#PlantScience #PlantLuminaries

Humbled to be a part of Indian Science Academies, @ IAScBng, @nasi_academy, and Now @insa_academy
Such moments remind me how fortunate I am to work with talented lab members (past and present), collaborators, colleagues and mentors all along. Thank you for this opportunity 🙏

I'm looking forward to chairing this webinar. Congrats to the Dissemination of Arabidopsis Knowledge awardees!

Congrats to the Arabidopsis Lifetime Achievement Awardees!

Development does not happen in isolation! Material properties, geometry, stiffness, fluid flows...can all steer how development unfolds. If you’re exploring these kinds of questions, we’d love to see your work @dev-journal.bsky.social
More info below ⬇️

a cartoon of two girls with the words " it 's all about which way you look " ALT: a cartoon of two girls with the words " it 's all about which way you look "

If you are leading a team, you have a responsibility to be a “pragmatic optimist”. Otherwise, you risk being disloyal to the amazing young people you work with. #FridayThoughts

‘Lipstick on a pig’: how to fight back against a peer-review bully Scientific societies, journals, editors and researchers are pushing back against mean-spirited peer reviews.

Career Feature @nature.com : ‘Lipstick on a pig’: how to fight back against a peer-review bully.

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

Today's the last day to apply for the Plant Cell Assistant Features Editor (AFE) program, usually postdocs or senior PhD students! It's a fantastic opportunity, a great learning experience & a lot of fun too.
If you aren't quite ready, in June 2026 Plant Physiology will open its own call for AFEs 👍

Assistant Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics - Montréal, Quebec (CA) job with Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (IRBV) | 12844852 A full-time tenure-track assistant professor position at the IRBV, Université de Montréal.

Join us at the Plant Science Research Institute of the University of Montreal to develop your research group in Plant Molecular Genetics:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

I'm making a collage of Arabidopsis habitats for a seminar. If you have photos to share, such as these iconic ones from @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social & @coevolution.bsky.social, please send to weigel@tue.mpg.de. Please let me also know how to attribute them. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Very interesting work, Congratulations

Hormonal regulation of cell fate plasticity of xylem-pole-pericycle lineage in Arabidopsis roots In Arabidopsis roots, xylem-pole-pericycle (XPP) cells exhibit dual cell fates by contributing to both lateral root (LR) and cambium formation. Despit…

🌱 What happens when lateral root primordia (LRPs) fail to emerge?
Using our new lineage tracing tool LRTracker, Xin discovered that arrested LRPs don’t just disappear—they gradually switch fate and become part of the cambium, contributing to secondary growth.1/x
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How plant roots rebuild their tips after injury Geometry-driven cell divisions help restore shape.

www.nature.com/articles/d44...

David Baltimore, giant of molecular biology, has died.

Recently, both our team and the Richardson/Estelle/Strader teams showed that ARF transcription factors are actively degraded. In this new preprint, Martijn de Roij explores the requirements and relevance of ARF degradation (1/7)

Plants Rebuild Roots Using Geometry, Not Just Genes: Study Plants Rebuild Roots Using Geometry, Not Just Genes: Study

scisoup.org/article/2025...

Self-assembling magnetic microparticles mimic biological error correction | Cornell Chronicle A Cornell-led collaboration developed microscale magnetic particles that can mimic the ability of biomolecules to self-assemble into complex structures, while also reducing the parasitic waste that wo...

Cool!
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...

When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance

If you’re planting yourself somewhere cozy this weekend, consider picking up When the Earth Was Green. 🌱

😺 to see this one out @jcellsci.bsky.social & have a 🌲 planted for it): journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/... am sure more creative people will make better use of this resource 1/2

Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Pipeline to generate 3D digital organs demonstrated using a stage 3-V Cardamine hirsuta ovule. (A) The generation of a 3D digital organ starts with 3D imaging of the organ of interest stained with a cell wall stain such as SR2200. The 3D rendering of a confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) z-stack of ovule with SR2200-stained cell walls is shown. The bounding box shows the xyz imaging directions of the ovule in the 3D view (top panel).

🔎 DARWIN REVIEW 🔎

Mody et al. review the study of the cellular basis of plant morphogenesis with 3D digital organs 🔬🌱

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪 @kschneitz.bsky.social

Decoding plant cell types across species: A blueprint for gene discovery Uncovering plant cell types and regulatory genes across species has long been a challenge. Writing in Cell, Xue et al. present single-cell atlases for…

@cp-devcell.bsky.social spotlight on an exciting paper published recently at @cp-cell.bsky.social about a unified cell atlas of vascular plants with an automated cell-type annotation tool: “Decoding plant cell types across species: A blueprint for gene discovery” shorturl.at/wzK5p

Timely review by Peter and colleagues on TDIF-PXY signalling!

Research posts on Bluesky are more original — and get better engagement Bluesky posts about science garner more likes and reposts than similar ones on X.

Stating the obvious: “Research posts on Bluesky are more original – and get better engagement”

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

We learned a lot about plant cell wall mechanics by stretching the Arabidopsis epidermis. Now published in
‪@natcomms.nature.com‬ Fibrous network nature of plant cell walls enables tunable mechanics for development
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Some Impressions of the FASEB Mechanism of Plant Development - 110 attendees, two keynotes, 46 Talks & 83 posters but one passion: understand plant development 🌱🧪🔬🧑‍💻 #PDevSRC

What beauty!