Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him

We just put up our eel facts advent calendar in the lab. ✨

Always happy to support initiatives such as @skypeascientist.bsky.social www.skypeascientist.com by purchasing cool merch squidfacts.bigcartel.com

(Don't worry, we also have another advent calendar with chocolates.)

On growth and flow: hydraulic aspects of aboveground meristems Water is essential for plant growth under both normal and stress conditions. Aboveground, two key meristems control plant development: the shoot apical meristem and the vascular cambium. Here, stem c...

Very excited to share my first solo Tansley Insight. An integrated view on the hydraulics of aboveground plant meristems, and the framework of my future work as part of this community #PlantScience

@newphyt.bsky.social

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

CloneCoordinate: Open-Source Software for Collaborative DNA Construction Custom DNA constructs have never been more common or important in the life sciences. Many researchers therefore devote substantial time and effort to molecular cloning, aided by abundant computer-aide...

Delighted to report that our group's passion project over the last 6+ years to make DNA cloning more accessible, efficient, and scalable using a software-assisted workflow called CloneCoordinate is now out in ACS Synbio!

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Very happy to share that this paper is now online on @currentbiology.bsky.social !! 🥳🧪 Check out the final published verion here: www.cell.com/current-biol...
#mimuluspropaganda

Understanding DOIs for preprints: how openRxiv assigns and manages persistent identifiers - openRxiv Digital object identifiers (DOIs) are a class of persistent identifier (PID) assigned to an object to ensure that it can always be uniquely identified and, ideally, accessed reliably. Each DOI is a un...

Understanding bioRxiv/medRxiv DOIs. How openRxiv assigns them, a changing prefix, and the embedded priority date in citations openrxiv.org/dois-for-pre...

Screenshot of the de.NBI project for our upcoming courses. Details: https://www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/news#denbi2025

Getting ready for our #PlantGenomics courses! 🌱🔬
The course is almost full, so check out the details soon if you want to join and learn about the power of long-read sequencing and cloud-based data analysis.
Feel free to spread the word!

👉 www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/news#...
@puckerlab.bsky.social

🤞

I'm quite excited for mine to arrive. ✨
If you want one too, you still have a chance to go for it!

The proceeds go to support @skypeascientist.bsky.social outreach! squidfacts.bigcartel.com

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We’re #hiring! Our #IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social & @unicologne.bsky.social recruits 4 PhD students. We look for candidates with a keen interest in experimental & computational plant biology to join us in 2026!

Find details at www.mpipz.mpg.de/imprs/imprs-... and apply by Jan 5.

#PlantSciJobs

Any good butcher shop should be able to get you one, as long as you order it in advance.
(At least that was always the case for our family’s Christmas turkey in Austria. I guess that it will be similar in Switzerland)

🌍Open call: Junior Group Leader positions!

Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery.

Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...

Deadline: 9 January 2026, 11 AM (CET)!
horribly long link to the PDF with all the details:
www.uni-konstanz.de/securedl/sdl...

Looking to move out of the USA and to Germany for a postdoc, as you can't conduct your work in the USA under the current political restrictions? (e.g visa issues, funding cuts, etc.)
The state of Baden-Württemberg funds novel postdoc fellowships for this:
www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...

Gibt es irgendeine Möglichkeit/Plattform um diese Podcastfolge ohne ein SZ Abo anzuhören?

(Vermutlich werde ich dann dieses Wochenende dafür einfach ein SZ Plus Testabo abschließen müssen. 😅)

A common pathway controls cell size in the sepal and leaf epidermis leading to a nonrandom pattern of giant cells Arabidopsis leaf epidermal cells have a wide range of sizes and ploidies, but the mechanisms patterning their size and spatial distribution remain unclear. This study shows that the pathway controllin...

Check out our story in @plosbiology.org about how a nonrandom, clustered giant cell pattern forms in the sepal and leaf epidermis! It has been a great journey with @gweissbart.bsky.social, Frances Clark, Xihang Wang, @roederlab.bsky.social and co-authors.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

BREAKING: European Sleeper will start a Paris-Berlin sleeper train from 26 March 2026, after Nightjet pulls out in December.
It'll run via Brussels (with Eurostar connection from London) 3 times a week. This + existing train = Brussels-Berlin 6 times a week. www.europeansleeper.eu/paris

Realistically we’d probably need a whole herd of lamas though.
And I wouldn’t mind to sprinkle in some good hearted alpacas or even a donkey.
😂

I, for one, am very pro having a lama to hug at all future conferences.
🦙

Hi fellow PIs, how do you feel with all the leadership / managing tasks that were bestowed onto you at some point? Did you get formal training? Did you seek any training? Are you following any principles/guidance or are you just winging it and hope for the best?

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

Postdoc position in my lab in Cologne starting early next year or latest in spring to get this exciting project started.

jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

Very excited to finally share my PhD paper, about advancing #chloroplast #synbio through high-throughput plastome engineering of #Chlamydomonas.
Huge thanks to the whole team!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meme showing six logical operators illustrated with jack-o'-lantern images. trick OR treat trick AND treat trick XOR treat trick NOR treat trick NAND treat trick XNOR treat

Poster announcing the Darbaker Prize from the Botanical Society of America and the Phycological Society of America. Background shows bright green aquatic plants under clear blue water. White text reads: “Darbaker Prize — Nomination deadline extended to November 1, 2025 — Increased $2500 award.” Includes BSA logos at bottom left and a QR code at bottom right linking to nomination details.

Nominations for the Darbaker Prize close TOMORROW, November 1!

This joint award from the Botanical Society of America and the Phycological Society of America recognizes excellence in research on microscopic algae.

💰 Award increased to $2500!

botany.org/home/awards/...

#BSAwards

Seemingly everyone in my extended friendship and social circles:
Getting married, buying an apartment/house, and/or having babies.

Versus me, telling them my exciting news:
“So, I’m making this really cool set of plasmids…”
🙃

If you’re fed up with MacOS, here’s a really nice Linux version that runs on recent Macs. Super easy installation.
Run in terminal:
curl alx.sh | sh

Please repost:

What are the current costs of kit-based RNA extractions per sample? Qiagen quoted my grad student a "discount" that came to $10/sample. That seemed /way/ too high

Imagine: you are visiting a colleague's office, or a conference room, and you want to explain something. You turn to the chalkboard and <GASP> you are struck by the sight of this. CAN YOU EVEN DO SCIENCE WITH THIS? Unlikely. Better to be prepared.

A screenshot from the Adobe Acrobat FAQ. It states that the AI Assistant does not automatically process documents opened in Acrobat. The user must select the AI Assistant or generative summary icon.

At least it doesn't automatically upload your PDF without your consent to the cloud...
But still, I'd much prefer to not get pushed by them towards using their AI.