December 2018
New publication
Anne-Mieke work on morphodynamics analysis of root regeneration is out, in the Journal of Physics D . It is a very original take on the quantification and mathematical modelling of tissue morphogenesis at the cellular level, which carries out a linear perturbation analysis in the space of cellular morphologies. A bold piece of work we are all very proud of, in collaboration with the Non-equilibrium Systems group led by Dr Gunnar Pruessner, in the Department of Mathematics. Congratulations to Anne-Mieke and Ignacio for the hard work!
PhD Scholarship
The Lab has successfully secured one BBSRC-funded PhD Scholarship, as part of one of the Institutional DTP. The project is in collaboration with Dr Tolga Bozkurt and is titled "Imaging and modelling of plant root colonization by filamentous pathogens". The Scholarship will provide 1 year of MRes (Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences) starting in September 2019, followed by 3 years of PhD in our Lab. The full advertisement and application links can be found here (Project #3). Also on FindaPhD.com.
November 2018
Visiting the Center for Complexity Science at Imperial College London
GS visited the Center for Complexity Science at Imperial College London, where he gave a talk titled "Cell division dynamics during tissue self-organisation"
October 2018
Master students
Two Master students from the Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences program joined our lab: Chania Livesey-Clare and Charlie Keyzor. Chania will continue Nick's work on electrotropism, while Charlie will work on root regeneration and bioelectricity. Welcome to both!
NYU visit
GS visited the Birnbaum lab at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, where he gave a talk titled "Arabidopsis root regeneration and tropism in external electric fields"
Allen Discovery Center annual symposium
GS attended the third Annual Symposium at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University (Boston, USA), where he gave a talk titled "Bioelectricity and plant root morphogenesis"
September 2018
Pre-print out
Sirsh's work on 3D tracking in light-sheet microscopy data is on bioRxiv, while submitted for peer-review. A great piece of code that we are using to track cell division events in regenerating Arabidopsis roots. Soon featured in Todd's manuscript (stay tuned). Great job, Sirsh!
June 2018
Pre-print out
Anne-Mieke's work on linear stability analysis of morphogenesis during regeneration is on bioRxiv, while submitted for peer-review. A very original approach that we will certainly follow up. Excellent job, and fingers crossed for a quick publication!
Agri-net conference
GS attended the 7th International Plant Chemical Biology Conference held at Syngenta International Research Centre, Bracknell (UK).
Master student
Felicia Burtscher is a Bioinformatics MSc student joining our lab for one of her projects. She will work with Nick to develop a new script to help automated analysis of root electrotropism.
May 2018
Invited talk at Un. of Warwick
GS was invited to give a talk on "Arabidopsis root regeneration and tropism in external electric fields" at the Bio-Electrical Engineering (BEE) Workshop, held at the University of Warwick on 30/31 May 2018.
Visiting PhD student
Zaki Ahmad, a PhD student in the group of Laszlo Bogre at the Royal Holloway University of London, is visiting our lab to run some experiments on our own light sheet microscope. Welcome Zaki, and have fun!
April 2018
Feature article
Our work on using light-sheet microscopy to image cellular dynamics in roots has been extensively described in a feature article in Physics World, the official magazine of the Institute of Physics. Many thanks to Jess Wade and the whole editorial team at Physics World.
Visit at the Allen Discovery Center
GS visited the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, for a very stimulating meeting with the Center's members, plus Tom Skalak (Executive Director of The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group) and Kathy Richmond (Assistant Director of The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group).
Master student
Chun (Kiki) Hong is joining the lab for her second project, as part of the Master of Molecular Plant and Microbial Systems. She will be studying aspects of electrotropism. Welcome to our group!
March 2018
PhD graduation!
Nick Kral brilliantly defended his PhD thesis, titled "Quantitative Characterisation of Root Tip Regeneration and Tropism in External Electric Field". A great piece of research, partly already published in Regeneration and part of a new manuscript in preparation.
Nick did not waste any time. He co-founded the start-up company Phytoform Labs working in the agri-tech sector, which won the first prize in the White City Incubator Innovators' Programme.
Congratulations Nick!
New publication
Congratulations to our alumni Paolo Baesso and Rico Randall for getting their work on the light-sheet microscope published! Their chapter "Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy Optimized for Long-Term Imaging of Arabidopsis Root Development" is now out in the volume "Root Development", part of the series "Methods in Molecular Biology". Good job to both of you!
Mathematical Modelling in Plants
GS was invited to give a talk at the conference "Mathematical Modelling in Plants", organized by the Association of Applied Biologists at Rothamsted Research (UK).
The talk was titled "Dynamic stability in organ regeneration" and was well perceived. An interesting and diverse bunch of plant biologists and computer scientists. Thank you for the invitation!
February 2018
Mechanics of Development
GS attended the conference "Mechanics of Development", organized by The Royal Society at the Kavli Royal Society Centre (UK).
Fun and stimulating!
Undergraduate students
Brooke Roberts and Shaan Bassi are joining the lab for their final year research project.
Wellcome on board!