From Sep 28th to Oct 1st, three of our PIs met in Nottingham for an in-person exchange of ideas and progress discussions. Over the days, the team engaged in: 🔬 Lab tours & hands-on sessions 💻 Project webinars 🍽️ Group lunches and dinners 💡 Discussions to spark ideas for collaborations 1/4

Exciting news from the @uniofnottingham.bsky.social lab!🔬 They have just set up a new ERC-funded vertical confocal platform that will allow to image root systems growing in more "natural ways" This setup will open up new opportunities to study plant development in unprecedented detail

MC 2025: We came, we saw, we won🏆 🏆! Amazing team on a fantastic time at the Microscopy Conference in Karlsruhe. Get this: two of our posters won Poster Prizes! We're pretty sure it was our perfect blend of science and questionable doodles in the margins. @ziegler-lab-ur.bsky.social

Back from summer & team meetings are buzzing again!!🧑‍🔬 To a good start, Barak Mitman from @eilonshani.bsky.social shared work on xerobranching-associated genes & transporters 🌱 We also welcomed many new faces, especially from Nottingham, making our calls bigger than ever: 26 people, 4 countries!! 🤩

🚨 Registration closes TODAY! 🚨 🌟 #JXB75 Daily Highlight 🌟 📅 Sept 19 – Final Session 🔮 FUTURE – New Plan(t)s 🧬 Exploring emerging technologies & synthetic biology with: ✨ Nicola Patron, Franziska Fichtner & Devang Mehta 🎤 👉 bit.ly/JXB75#JXB75 #JXB75 #PlantScience 🧪

I enjoyed attending the 13th SPPS PhD student conference in Tromsø! I got the chance to present my poster about my PhD topic that I am doing in collaboration with @hydrosensing.bsky.social in the lab of @hamannlab.bsky.social. Thanks for having me!

EMBO is #hiring a Policy Assistant for the EMBO Policy Programme – Apply now! www.embo.org/vacancy/poli... #JobOpening #JobSearch #CareerOpportunities 🧪

Plant roots don’t just rely on genes... physics shapes them too 🌱 Research shows plant roots can adjust their stiffness + softness within HOURS to keep growing, even under stress. 1/2

🌱 Announcing our brand new webinar series all 'aabout' #plantscience & #sustainableagriculture 🌱 Starting 23rd September with talks on #CRISPR in crops from: 🌾 @sadiyehayta.bsky.social 🍓 #ECR Ryan Creeth 🥔 @annalsapplbio.bsky.social author Karam Mostafa Register for free: buff.ly/qdflQbB

One of the key aspects influencing morphogenesis is mechanics. We mapped the mechanical properties of living roots at the tissue and cellular levels using Brillouin microscopy and molecular rotors. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Today, Amichai Berman, PhD student from TAU - @eilonshani.bsky.social - deliver an engaging seminar on CRISPR; the 1st session on this & 3rd seminar overall in our ongoing series for PhD students & PostDocs. With 13 attendees across the 4 different teams of the project. #CRISPR #PhDLife #Science

Congrats to the RUN-Hydrosensing team! Proving that even on a biologically relevant timescale, you can still snag second place! Silver is golden! @hydrosensing.bsky.social

📝 EDITORIAL In JXB’s 75th year, Editor-in-Chief John Lunn reflects on the journal’s evolution and looks ahead to future directions - including the announcement of our 2025 editorial interns! 🌱🎉 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪 #JXB75 @sebiology.bsky.social

Not only small model plants! 🌱 #Hydrosensing team at Tel Aviv (Shani Lab) is carrying out large-scale CRISPR libraries in crops.

@sara-morghen.bsky.social giving a great talk about her PhD project involving ABA and mechanics at #PlantCellWallMeeting2025 in Vancouver. @hydrosensing.bsky.social

Francesco Saffioti from @ntnu presenting results from brillouin work in the @hydrosensing.bsky.social project at the international brillouin workshop in Perugia.

Arrived together with @sara-morghen.bsky.social to the beautiful UBC campus in Vancouver for the Plant Cell Wall Conference 2025. Ready to discuss the relation between cell walls, water sensing, abscisic acid and mechanobiology. @hydrosensing.bsky.social #plantcellwalls

Congratulations to Prof. @eilonshani.bsky.social Eilon Shani, #Hydrosensing PI, on being elected to EMBO 2025! 🎉 This honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to plant molecular genetics and scientific excellence @embo.org www.embo.org/press-releas...

Welcome and congratulations to the 60 new members and 9 associate members who have been elected to the EMBO Membership! This honour celebrates #research excellence and outstanding achievements in the #LifeSciences. 🧪 Learn more here: www.embo.org/press-releas... #EMBOMembers2025

Moments from #ICAR2025 by HS team members 1️⃣ Malcolm Bennett & Danielle Colyer w Marc Van Montagu, the legendary pioneer who co-discovered Agrobacterium DNA transformation; the foundation of plant genetic modification 🧬🌱 2️⃣ MB catching up with Tom Beeckman, one of the driving forces behind ICAR 💪

Wed 28th June, Euro-BioImaging ’s Plant Imaging Expert Group featured Hydrosensing in a webinar session. youtu.be/lj9HA2TpJvo?... 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ @hamannlab.bsky.social, @ziegler-lab-ur.bsky.social & Malcolm Bennett (@uniofnottingham.bsky.social) 🌐 hydrosensing.eu/2025/06/plan...

Happy to see this paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... in @science.org showing how ROS regulate auxin signalling and control root branching @uniofnottingham.bsky.social & Durham University @hydrosensing.bsky.social @ukri.org @erc.europa.eu Many congratulations to the team!

Recently, our early-career researchers agreed on the value of organizing regular sessions for PhDs and PostDocs to explore key research topics in greater depth. These sessions offer a space to understand the methods & techniques used across the 4 #Hydrosensing teams. #science

For the first time we are starting to understand how root cells respond to their complex soil environment, revealing that roots actively sense their microenvironment and mount precise, cell-specific molecular responses. hydrosensing.eu/2025/05/sing... #PlantScience #Science

academic.oup.com/nar/article/... Proud to have been a small part of the team behind the latest publication. It was a privilege to collaborate with such a talented group of researchers on this work. A massive congratulations to all the authors for this contribution to the field! #RNA #cryoEM

In my research, I study how plants respond when they are damaged. Plants – like us – can perceive their surrounding and have an immune system. Around every cell, they have a cell wall, which provides stability and protects them. When the cell wall is damaged, plants activate their immune system...

Pleased to have been able to support this research via an ERC Synergy Grant to the project Hydrosensing: cordis.europa.eu/project/id/1...

🚨 Exciting news! HYDROSENSING has been invited to present by the EURO-BIOIMAGING EXPERT GROUP (Plant Imaging)! 🌱 🗓️ May 28 | 13:00 CET | Online 🔬 Discover how plants sense water stress 🔗 Scan the QR code to register or use the following link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

When I talk to friends, family or others that don't work in research, I am often surprised and amused when I learn how they imagine me working in the lab 😅 So I thought I’d start sharing more from my everyday work doing plant science 👩‍⚕️🌱 @hydrosensing.bsky.social @hamannlab.bsky.social

Glad to introduce our new logo 🎉 This new image reflects our mission: understanding how #plants perceive and respond to water stress — a step toward developing crops resilient to drought and #climatechange 🔗 hydrosensing.eu The image tells a story: 1/3 👇

New #Hydrosensing paper out! Genetic variation drives crop breeding, but traditional mutagenesis is limited by gene redundancy and low precision. CRISPR-Cas9 offers targeted editing, yet scaling it in plants has been a challenge. Please, take a look: hydrosensing.eu/2025/05/cons... 👇

Super excited to start my new position in the Hydrosensing ERC Synergy Project😊 It was amazing to get a preview in Regensburg and meet all you nice and inspiring people! Looking forward to two more years as part of this excellent, international team! @hydrosensing.bsky.social @hamannlab.bsky.social

Thrilled to see our work now online @nature.com This study reveals how individual root cells sense and respond to real, compacted soil environments. www.nature.com/articles/s41... beautiful spatial transcritomics of rice root in gel & soil conditions and huge credit to Mingyuan and colleagues.

In @uniofnottingham.bsky.social ERC Hydrosensing members spent a few intense (and wardrobe-consistent 😅) days filming about research on root systems and how plants adapt to drought. More footage for the documentary is being filmed at locations around the world in the coming year.

New update of the Hydrosensing Started Pack. Follow us! go.bsky.app/7j83oiQ

Just wanted to send a massive THANK YOU to everyone who joined our #HydroSensing meeting! Great energy & insights. Let's keep the collaboration flowing! A special shout-out to our guest speakers who sparkedfascinating dialogues. Your contributions were invaluable! @hydrosensing.bsky.social #Plant

Exciting ERC synergy project meeting in Regensburg 😊@hydrosensing.bsky.social @ntnudiscovery.bsky.social @uniofnottingham.bsky.social @uniregensburg.bsky.social

One of our PIs, Eilon Shani @eilonshani.bsky.social, is speaking today at #PlantAct25 sharing the Hydrosensing hypothesis and good work 💪 Lots of questions, what a good sign!

How Do Plant Roots Sense and Respond to Water? 💧 Plants don’t just passively absorb water—they actively sense and respond to moisture availability. Their roots exhibit hydrotropism, xerobranching, and hydropatterning, allowing them to adapt to water stress and optimize resource uptake.

Just wrapped up an inspiring talk by Olivier Hamant (@inrae-france.bsky.social) at the #PlantWorkshop @spsplantsciences.bsky.social 🌿 Thought-provoking talk, "Sustainability: Robustness before efficiency," presented the importance of prioritizing robustness over perfect efficiency...

New research from the RIPE project reveals a better way to measure Rubisco, the crucial enzyme in photosynthesis. Radiometric methods are helping scientists improve crop productivity worldwide. Read more at wp.me/pdRZhH-lR9 #Botany #PlantScience 🧪

First seminar of the Plant Workshop, #Plant Sciences in the Anthropocene", @spsplantsciences.bsky.social, eng-saclay-plant-sciences.hub.inrae.fr/events/works..., Christophe Maurel talking about, "Plants and water: climate change puts the pressure on"

Exciting news from the lab of my colleague Alberto Carbonell @ibmcp.bsky.social Meet syn-tasiR-VIGS: a new method using friendly viruses to deliver small RNA for precise RNAi in transgene-free plants 🌿✨ Out now @NAR_Open 👉 doi.org/10.1093/nar/gk…

In a heterogeneous soil landscape, plant root systems must locate water. New paper Scharwies et al. found that some maize varieties produce lateral roots at locations where water is limited, whereas others more efficiently direct growth toward water. Summary: hydrosensing.eu/2025/02/mois... 1/3

We’d love to show you around our work! Follow me 👀 Image shows plasmolyzed tobacco leaf cells w fluorescently labeled proteins, which aid in the development of biosensors Biosensors will help quantify the resulting changes, allowing to uncover the molecular mechanisms in cellular adaptation

Meet the #HydroSensing team from Regensburg! From braving the cold room to battling centrifuges, the team tackles science with passion, precision, and just a little bit of chaos. Follow along as we take you behind the scenes!

Food for thought after today's weekly project meeting 🤔 Modeling isn't just about proving what we think we know – it can be also be a powerful discovery tool. Great talks by Leah Band, Moran Anfang and Reem Haj Yahya!

Can plants sense water stress? 🤔 Scientists at @hydrosensing.bsky.social are uncovering HOW #crops respond to drought at a molecular level using plant science interdisciplinary research. 🌱🔬 Follow for the latest breakthroughs 👉 hydrosensing.eu #PlantScience

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#Research #PlantScience "ABA-auxin cascade regulates crop root angle in response to drought" Published in "Current Biology" Link: www.cell.com/current-biol... 1/3