Sam Mugford
@samtmugford.bsky.social
📤 926
📥 1929
📝 206
Science worrier, decoding bugs
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8537-5578
pinned post!
We’re delighted to share our latest preprint from the Hogenhout lab (
@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social
) on the molecular mechanisms on plant-aphid interactions. Here we show how the aphid Mp10 effector protein acts as a local anaesthetic to suppress the plant perception of aphid attack
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12 months ago
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Will Jennings📉🗳️
about 7 hours ago
Net zero is one of the many areas where commentators are out-of-touch with public opinion in Britain. There is still broad support for cutting carbon emissions - except from among Reform supporters, who are the outliers.
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"staffers at number 10 have been leaving DVD copies of Love Actually in prominent positions in the PM's office"
about 2 months ago
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Äpplesche 💚
1 day ago
Eine Elefantenspitzmaus 😁
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Ed Davey
about 23 hours ago
Trump and his cronies have the BBC in their sights. Leaders can’t stay silent while one of our great institutions is attacked. We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
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Lord Arse! 🕹️
2 days ago
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Bethany Elliott
4 days ago
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme. So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
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samuel mehr
about 1 month ago
why is the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society published by Oxford when it could have been Random House
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7 days ago
We wrote a review 📖 on hydathode immunity! Learn how bacteria exploit hydathodes to access the vasculature and open questions for future research. 📣 If you are curious about this topic, please consider applying for two open positions in my lab (until Nov23)!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Hydathodes at the forefront of plant immunity against vascular pathogens
Hydathodes are tiny plant organs that form an interface between the leaf surface and xylem vasculature. They facilitate excretion of xylem fluid under…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369526625001360
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I had a dream I asked an AI to write a medical text book and chapter 52 was "how to ghost your cat"
6 days ago
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Juan Carlos De la Concepcion
11 days ago
My main work as postdoc
@plantophagy.bsky.social
lab in
@gmivienna.bsky.social
is out in
@natplants.nature.com
🌱🎉 We asked how can protein complexes diversify without compromising their function and explored this question using the plant
#exocyst
complex.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Electrostatic changes enabled the diversification of an exocyst subunit via protein complex escape - Nature Plants
The evolutionary diversification of an exocyst subunit was enabled by electrostatic shifts leading to its dissociation from the ancestral complex.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02135-1
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Tracy King
12 days ago
“she asked if she had been contacted “because of my expertise in the subject matter or because of my reproductive organs” that is precisely why the men were always asked, historically.
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When all your PCRs fail, except for the negative control 😱
12 days ago
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Tom Cox
14 days ago
... Some might doubt about the ability of owls to build a shelter, but they're very empathetic and caring animals. I reckon they could do it, if they put their mind to it.
bsky.app/profile/dj-a...
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Moose Allain
16 days ago
He’s been! He’s been! Old Father Time has been, and he’s left me an extra hour!
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Biochemical Society
20 days ago
Our Plant Proteins meeting has begun! Starting the day with his 2025 Early Career Research Award Lecture, Dr
Tatsuya Nobori
discussed the development of PHYTOMap, a novel method for multiplexed single-cell 3D spatial gene expression analysis in whole-mount plant tissues.
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Biochemical Society
20 days ago
Dr Juan Carlos De La Concepcion presented the 2026 Early Career Research Award Lecture on structure-guided approaches to engineer novel resistance against destructive plant pathogens — a major biotechnological milestone for agriculture!
#PlantProteinsMeeting
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Biochemical Society
20 days ago
Showcasing her outstanding contributions to the field of oxidative signalling throughout her career so far, congratulations to Professor Christine Foyer, who receives the 2026 Biochemical Society Award for Sustained Excellence at our Plant Proteins meeting today!
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Biochemical Society
20 days ago
Presenting the 2025 Research Support Award, congratulations go to Sam Mugford who discussed his latest insights into the molecular mechanisms of plant immune suppression by virulence factors in aphid saliva!
#BiochemAwards
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Tatsuya Nobori
20 days ago
I had the honour of giving a talk at the Biochemical Society conference and finally received the medal. Grateful once again to everyone who made this possible!
#BiochemEvent
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Marc Somssich
22 days ago
And
@newphyt.bsky.social
continues it's great series of Profiles with this one on
@pdchristine.bsky.social
:
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#PlantScience
#PlantDevelopment
#PlantImmunity
#PlantLuminaries
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Loz Kaye.
23 days ago
Sumo stars goofing about at tourist locations seems a more fun way to celebrate England than any number of flags.
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Christine Faulkner
28 days ago
New pre-print from the team! The manuscript is
@emma-raven.bsky.social
's PhD work showing that whether a leaf is a carbon sink or a carbon source influences how they execute immune responses. Have a read!
#PlantScience
@johninnescentre.bsky.social
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Sophien Kamoun
29 days ago
Save the Date:
#PPATH2026
, Norwich, 8–10 September 2026 @BS_PP
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Nick Talbot
about 1 month ago
New PhD opportunity in my group
@thesainsburylab.bsky.social
through the BBSRC NRP DTP Programme - see details of host to apply below
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/van...
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Vanishing Virulence: Investigating pathogenicity loss in a plant pathogenic fungus (TALBOT_T26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership
What makes a plant killer lose its edge? This project will investigate why fungal pathogens lose virulence when they are grown in laboratory culture away from their host plant. Use cutting-edge…
https://biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/vanishing-virulence-investigating-pathogenicity-loss-in-a-plant-pathogenic-fungus-talbot_t26dtp/
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Alex McClelland
about 1 month ago
1/13 Thankfully, both you and your plants have a lot of sophisticated ways to fight off invading pathogens. In our new preprint, we describe a new way in which animals and plants share a common strategy to ward off harmful bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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A secreted citrus protease cleaves an outer membrane protein of the Huanglongbing pathogen
Plants secrete a variety of proteases as a defense response during infection by microbial pathogens. However, the relationship between their catalytic activities and antimicrobial functions remains la...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.06.680679v1
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James Medlock
about 1 month ago
“I’ll declare war on you if you don’t give me the peace prize” is an incredible bit
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mags visaggio 🏳️⚧️
about 1 month ago
Every time Sisyphus gets the boulder to the top of the hill, he collects tickets that can be exchanged for stickers to accessorize the boulder
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
about 1 month ago
Thanks to London’s bold action, almost 10 million people are now breathing cleaner air. That means fewer children will grow up with stunted lungs and fewer people will have to suffer from asthma, dementia and heart disease.
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London hits clean air milestone 184 years early - ULEZ makes 'big difference'
A professor has branded the success a 'truly remarkable turnaround for the city's air quality'
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/london-hits-historic-clean-air-32584488
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Chris 🍂 DevPods.gg gamedev community
about 1 month ago
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I think I saw Black Nectar and Iron Gall Ink playing at Download Festival last year
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Post‐secretory synthesis of a natural analog of iron‐gall ink in the black nectar of Melianthus spp.
See also the Commentary on this article by Gong et al., 239: 1542–1544.
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.18859
about 1 month ago
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Mary Williams @PlantTeaching
about 1 month ago
I had so much fun sharing my love and awe of plant with the students and teachers and staff at the Norwich Biosciences Institutes Accessible Science Talks event. I hope I inspired a few students to apply their talents to plant science!
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Mary Williams @PlantTeaching
about 1 month ago
#NBIAST2025
Designer flowers for art and education
@nickdesnoyer.bsky.social
Combining art, design, and science.
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John Innes Centre
about 1 month ago
Today is the day! 🌟🥼🧪 We’re thrilled to be kicking off the NBI Accessible Science Talks, in collaboration with
@earlhaminst.bsky.social
,
@quadraminstitute.bsky.social
and
@thesainsburylab.bsky.social
Thank you in advance to everyone for joining us - whether in-person or online!
#NBIAST2025
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Nick Desnoyer
about 1 month ago
Fantastical flowers, synthetic biology, and storytelling. Giving an accessible science talk tomorrow at 10:40 UK time... come join! Register here for the link 👉
jic.link/NBIAST2025
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"What is the biological relevance?"
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about 1 month ago
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John Innes Centre
about 1 month ago
VACANCY - Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions We’re inviting applications from outstanding researchers who either hold, or wish to apply for, Independent Research Fellowships. APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10 November 2025 Click here to apply:
jic.link/Fellows
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Dr Delyth Badder
about 1 month ago
Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet. After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵
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Ash Higgins
about 1 month ago
This. Is. Why. I. Paint.
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Philippa Borrill
about 1 month ago
We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join our team! They will work on homeolog-informed approaches to tackle cold tolerance in wheat
@johninnescentre.bsky.social
Please find out more and apply here:
jobs.jic.ac.uk/Details.asp?...
#plantsciences
#plantscijobs
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John Innes Centre
https://jobs.jic.ac.uk/Details.asp?vacancyID=20689
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We're preparing the name badges for the 10th Norwich Biosciences Institutes
#accessiblescience
event on Tuesday, expecting 250 people in the
@johninnescentre.bsky.social
conference centre including students from local schools (and their teachers including
@dewhurst-ben.bsky.social
)
about 1 month ago
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franz
3 months ago
just make it exist first you can make it crab later
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Mike Galsworthy
about 1 month ago
😮 “There are dozens, possibly hundreds, of different sorts of galls on oak trees. In Britain alone, more than 70 species of gall wasps are responsible, and each one creates a distinct structure.”
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The secret lives of oak gall wasps
Oak trees and gall wasps have a marvellous secret symbiotic relationship
https://sussexbylines.co.uk/news/environment/the-secret-lives-of-oak-gall-wasps
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holden m. accountable
about 1 month ago
THE MEME IS REAL
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Maureen Barr
about 2 months ago
This preprint title for the win! "The First of Us: Ophiocordyceps use a novel scramblase-binding peptide to manipulate zombie ants"
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Science is cool too! Authors use
#celegans
to identify the targets...
#cilia
and scramblases
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Rebecca R Helm
about 2 months ago
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
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Moths in a human suit (they/them)
about 2 months ago
For the actual, whole, and entire sake of fuck.
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Nick Desnoyer
about 2 months ago
Meet "Little Flower". A genetically engineered flower, frozen in time and blown up over 150X. Here's the story (1/6 🧵)
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Prof Mike Yearworth
about 2 months ago
"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
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OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
https://www.computerworld.com/article/4059383/openai-admits-ai-hallucinations-are-mathematically-inevitable-not-just-engineering-flaws.html
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でんか
about 2 months ago
Sir!! You can’t do that!! Aaaah!!
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