We were testing lasers and the spectral ability of our confocal (FV3000) on a zoomed-in section of a Brassica rapa leaf. But when we zoomed out, we saw that the lasers we used photobleached chlorophyll autofluorescence in the square area we had zoomed in on. We used a 10x/0.4 objective for this.

These Brewer's yeast cells were in a hurry! This was captured with a point-scanning confocal microscope, which scans one point (pixel) at a time, moving from left to right and top to bottom. As a consequence, cells moving faster than the scan speed appear as streaks or exhibit distortions.

Our featured image shows epidermal cells of a tobacco leaf expressing cytosolic GFP. The image was acquired by Ivan Radin @radinbio.bsky.social. You can read more about the image and Ivan’s research in our post ⤵️ focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/16/f... #FluorescenceFriday

I absolutely love this paper from @stuartmcdaniel.bsky.social It is a part of a must-read list for all new members of my lab. Bryophytes are not early diverging land plants - McDaniel - 2021 - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Happy New Year, everyone. For this #microscopymonday, here is a moss (Physcomitrium patens) protoplast (wall-less cell) transformed with a nuclear marker (in magenta). The much brighter area is the nucleolus. The chlorophyll autofluorescence is in green. #moss #plantcells

Today I made a small but momentous start to work in 2026 by changing a single number. I renamed the file “Papers to write and submit in 2025” to “Papers to write and submit in 2026”. Stay tuned for more file updates on 1st January 2027.

EMPIAR-11830 #ChlamyDataset #TeamTomo 🧪 www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

🔬 EXPERT VIEW 🔬 In this review, Cox & Czymmek cover the recent developments of expansion microscopy techniques in plant systems and provides examples of their applications in plant biology research. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪 @kcox-bioguy.bsky.social

Our #VirtualIssue on Plant terrestrialization focuses on piecing together #streptophyte trait #evolution and curating research that has contributed to advances in the evolutionary inference of (early) land plant form and function 👇 📚 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1... #PlantScience 🧵1/2

A crucial step towards understanding tip growth in plants. Ivan Radin @radinbio.bsky.social (University of Minnesota) highlights work from Ryken et al. of the Bezanilla lab (rupress.org/jcb/article/...) in Spotlight: rupress.org/jcb/article/... #CellSignaling #PlantBiology #PlantCellBiology

These close-ups of mucilage-covered tentacle tips from the leaf of a carnivorous sundew plant (Drosera spatulata) definitely have a strong holiday vibe, so I am posting them just in time for the holidays. Happy Holidays. #microscopymonday #carnivorousplants

Spotlight: Ivan Radin discusses new work from Ryken and colleagues (rupress.org/jcb/article/...) which shows how localization and function of autoinhibitory calcium ATPases maintains the strength of the tip-focus Ca2²⁺ gradient during polarized plant growth. rupress.org/jcb/article/... #PlantBiology

This is what happens to the moss (Physcomitrium patens) chloroplasts when we grow cells on β-lactam antibiotics. β-lactams inhibit the synthesis of the peptidoglycan in the chloroplast envelope, leading to their dramatic expansion. #microscopymonday #moss #plantcells #plantmicroscopy 1/3

Please RT‼️ #TenureTrack position @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de one of the best #proteostasis research centres in the world. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

The Arabidopsis thaliana cells can have different types of plastids. In this image, plastids are labeled with the stroma-targeted fluorescence marker RecARed. RecARed fluorescence is false-colored yellow/orange, while the chlorophyll autofluorescence is in grey. #microscopymonday #plantcells

During my postdoc, I looked at hundreds of images like this 🤩 These are two apical caulonemal cells from moss Physcomitrium patens stained with MDY64 (shown in shades of orange). The natural autofluorescence of chlorophyll is in cyan. #microscopymonday #moss #plantcells #plantmicroscopy

Check out this new paper on the Arabidopsis MLS8 channel and its importance for oscillatory growth and cell wall dynamics in pollen tubes! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

In preparation for Halloween, these chloroplasts had a seance! 👻🎃 These five Arabidopsis chloroplasts were extending their stromules (protrusions of the chloroplast envelope and stroma) towards each other. #microscopymonday #Arabidopsis #plantcells #plantmicroscopy

Genetically engineered color-changing Arabidopsis 🧬📷- attempt #3 I think I finally nailed it with this one.

This image of moss Physcomitrium patens beautifully demonstrates what we mean when we say that this cell type is characterized by oblique cell walls. You can see that the cell walls between cells are at an angle and not perpendicular to the cell axis. #microscopymonday #moss #plantcells

Here are some “leaf” or phyllid cells from moss Physcomitrium patens gametophore. Cells are expressing a green fluorescence marker that labels the vacuolar membrane. Chloroplasts' autofluorescence is in magenta. Can you spot dividing chloroplasts? #microscopymonday #moss #plantcells

I started to work on MscS-Like proteins 20 years ago, dreaming that they were involved in plant mechanotransduction. And it is becoming more & more clear that they are! #plantscience 🧪 "DmMSL10 is crucial for mechanosensing, facilitating AP firing by generating a receptor potential (RP) amplitude."

Inside a thylakoid membrane The molecular architecture of the thylakoid membrane in a vascular plant has been determined with single-molecule precision. buff.ly/U9TzrOh

This is a section of the cotyledon (first leaf) surface from the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which is expressing the green fluorescent protein vacuolar membrane marker (vac-GB). Chloroplasts are in magenta, visible due to the autofluorescence of the chlorophyll. #microscopymonday

In case you missed it, our workshop on Fiji Basics for Visualization and Quantification of Plant Images is now available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TMJ... We give a lot of practical tips on how to get started with Fiji. Keep an eye out for announcements on follow-up workshops.

In Two Days! Attendees: we encourage you to download and install FIJI in advance of the workshop if you wish to follow along on your own computer. Keep an eye on your email & visit: hpc.nih.gov/apps/Fiji and fiji.sc Register Now! bit.ly/45zJE7V

This is what happens when you remove the wall from plant cells. They become perfectly spherical and are called protoplasts. These protoplasts were isolated from Arabidopsis and transformed with a vector to express cytosolic GFP (in orange). The chloroplast autofluorescence is in grey. #microscopy

Our Plant and Microbial Biology Graduate Program (cbs.umn.edu/pmb/graduate...) is organizing two Zoom Admissions open houses where you can learn about preparing a strong application and get advice about graduate school from current PMB students. Drop in at any point on either or both days, see below

Do you know what happens when you touch a carnivorous sundew plant? If the touch is strong and large enough, a cytosolic calcium wave will spread from the site of touch throughout the whole plant, but if you only touch one tentacle (see post below), the calcium wave will be local and less intense.

This might be one of the simplest images I captured, but very fascinating nonetheless, as it shows how tight the cytoplasm in a plant cell is. The cytosol and all other organelles are squished between the plasma membrane (magenta) and the central vacuole (its membrane is green) #MicroscopyMonday

We love working with our moss, Physcomitrium (formerly Physcomitrella) patens. In this dissecting microscope image, you can see the juvenile protonema filaments spread away from the main plant as they explore the new areas. #MicroscopyMonday #Moss #Plants

Did you know that plants can have different types of plastids/chloroplasts? The small green plastids are from the surface (epidermal) cells of the Arabidopsis leaf, while the much bigger magenta plastids are from the deeper spongy tissue. See video below. #MicroscopyMonday #cellbiology #plastids

About 250 scientists from all over the world will meet at the University of Münster from 24 to 29 August for the "Chlamy 2025" conference to discuss the latest research findings on microalgae.

Members of PCA Publish A Guide to Elevate Plant Fluorescence Microscopy. Read More Here: www.danforthcenter.org/news/global-...

☘️🔬 Amyloplasts are necessary for full gravitropism in thallus of Marchantia polymorpha @jxbotany.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

A fun experiment! I injected the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens into the tobacco leaf, Nicotiana benthamiana. The bacteria transferred some DNA into plant cells, forcing them to make GFP (green fluorescent protein). I used blue light to excite GFP. Guess which leaf was infiltrated! #fluorescence

We are excited to announce the PCA Imaging Workshop Webinar Series: FIJI Basics for Visualizing and Quantifying Plant Images! This workshop will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 7:30am PT/9:30am CT/10:30am ET. Register Now! bit.ly/45zJE7V @radinbio.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social

This weekend, the PCA CNP held our annual meeting in Portland, Maine to discuss the state of the PCA RCN: how far we've come and what the future looks like. While there, we networked, shared ideas, and discussed our goals for the next phase of the PCA RCN.

Not all microscopy images turn out great. Nevertheless, they can still be cool. This one definitely has an abstract art vibe. 🖼️ #MicroscopyMonday #Fluoresence #CellBiology

This is what you see when you zoom in on fungus, growing uninvitedly on our "sterile" moss plates. What a beautiful hyphal network. #Fungi #Beatifulcontamination #Imaging #Microscopymonday

I love this image of moss (Physcomitrium patens) chloronema cells, as you can see how chloroplasts (in magenta 🟣) indent the vacuole to make room for themselves. The vacuolar membrane is labeled with a GFP marker (green 🟢). #microscopymonday #cellbiology #plantmicroscopy #plant #moss

Think vacuoles are just plant cell dumpsters? Think again. They sense. They signal. They reshape. They fight back! ⚔️ Vacuoles are emerging as central hubs for plant resilience and adaptation. 🌱 @plantophagy.bsky.social and I unpack it all in our new review. Check it out! 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.pb...

It was such an honor to coordinate this plenary! So much amazing science happening in Plant Biomechanics. Thanks to @radinbio.bsky.social, @geitmannlab.bsky.social, Naomi Nakayama, and Frank Telewski for sharing their work! #PlantBio2025

Are you planning any plant fluorescent microscopy experiments? 🔬🌱🪴 Then this is a must-read. Here we provide tips and advice on how to improve your plant microscopy experiments and how to appropriately report your imaging results. ☺️ academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...

I think our Chlamy culture is haunted 😱👻😅 This is a Z-stack through a chloroplast from a single Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell. Signal = chlorophyll autofluorescence. The image was captured on AXR confocal from @healthcare.nikon.com with 100x/1.4 oil objective #cellbiology #algae #microscopymonday

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Plant Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Review starts: Sept. 1, 2025 Read more here: www.arabidopsis.org/news/jobs/vi... #PlantSciJobs

Last week, I uploaded a picture of a moss gametophore taken with a bright-field microscope. For today’s #microscopymonday, we have an image of the same moss structure, this time captured with a confocal scope. We are only seeing autofluorescence of numerous chloroplasts filling the cells. #moss

Last Monday, we saw baby moss plants, and this is how the adult stage looks like. This is a single gametophore with the accompanying rhizoids from moss Physcomitrium patens. The image was made with the Olympus SZX7 dissecting scope with a DP71 camera from Evident/Olympus. #microscopymonday #moss

Are these little aliens 👽 or baby moss plants🪴? 😄 . . . This collage is a great example of the power of plant regeneration. Each of these individual 7-day-old moss (Physcomitrium patens) plants was regenerated from a single protoplast (a plant cell with removed cell walls). #microscopymonday #moss

Incredible diversity of #pollen grains! Pollen autofluorescence acquired with @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social #superresolution Airyscan & color-coded for depth #microscopy #bioimaging #bioart #sciart #botany #plantscience #fluorescencefriday