Postdocs are the hidden powerhouse of academia. I am proud to have started the journey to rebuild an active and sustainable postdoc association at the School of Life Science, Essex

We are kicking off Postdoc Appreciation Day, organised by @crispus-mbaluto.bsky.social, Virginie Mengin and Lizzie Archer! A fantastic opportunity to celebrate the hard work, creativity and impact of our postdoctoral researchers. Let's get started! 🎉🔬 #PostdocAppreciationDay

Come join our group for an exciting PhD program!

A fully funded, fun PhD to enhance urban tree canopies with mistletoe to increase air quality, biodiversity, and well-being - all within a creative, collaborative molecular physiology and synthetic biology research environment. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

We are celebrating @crispus-mbaluto.bsky.social from the Pallavi Singh Lab as he reflects on his inspiring career journey so far! 🌿

We are excited to welcome Ella Whiteley, our new Master's student, to the Singh Lab! 🌱 Ella will be joining us to explore aquaporins and water transport to improve water-use efficiency in rice🌾 #PlantScience

**Please Repost** Pallavi Singh Lab is looking for two Postdocs to join our team studying how plants balance carbon, water, and resilience in a changing climate. PlantPlug PDRA: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec... REVOLUTION PDRA: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec... Deadline: October 15.

Another exciting opportunity to be a part of our team!! Please spread the news.

Exciting opportunity. Come work with us @thepallavisinghlab.bsky.social @universityofessex.bsky.social

We are looking for a PDRA for the PlantPlug project, turning parasitic plants into programmable bio-modules! Using mistletoe as a novel chassis, we are exploring the frontiers of inter-species communication. Apply online by 15/10/2025. *RP* #PlantSciencesJobs vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

📢Come work with us! We are looking for a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the ARIA-funded PlantPlug project🌱 Be part of pioneering work turning mistletoe into programmable plant biointerfaces🧬 More information: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec... #PlantScience #PostdocJobs #SyntheticBiology

Christmas came early to the Pallavi Singh Lab this year! Thrilled to welcome another brand-new Gen 2000 Conviron, a fantastic boost to our plant growth facilities in the Plant Productivity Group at Essex

#PlastidPreview2025 A big thank you to all our excellent presenters and participants for making this meeting such a stimulating and engaging event. Grateful to be part of the inspiring Plastid Biology community!!

The second and final day of #PlastidPreview2025 has been really insightful! I enjoyed networking with other early career researchers and it was an honour to present my work from my post doc. I was so pleased that so many people enjoyed hearing about starch and the many fruitful followup discussions!

A huge round of applause for our conference prize winners! Congratulations to Jessica Moon, James Vanstone, Anoop Tripathi, Rhiannon Durant, Daisy Bown and Ryo Tachibana! Your outstanding research was a highlight of the conference #PlastidPreview2025

To wrap things up, we have @ryotachibana.bsky.social‬ from the Molecular Physiology group at @camplantsci.bsky.social‬, who is discussing how certain proteins maintain chloroplast and etioplast homeostasis in Arabidopsis. A great final talk! #PlastidPreview2025

Next, we have Dušan Živković from the Bolla Lab at @ox.ac.uk‬. He is presenting on mass spectrometry techniques to study Rubisco heterogeneity in crops🌾 Exciting research! #PlastidPreview2025

After lunch, we have Virginie Mengin from the @rainca.bsky.social research group at @universityofessex.bsky.social presenting on non-transgenic approaches to enhance photosynthetic efficiency in crops🌾 A very relevant topic! #PlastidPreview2025

The stage is set for the speaker in Session IV Ousmane Dao from the University of York, who is redefining algal photorespiration. #PlastidPreview2025

We are now joined by @rosemcn.bsky.social‬ from the @johninnescentre.bsky.social‬, who is sharing her work on generating giant starch granules in wheat. What a fantastic project! #PlastidPreview2025

@erickramonerick.bsky.social‬ from the @unisouthampton.bsky.social is up next! He is talking about enhancing photosynthesis and nutritional value in tomato by manipulating chloroplast development. So interesting! 🍅 #PlastidPreview2025

Time for a tour! We are now off to visit the Plant Growth Facility at the @universityofessex.bsky.social. This is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to see some of the amazing infrastructure supporting plant science research. #PlastidPreview2025

Many thanks to @thepallavisingh.bsky.social and @cavycavs.bsky.social for organising and hosting a great meeting. #PlastidPreview2025

Next up in Session III, we have David Pearce from the Webster Lab at @johninnescentre.bsky.social‬, presenting on the structural basis of chloroplast translation. Let's get into the details! 🔬

We are kicking off Session III with Daisy Bown from the @unisouthampton.bsky.social, who will be discussing how TaPIF3 regulates chloroplast development in hexaploid wheat🌾. A great way to begin the session! 🌱

Good morning plant scientists! Day two of #PlastidPreview2025 is officially underway. We are starting with our keynote presentation from Greg Reeves of Plant and Food, New Zealand, who will be sharing a career talk on transitioning from academia to industry. A must-see! 🚀

🌿 A big thank you to Plant Biotechnology Journal for sponsoring the Poster Session at #PlastidPreview2025! 🧬✨ Your support helps early career researchers share their exciting work and spark new collaborations. @sebiology.bsky.social @johnathan-n.bsky.social

Time for our rapid-fire flash talks! ⚡ We have an amazing lineup of researchers sharing their work with us in just 5 minutes each. We are excited to hear from: Anisha Uppal Carol Huang Adam Green Alex Mann Zihan Li Micha Wijesingha Ahchige Billy Tasker Brown #PlastidPreview2025

Rounding out the day's talks, we have Mihris Ibnu Saleem Naduthodi from @uoylibrary.bsky.social. He is exploring a unique green lineage pyrenoid to accelerate plant CCM engineering. What an innovative topic #PlastidPreview2025

The stage is now with @ciara-obrien.bsky.social‬ from the Seung Lab at @johninnescentre.bsky.social. She is presenting on how starch phosphorylase is necessary for normal starch granule initiation in potato tubers. Great insight into potato biology! #PlastidPreview2025‬

Next, we are joined by Rhiannon Durant from the @ox.ac.uk‬. Her talk on the biochemical characterisation of Oep80 in Arabidopsis thaliana supports its central role in chloroplast protein assembly. Fascinating research! #PlastidPreview2025

Welcome to Session II! First up, we have Enrique Lopez-Juez and Priyanka Mishra from Royal Holloway University of London. They are discussing the genetic hierarchy during chloroplast biogenesis. Don't miss it! #PlastidPreview2025

Time for a well-deserved break! ☕ Our coffee break and accommodation check-in are now open. Grab a drink, enjoy some refreshments, and take this opportunity to meet fellow attendees and speakers! #PlastidPreview2025

To round out Session I, we have Shaila Islam Satu from @qmul.bsky.social‬ discussing the importance of photosynthesis in developing seeds of barley. A great talk to finish the session! #PlastidPreview2025‬‬

Next up in Session I, we have Ignacio Sparrow Muñoz from the Burgess Lab at the University of Illinois presenting on the continuous directed evolution of soybean. A truly innovative approach to plant genetics! #PlastidPreview2025

Up first in Session I, we have Thomas Navarro from the Seung Lab at @johninnescentre.bsky.social! He is sharing his exciting work on how to improve diploid potatoes using a novel gene silencing technology. What an interesting project! #PlastidPreview2025‬

Our Keynote Presentation is underway! We are honoured to have @mjtplantbiology.bsky.social‬ from the @unisouthampton.bsky.social‬ discussing the fascinating world of chloroplast-to-nucleus retrograde signalling. What a great start to the day! #PlastidPreview2025

And we are off! The conference has officially begun with our opening remarks from @thepallavisingh.bsky.social. A huge welcome to everyone joining us, both in person and online! Let's get started 🌱🚀 #PlastidPreview2025

Everything is ready for #PlastidPreview2025! 🌿🧬 Excited to welcome early career researchers in plant science for two days of inspiring talks, posters, and discussions at the @universityofessex.bsky.social 🌱

Massive thanks to our #PlastidPreview2025 sponsors! Gatsby Charitable Foundation, New Phytologist Foundation, New Phytologist, @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social, @sebiology.bsky.social, @jxbotany.bsky.social, Plant Biotechnology Journal, @universityofessex.bsky.social & @rainca.bsky.social‬

The Plastid Preview 2025 spirit has taken over the Pallavi Singh Lab! 🌿🧬 We are gearing up for an exciting meeting of early career researchers in the plant sciences community. Don’t miss the excitement, we look forward to seeing you on 1–2 September! 📅 #PlastidPreview2025 #PlantScience

🌿 Did you know? @thepallavisingh.bsky.social has received a landmark @aria-research.bsky.social grant to develop PlantPlug, a project to tranasform mistletoe into a programmable interface that helps host plants thrive under climate stress. 🔗 Read more: www.essex.ac.uk/news/2025/07... #PlantScience

🌱 Big news! @thepallavisingh.bsky.social has been awarded by @aria-research.bsky.social to develop PlantPlug! 🎉🧬 By turning mistletoe into a programmable bio-interface, we aim to boost crop resilience & yields 🌿 Stay tuned for more updates and job opportunities! #SyntheticBiology #PlantScience

Yay to Team Mistletoe!!

Exciting times @thepallavisinghlab.bsky.social Glad to be awarded the Opportunity Seed Funds by @aria-research.bsky.social for our Mistletoe research on “PlantPlug: Bioengineering Parasitic Plants into Programmable Modules”

🌱 Our team member Urvi is working on mistletoe tissue culture propagation in the lab, exploring new methods to grow this fascinating parasitic plant 🔬 #PlantScience #TissueCulture #MistletoeResearch

It was an absolute pleasure visiting International Rice Research Institute, the Philippines and talking about our work on rice-grafting and root-shoot signalling. ricetoday.irri.org/grafting-sho...

Last day of measurements at the Pallavi Singh Lab! Wrapping up an intense experiment exploring how grafting rice with millets can improve water use efficiency 🌾💧 #PlantScience #CropResilience #WUE

Our recent work in NewPhytologist: Shows that rhizobacteria innoculation of barley against aphids, is dynamic and acts via several molecular pathways to modulate and prime plant resistance (defense) and tolerance (nutrition and growth) to aphid feeding @szytynska.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Just back from International Rice Research Institute’s 65th anniversary celebrations in the Philippines! Stepping into this global hub of rice innovation was a childhood dream come true. Scientifically stimulating, endlessly inspiring…IRRI you have got my heart, will see you again soon!