🥦📈 RESEARCH 📈🥦 Inhibition of brassinosteroid biosynthesis in cauliflower reduces stem competition with the curd for resources and can increase crop yield – Hu et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

Announcing a Transformation Lead role (level B) at the Adelaide University node of Plant Synthetic Biology Australia (international applicants welcome)! For more information on PSBA, see plantsynbio.au More details on the position: lnkd.in/g3GZSRT8

New collaborative preprint out in which we use @10xgenomics.bsky.social Xenium to do some (a lot!) of plant spatial transcriptomics, led by Jim Whelan's team: "Mitochondrial Retrograde Signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana: heterogenous, spatial and polarised aspects" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Tiny plant, giant genome! 🌱🧬 We’re excited to share the final version of our paper in @GigaScience: the first complete telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly of the liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia. Thanks @ncn.gov.pl Check out the full open-access study here: doi.org/10.1093/giga...

✨ Paper spotlight ✨ (🧵 1/6) CLE peptides in plant biotic interactions nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Today I learned that the common houseplant Zamioculcas (the zz plant) is monocot w/ pinnately compound leaves. So called leaves are in fact leaflets. Unlike most species w/ compound leaves, the leaflets of zz plants are highly regenerative, from which whole plants can be readily regenerated.

2023 to 2025 were the three hottest years on record.

New Brief Communication: "A CRISPR-based sequence proximity binding protein labelling system for scanning upstream regulatory proteins" rdcu.be/eZLUP CRISPR-based proximity labelling system to profile DNA-binding proteins such as PIF4 transcription factor .

New Article: "Esterified-pectin-coupled polar stiffening controls grass stomatal opening" rdcu.be/eZLT4 Esterified pectin localized at the stiff poles of maize stomata, modulating stomatal opening. Novel targets for stomatal engineering and higher water use efficiency.

I haven't achieved 70% within target range in weeks! Hoping to keep it up this year #T1D #Dexcom

We’re hiring 4 roles at UWA's Plant Synbio Innovation Centre: Facility Manager + 3 Postdocs (single-cell genomics/screening; molecular tools; construct prototyping). Apply by Jan 20 bit.ly/4qfoftG bit.ly/3MFgD59 bit.ly/4pFT6jf bit.ly/48VkgLw

A fully funded PhD position is available in my group to develop genome editing protocols in almond trees and to engineer self-fertility in self-incompatible varieties, starting early 2026. EOIs can be lodged on the Adelaide University website until 17 Nov 2025.

Plant Synthetic Biology Australia at Adelaide University (PSBA-AU) is recruiting our first plant transformation technicians! 🌱🧪🧫🧬🔬 careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/51... careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/51...

What a treat to visit long-time @csiro.bsky.social Collaborator Dr Colleen MacMillan in Canberra and check out her team's "Pink Cotton Candy" dye-free cotton. Link: publications.csiro.au/publications...

"The happiness of Mankind, the real salvation of the world must come about by every person in existence being taught to read and induced to think." #PalaceOfIntellect #Melbourne

I just asked ChatGPT to summarise recent studies on a specific question. It provided a reference that I couldn't find. I queried the reference. It then told me that "upon review, [the reference] does not exist." We should NEVER use ChatGPT as a reliable source of information.

A few white cypress-pines (Callitris glaucophylla) clinging to life, and several that have not quite made it #Ikara-FlindersRangesNationalPark

A view of the Murray River as I head over to the Yarra Valley for a Bioplatforms conference.

I just lost two months of work.

One of the funniest ironies of anti-trans Musk's support for AfD, is that they assign three genders to inanimate objects.

I love the humility of this accomplished researcher I recently looked up. Online profile: "I work as a researcher at [academic organisation]. Their actual position: Director of Research.

Uromycladium rust galls

Koalas and pristine bushland just 20 min from home - Belair National Park

You know we've taken a wrong turn when personal care manufacturers feel the need to mark water as an ingredient of natural origin

New eucalypt just named! Eucalyptus sweedmaniana subsp. noongaring, from granite hills east of Esperance on the south coast of WA. - Photos of it in the wild from 2019 (it is now growing well at the arboretum). - The article describing it: florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/science/nuyt...

A few more letters... and we can finally write amino acid sequence with protein structure encoded by amino acid sequence? 🧬🤔😀 @chrisfrank662.bsky.social , Dominik Schiwietz, Lara Fuss, Hendrik Dietz www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Just out from the lab - PhD student (now pdoc) Lee's first cannabis epigenomics paper. More to come soon! doi.org/10.1186/s128...

Hey, anyone out there who has done DAP-seq? Have you adapted the protocol? Does amp-DAP-seq work better than with binding libraries that retains DNA methylation? Some of our collaborative work on DAP-seq-ML: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A view of Government House and the parklands North of the Adelaide CBD from the beautiful Festival Tower.

Virgin skeet! I'm a plant molecular biologist interested in robust discussion, connection, dialogue and collaboration. I dabble in developmental and synthetic biology, genomics and epigenetics among others. Don't just follow me - talk to me!