Yesterday I talked* science with modellers, mathematicians, biochemists, cell biologists and geneticists. Sound like your kind of place? Join us! Applications for a tenure-track or tenured Group Leader ar JIC close Monday. (*I love chatting - if you come to JIC I *will* stop you in the corridor)

excellent question!

Hot off the press: our analysis of the proposed EU limits to NGT1 category of genome editing in light of recent data on genomic diversity. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

As an undergraduate who loved physical chemistry and was just starting biology, I thought the Meselson-Stahl experiment was the coolest thing ever. It was so simple in its application of physical theory and experiment to prove a biological truth that it was perfect. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...

excellent commentary from Lord Rooker www.scienceforsustainableagriculture.com/lordrooker2

Proposed EU NGT legislation in light of plant genetic variation - Schulman - Plant Biotechnology Journal - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Wonderful talk by Baptiste Castel @baptistebio.bsky.social on fern immune system here at @instmolplantsci.bsky.social Great to meet @jonathandgjones.bsky.social lab alumni in Edinburgh too!

more fool @nytimes.com

important commentary on the dangers to science of current US Gov actions and policies www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

important commentary from @alanhschulman and colleagues about NGTs and the EU's proposed new regulations. Preexisting genomic diversity dwarfs anything we can do with CrispR ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

New OA Letter: "Viral delivery of an RNA-guided genome editor for transgene-free germline editing in Arabidopsis" rdcu.be/eiJVL ...engineered the tobacco rattle virus to express the RNA-guided TnpB enzyme ISYmu1 and guide RNA for transgene-free germline editing.

we appear to be shooting ourselves in the foot www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Mythbusting MAHA’s Claims About Food and Farming www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/mythbustin...

!!New Preprint!! On the activation of RRS1-R/RPS4 paired NLRs!! Thanks to @jonathandgjones.bsky.social for this opportunity to work on this project, and thanks to all the coauthors for their effort and support! Thread (1/) @thesainsburylab.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social t.co/aHNCKj4KUn

very cool. "roads not taken" www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/s...

a prescient commentary www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Proud to present the first data paper from the lab, published today in @pnas.org. We describe a new mechanism for CLE peptides as local symbiosis-amplifying signals, promoting plant interactions with beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Congratulations @sagarbashyal.bsky.social et al.!

@jonathandgjones.bsky.social spoke to Louise Hulland on BBC Radio Norfolk today about developing crops that resist plant diseases and being a co-recipient of the Wolf Prize for Agriculture. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... The clip started forty minutes in at 14:40

See, it's funny cuz it's true. 🤣 (also: #sad) 😞

🚨 New #Breakthrough research article "A new level of RNA-based plant protection: dsRNAs designed from functionally characterized siRNAs highly effective against Cucumber mosaic virus" #RNA 👉 Read here: doi.org/10.1093/nar/... Pictured: Selma Gago-Zachert, Torsten Gursinsky and Sven-Erik Behrens

important work www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

European Union takes giant leap forward toward embracing technologically-enhanced agriculture, advances de-regulation of gene edited crops geneticliteracyproject.org/2025/03/17/e...

Very happy to see my colleague Julia Vorholt being recognized with the Novonesis Biotechnology Prize for her groundbreaking work on the plant leaf microbiome. novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/pion... #plantscience

Fascinating talk to the Linnean society by Paula Bonfante on plant domestication and varietal acquisition revealed in Italian art www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKwA...

America can't be great without great science. Marcia McNutt interview www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/03...

Our Darwin Review is now online at @jxbotany.bsky.social! You can have a read of 'New crops on the block' at doi.org/10.1093/jxb/....

We're looking for a postdoc to join the lab to work on cell-to-cell communication via the apoplast. Candidate must be brave, as they will have to lead us (me) away from the plasmodesmata-lands we've inhabited for so long! www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

"Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste, scientists say" by Hannah Devlin for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/science/2025... #PlantScience #PlantGMOs #Banana

Great thanks to all my talented #phd students esp. @himanshuchhillar.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social & the support from my mentor @jonathandgjones.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social Thanks to all peer reviewers’ constructive feedback & community reviews via @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social

a great thrill and a great honor- thanks to all the great people who've passed through my lab over the last >30 years, and for the friendship and "mutual potentiation" of my co-honorees Jeff Dangl and Brian Staskawicz!

Meanwhile in Iowa...

Flying over Bristol and the Severn Estuary on Sunday. Given we are now allowed to re-name bodies of water, I am proposing this is now called 'The Gulf of Gary' in honour of @profgdfoster.bsky.social

interesting story www.cell.com/the-innovati...

Current state of EU legislation on crop breeding summed up in one picture. Note that all plants carry the same mutation! One does not need to be a scientist to understand the this legislation makes no sense. #GMOs #CommonSense @testbiotech

Europe as “a haven” for US researcher - The EU’s research funding bodies are thinking of ways to welcome US scientists and European ex-patriots who might be looking for a more sympathetic place to work now that Donald Trump is in the White House #AcademicSky 🧪 sciencebusiness.net/internationa...

very interesting to hear RARE also in P-bodies

Any fool can break things open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...

EXCL: Keir Starmer’s decision to cut foreign aid budget to pay for increased defence is a “strategic mistake” that will add to burden on Britain’s armed forces, former army chief tells ⁦‪@alethaadu www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Atlantic story on the situation at NIH is sobering. We are so screwed. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Word of the Day is ‘ingordigiousness’ (18th century): extreme greed at the expense of principles.

Science advances our economic, physical, and social and cultural wellbeing, and is key to a sustainable future. However, we live in times of great change, and the values that have driven science for the benefit of humanity are under threat. Read our statement here: royalsociety.org/news/2025/02...