iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This was a fun project. We show that dim green light is a useful alternative to infrared for night time imaging of plants. Allows colour imaging at night! doi.org/10.1111/tpj.... Funded by @ukspaceagency.bsky.social 🧪 #plants

doi.org

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

( to the tune of the England song) "They are rowing home, they are rowing. Norway's going home.... ". Very exciting

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Sitting in an olive garden in Cambridge UK. How things have changed

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

More exciting #chronoculture. Rice EMF3 Alleles Adjust Flower Opening Time to Enhance the Seed Setting Rate Under High Temperature Stress - Ishizaki - Plant Biotechnology Journal share.google/NijSc8kuiVA0.... This is real world impact of #circadian #plant #science 🧪

share.google

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Ben Williams @benpwilliams.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

We have been cooking up this story for a while and we are excited to finally be able to share! Read on if you're interested in whole plant regeneration WITHOUT the application of hormones!

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

A break from science and teaching. The wonderful Raye. I haven't been this excited for an album release since I was about 15. open.spotify.com/album/3ZN01x...

open.spotify.com

THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE.

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Antony Dodd @antdodd.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Amazing! Huge congratulations to Richard Dekeya from the lab for successfully defending his PhD thesis, and @alexwebblab.bsky.social and Barrie Wilkinson for examining #chronobiology

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

How does wheat tell time?🌾🕰️ New model by @abhibiotech.bsky.social with @alexwebblab.bsky.social & James Locke reveals the flexibility of plant circadian clocks. Unlike Arabidopsis, wheat ELF3 peaks at dawn, model suggests TOC1 repression drives this shift doi.org/10.1098/rsif... @royalsociety.org

Mature wheat field with low sun in background

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Association of Applied Biologists @aabiologists.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

#Monogram2026 Session 6 - From Meristem to Harvest: Building the Plant Big session seeing us through to lunch, featuring not one but two Keynotes! 🕐 Alex Webb @alexwebblab.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social 🌾 Sarah McKim @intbarleyhub.bsky.social @hutton.ac.uk

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

That moment in an online grant application form where you discover there is another page of questions that you have not noticed in the 209 previous times that you have accessed the form 🧪

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I think this is a very interesting paper that adds significant understanding in plant water relations.

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Job opportunity! Research Assistant / Research Associate in Molecular Physiology Fixed term Closes on Wednesday 28 January 2026 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... #PlantSci #PlantSciJobs

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Facundo Romani @fromani.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

This is a very special paper for me. I had the idea of combining transcription factor binding with chromatin in 2016/8. It took some time, but thanks to Fred and Vikas, we can finally share the story in @plos.org Genetics looking at chromatin states in Arabidopsis and Marchantia. #PlantScience

journals.plos.org

Chromatin state architecture governs transcription factor accessibility across plant genomes

Author summary In eukaryotes, DNA is tightly associated with histone proteins. Histone covalent modifications and histones isoforms, also called histone variants provide most of the complexity of chro...

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New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

📢 Save the date! 49th New Phytologist Symposium: Biological timing in photosynthetic organisms 📅 24–27 May 2027 📍 @johninnescentre.bsky.social, Norwich, UK www.newphytologist.org/events/49-nps #PlantScience #photoperiodism #chronobiology

newphytologist.org

Biological timing in photosynthetic organisms

The meeting will focus on fundamental advances in photoperiodism, phenology and chronobiology of photosynthetic organisms.

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Our model of wheat circadian clock based on our finding that orthlogues of ELF3 (Arabidopsis evening complex gene) peak at dawn in the cereals. TOC1 repression of ELF3 explains the different behaviours of Arabidopsis & wheat circadian clocks doi.org/10.1098/rsif... #plantresearch 🧪

doi.org

Data-driven mathematical modelling explains altered timing of EARLY FLOWERING 3 in the wheat circadian oscillator

Abstract. Circadian rhythms are endogenous 24 h cycles that allow organisms to anticipate daily environmental changes. In plants, circadian timing is maint

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PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 09/01/2026

In hydrozoan #jellyfish, the timing of gamete release is often coordinated by light. Ezio Rosato explores a @plosbiology.org study that elucidates a novel, endogenous clock-based mechanism that governs #egg release in a new species of jellyfish 🧪 Paper: plos.io/4btAwpY Primer: plos.io/49eTOya

Rhythmic ovulation in Clytia species. Top row: In Clytia hemisphaerica, the oocytes develop (blue arrow) becoming competent to respond to the maturation-inducing hormone (MIH), which triggers meiosis. MIH (red triangle) is released by neurosecretory cells in the gonads when they become exposed to light. After completion of meiosis (about 2 hours), the mature eggs are released. Ovulation (green square) lasts about 10 min. Since light is required to start a cycle, whose duration is regulated by the developmental programme, in C. hemisphaerica rhythmic ovulation is analogous to an hourglass. Bottom row: In Clytia sp.IZ-D light is required for synchronous development of the oocytes (blue arrow). However, the final maturation process, which makes them responsive to MIH, is gated by an unknown mechanism that likely operates individually in each oocyte (black-and-blue arrow). Light also drives the accumulation and progressive release of MIH. Meiosis begins when the oocytes reach the right maturation stage and MIH the right concentration. After about 2 hours ovulation begins, lasting about 60 min (green box). Together, the timing mechanisms controlling oocyte development and MIH release constitute an incipient clock. Two light-dark cycles are shown for reference.

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Look who is adorning the shopping centre in Cambridge. @camplantsci.bsky.social very own Nicola Patron #plants

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

New Year. New Office 365. The horrible Co-pilot icon that was present in the bottom right all office documents in December has disappeared from the Office app on my PC in 2026. Things are looking up, perhaps I was not alone in finding it an annoying distraction? Or temporary respite? @microsoft.com

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Maddy Seale @maddyseale.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

At the end of 2024 I did a chronological round up of all the #plantscience in @science.org that year. So how did 2025 pan out? This year, I’m grouping papers thematically instead of chronologically so read on to find out what exciting plant science came out over the last 12 months. (1/22)

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

co-pilot = clippy. I really do not want a brightly coloured icon right in my line of sight whilst trying to read and write a Word document. There menu bar is where to put icons. #Microsoft #Office365 @microsoft.com

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Cate Macinnis-Ng @loraxcate.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

JOB ALERT - Join us as a lecturer/senior lecturer in plant-microbe interactions in the School of Biological Sciences at Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland. Applications close 31st January 🌱🧪 jobs.smartrecruiters.com/TheUniversit...

jobs.smartrecruiters.com

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer - Plant-Microbe Interactions - School of Biological Sciences

Company Description: Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of AucklandKo te whare Pūtaiao | The Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland is the leading science faculty in New Zealand and one of...

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Maddy Seale @maddyseale.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Nice interdisciplinary #plantscience -related paper in Science handled by our neuroscience editor, @mattiamaroso.bsky.social Infrared heat from cycads as a pollination signal before flowers evolved. Paper here www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Perspective here www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Infrared radiation is an ancient pollination signal

Color and scent are well-known pollinator cues. Some plants also produce heat, but its role remains unclear. Here, we report that plant-generated thermal infrared radiation serves as a pollination sig...

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

#PlantResearch Enjoyed writing with @beverleycubg.bsky.social a perspective about wonderful paper by Valencia-Montoya et al. in this week's Science. Cycads use thermal radiation to affect pollinators. Is this why Cycads are not as diverse as angiosperms? share.google/Xj8iH9E4tqvN...

share.google

Infrared as a pollination signal

Relying on infrared communication over visual color could have limited cycad evolution

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

as anyone found anything useful that the Co-pilot built into Windows can do? I have tried it a couple of times to do simple things, like find an email I know exists, and it can't. Standard search works. All this hard push for something broken.

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Brilliant from Joey "The time Al agents are poised to save is raw currency we can splurge on... In our dystopian hellfest to doom-scroll Al slop, marry LLMs and remain limbically in-hoc to algorithms that concentrate value upwards. And, no doubt, type more prompts." share.google/tzGez66dhzmq...

share.google

TABS API is Mozilla's Latest Bet on the Agentic Web

Mozilla's new TABS API helps developers build AI agents to automate web tasks, as the company continues to bet on AI as its future. Details, pricing, and links inside.

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Annie Shelton, PhD student @alexwebblab.bsky.social, was one of 5 Gates Cambridge Scholars to present at the Future of Humanity symposium last week. She talked about issues to do with eating in space – from eating in zero gravity to growing edible plants in space. Read more: tinyurl.com/mpkm8ytr

gatescambridge.org

From space food to suing states for future climate change harm - Gates Cambridge

The Gates Cambridge internal symposium saw five Scholars showcase their research on everything from space food to future climate change protections

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in silico Plants @insilicoplants.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Choosing which models best explain photoperiodic time measurement mechanisms in plants by Takato Imaizumi doi.org/10.1038/s443... via npj Biol Timing Sleep #PlantScience

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

My annual reminder that "diurnal" means day active. As in "humans are diurnal organisms, whereas mice are nocturnal". The correct term for the 24 h light/dark cycle is "diel".

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Mike Haydon 🌱 🌾 🧬 ⏰ @hikemaydon.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

A new preprint from the lab by @cbuckley.bsky.social in collab with @adaevo.bsky.social #plantsci #circadian 🌱 ⏰

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Katrin Geisler @kgeisler.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

If you want to read about a strong tuneable promoter in a diatom, see our publication: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... It was a team effort! So thank you, Patrick Hickland, Alison Smith, and the rest of the Plant Met lab at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

A new tool for engineering Phaeodactylum tricornutum: the METE promoter drives both high expression and B12‐tuneable regulation of transgenes

The promoter of the METE gene in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is repressed by nanomolar concentrations of vitamin B12. It can be used to tune the expression of genes for reporter proteins or ...

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Great to see this blog from @johninnescentre.bsky.social on work involving @camplantsci.bsky.social's Epidemiology & Modelling group - building global defences against wheat rust. @camplantepidem.bsky.social

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Plants @ Cambridge brings together partners in the University of Cambridge and our partners at NIAB to form one the largest groupings of plant scientists in Europe. From molecules to ecosystems. We have a new video youtu.be/4kl0XNYOA4Q?... . 🧪 #plantresearch

youtu.be

Plants at Cambridge : growing the future

YouTube video by Cambridge University

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Job opportunity! We are recruiting got a Horticultural Technician: - Crop Science Centre - Fixed term - Closes on Friday 31 October www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/horticu... #plantscijobs #plantsciences

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The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) @tairnews.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

"Postdoctoral and research assistant positions, Plant and Microbe Interaction at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan *Application Deadline: 11/30/2025" Read more here: arabidopsis.org/news/jobs/view?file… #PlantSciJobs

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The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) @tairnews.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

"Assistant Professor, Biology at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA *Application Deadline: 11/17/2025" Read more here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307414 #PlantSciJobs

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