ALT Inflorescence meristem cell identities: (A) Force-directed graph layout of clusters associated with inner cell layers such as early primordia (EP), undifferentiated cells, procambium, xylem parenchyma and cortex. Clusters are represented by different colours. (B) Schematic illustration of selected cell identities in the primary stem and inflorescence meristem. Procambial strands arise in developing primordia and give rise to vascular bundles, which subsequently differentiate into phloem, cambium and xylem within the primary stem. The exact locations of cell identities in the primary stem are schematically represented rather than accurately portrayed. Illustration by first author first author Dr Sebastián Moreno-Ramírez. Source: Fig 6 in Moreno-Ramirez et al Science Advances 2026.

ALT A confocal microscopy image of an Arabidopsis thaliana shoot apical meristem that expresses a cell division marker (CYCB1;1-GFP) in green. Image by Weibing Yang.

ALT There is a clear visible difference between striated and smooth petal surfaces when the petals are viewed under microscopes: Hibiscus trionum (left) has microscopic ridges on its petal surface that act as diffraction gratings to reflect light, while Hibiscus sabdariffa (right) has a smooth surface.

ALT The SLCU Community pictured in the courtyard of our beautiful building after a full days of talks and discussions about our favourite topic - plants and the people who love them! Thank you to our wonderful alumni speakers and everyone who joined in the day!

ALT Using genome-scale and developmental genetic approaches, Katharina Schiessl (pictured) will characterise the regulatory pathways and cellular processes that underpin the initiation and differentiation of root-related organs associated with the accommodation of beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria and parasitic root knot nematodes. Image of Dr Schiessl with SLCU lab in background and overlay of images taken by Katharina showing various stages of root nodule development.

ALT Blueprint reveals how plants build a sugar transport lane. Schematic diagram of Arabidopsis root tip showing position of phloem cells running the length of root from meristem.

ALT Dr James Locke pictured in the Sainsbury Laboratory building

ALT The Automatic Mycorrhiza Finder (AMFinder) allows for automatic computer vision-based identification and quantification of AM fungal colonisation and intraradical hyphal structures on ink-stained root images using convolutional neural networks.

ALT Images of SLCU building exterior and interior showing wet-labs spaces with text overlay. Join SLCU as a Research Group Leader Seeking a Group Leader with imaginative ideas & collaborative ethos to advance our understanding of plant development at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University. Closing Date: 1 July 2023

ALT Promotional graphic with images and text on black background. Text says "Join SLCU. Research Assistant/Research Associate x 2. Bartlet Research Group, Researching developmental and evolutionary processes underpinning plant diversity". Images of sexual organs of 3 grasses with carpels and stamens labelled - Maize (tassel, ear and individual carpel), Brachypodium flower and Setaria flower.

ALT Image of the exterior of the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) building, which is located within the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Text: 5 Research Positions. Join Us.

ALT Dr Lucie Riglet developed a quantitative imaging pipeline and deciphered the mechanisms specifying the distinct bullseye regions in developing petals of Hibiscus trionum combining imaging, genetics, computational modelling and bumblebee behaviour assays. (A) Hibiscus trionum petals with a boundary at the one-third position separating the purple proximal region and white distal domain. (B) At early developmental stages, when the petal is still greenish, lacking of any differentiation sign, a pre-pattern is already specifying the boundary region of the petal at maturity. (C) The Moyroud team identified the mechanisms behind pattern variations, using Hibiscus richardsonii, a sister species. (D) To investigate if bullseye proportion was able to be detected they tested bumblebees with artificial flowers mimicking H. trionum (medium) and H. richardsonii (small) bullseye sizes, and found that bumblebees preferred the medium-sized bullseye. Image credits: Lucie Riglet.

ALT Models of the structures of FOLD proteins from a pathogen (blue) and a symbiotic fungus (orange) superimposed onto each other to show how similar they are. Image by Albin Teulet.

ALT Cryo-scanning electron microscopy of Hibiscus trionum petal fracture with false colour processing showing the cuticle has two physically distinct layers. Credit: Raymond Wightman. False color processing by Gareth Evans.

ALT Model of poplar macrofibril assembly without (left) and with callose deposition (right). Callose self-aggregates in between macrofibrils, which explains the observed increase in secondary cell wall porosity. The range of pore size affected is 4–30 nm, which is in the size range of hydrolytic enzymes. As such, callose is believed to act as a hydrophilic spacer of secondary cell wall polymer, further promoting access to hydrolytic enzymes for subsequent saccharification. (Figure originall published in Bourdon et al, 2023 Nature Plants.

ALT Promotional poster featuring an image looking up at tree canopy from the ground that shows a phenomena commonly called 'crown shyness' where the branches of trees do not touch each other and form a canopy of channel-like gaps. Text: Join us - Contribute to and benefit from our collaborative research environment. Professorship of Plant Development Professorship of Quantitative Plant Development

ALT Plant Computational Biology Workshop 4 to 8 September 2023 Cambridge, UK SLCU SLCU and RDP ENS Lyon jointly invite biologists and modellers who use computational modelling to study plant biology to attend the 7th International Plant Computational Biology Workshop. Visit the following page for more details on registration (it's free!), programme, travel grant, family resources and accommodation suggestions: https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/plant-computational-biology-workshop

ALT Exterior of the Sainsbury Laboratory's modern building featuring stone vertical pillars and large glass windows with foreground of summer garden bedding of perennial flowers (purple flag irises and tall spikes of white Camassia flowers) in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Text overlay reads "Join SLCU. Research Associate and Research Assistant. Two positions available in Neha Bhatia's research group to investigate how cytokinin shapes plant organ growth. Closing date 30 September 2024."

ALT Images and graphics of early flower development patterns in different flowers, including the model flower Arabidopsis, which will be studied in the RESYDE project. Image on right of model of 4D virtual flower in early development.

ALT Group photo of Sainsbury Laboraotry Symposium attendees out the front of the SLCU building with ginkgo trees

ALT Poster-style image to promote 3 research job positions, featuring tiled images of fluorescent reporter plants and listing 2 postdoc positions (close 7 March) and 1 PhD position (closes 31 March) that are available at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University

ALT Schematic representation of the Highlighter system and function. Highlighter is the CcaS-CcaR system repurposed for in planta function. The repurposed CcaS, CcaR and synthetic promoter are denoted with subscript “HL.” Upon exposure to activating light conditions, CcaSHL phosphorylates CcaRHL, which triggers enhanced binding to its cognate promoter, PHL, to induce expression of a target gene of interest. CcaSHL and CcaRHL are expressed as a single transcriptional unit from a promoter-terminator expression cassette through use of a F2A30 ribosomal skipping sequence. NLS, nuclear localization signal; TAD, transcription activation domain. Larsen et al 2023 PLOS Biology https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002303.g001

ALT Graphic showing symbiosis signalling where LIGHT SENSITIVE SHORT HYPOCOTYL (LSH) are required for N-fixing nodules: LSH1/LSH2 enlist a programme in the root cortex that facilitates the formation of a group of cells in the mid-cortex of the root that are infectable and habitable by the bacteria early during nodule development. At the molecular level, this involves inhibiting the default root program, controlling the dynamics of the plant hormones auxin and cytokinin, and promoting the expression of the previously identified key nodule organ identity regulators NODULE ROOT1/2 and Nuclear Factor Y-A1. LSHs directly promote cell divisions in the root cortex that support bacterial colonisation and promote expression of the previously identified / well known nodule organ identity genes NOOT1/NOOT2 and NF-YA1.

ALT Photo of Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser in Tree Room at the Sainsbury Laboratory. Prof Leyser is current Group Leader and former Director at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU), Regius Professor of Botany in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, and Chief Executive Officer of UK Research and Innovation. She has been awarded the Royal Society’s 2023 Croonian Medal and Lecture.

ALT Summer Undergraduate Research - Apply Now. Promotional poster with graphical representation of plant cells on left and right with individual cells containing images from SLCU plant science research, including microscopy images, computational modelling and simulations

ALT UK Plant Biomechanics Day promotional image featuring image of segmented Marchantia gemma with graphic of AFM cantilever. Text: Bringing together the UK plant mechanics and mechanobiology community. 18 April 2024. Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge. #UKPlantBioMech Supported by Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University and Imperial College London

ALT Evolutionary conservation of the ABC model of flower development and its variants. Images of four flower examples - grass, tulips, columbine and orchid. A) The outermost whorl of grass flowers is occupied by the palea (p) and lemma (l) and the second whorl by lodicules, which swell to facilitate flower opening. B) The outer two whorls of tulips are tepals, which are petal-like, and B-class gene expression is in all whorls except the innermost carpels. C) A proliferation of APETALA3 paralogs have sub- and neofunctionalized to produce three distinct compositions of B-class, with one set promoting the development of staminodes (sd), modified stamen-like organs that facilitates pollination. D) Orchid also possess a proliferation of APETALA3 paralogs that act in combination to promote differentiation of the outer tepals (ot), inner lateral tepals (ilt), and labellum (la) that comprise the perianth.

ALT Tom Heap chatted to Sebastian Schornack about MycoRed - betalain pigments enable in vivo real-time visualisation of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation. Pictured with plants demonstrating the phenomena where the plant "blushes" when the fungus forms a relationship with it.

ALT Graphic montage featuring photos of 6 women scientists (Dr Sabine Brumm, Dr Dora Cano Ramirez, Dr Tamsin Spelman, Dr Helen Saville, Dr Mahwish Ejaz and Dr Colleen Drapek) at the Sainsbury Lab who discuss their research and pathways into science careers on International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023.

ALT A group photo of the Plant Computational Biology Workshop 2023 attendees pictured in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden with the Sainsbury Laboratory building in the background.

ALT New Appointment - David Sainsbury Research Career Development Fellow. Dr Renske Vroomans (pictured) has been appointed to the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) to lead research into the evolutionary dynamics of developmental processes in plants.

ALT Plant Biology Summer Students Career and Poster Session in the SLCU courtyard.

ALT SLCU summer student in the Moyroud Group summarising research project findings on Hibiscus to fellow scientists

ALT Arabidopsis seedlings germinating at different times with title "How do plants hedge their bets". Image by Katie Abley.

ALT GPS2 biosensor microscopy imaging shows GA accumulates early in the nodule development and persist in the nodule apex.

ALT Dr Nadia Radzman at her SLCU lab bench siting next to a microscope and smiles at the camera. She wears glasses and a light coloured headscarf. The lab is full of bottles and samples.

ALT Group photo of in-person attendees at #SLS22

ALT Save the date promotional image for the Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium, being held 17-19 September 2024 in Cambridge UK. Keynotes by Keiko Sugimoto (RIKEN) and Zachary Lippman (CSHL). Graphic of computer chip with symbols representing the four themes - Reprogramming by 1. Evolution, 2. Domestication, 3. Environment and 4. Engineering.

ALT Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium promotional poster. Theme: Regulatory dynamics during development and evolution. Date: 21-23 September 2022. Venue: Cambridge, UK & Online. Confirmed speakers: Kerstin Kaufmann, James Sharpe, Alexandre Marand, Aman Husbands, Annis Richardson, Berta Verd, Erik Clark, Isaac Salazar-Ciudad, Kaisa Kajala, Marcus Heisler, Steve Kelly, Suriya Narayanan Murugesan and Ting-Ying Wu. Poster also features branding design artwork incorporating symbols of plant embryo development, phylogenetic tree and gene regulatory network.

ALT Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium, 21-23 September 2022, fully hybrid Don't miss these talks! Kerstin Kauffman: Regulatory mechanisms controlling cellular differentiation in flower development James Sharpe: 3D tissue morphogenesis from plants to animals? Same difference Erik Clark: Arthropod segmentation dynamics during development and evolution Ting-Ying Wu: Expansion of gene regulatory network in plants upon environmental changes: what is kept and what is lost throughout the evolution Alexandre Marand: An exploration of cis-regulatory diversity in plant single-cells Eldad Afik: Self-organized macroscopic waves reveal intrinsic rhythms in a giant single-celled organism feeding on light Berta Verd: On the role of cell rearrangements in pattern formation Renske MA Vroomans: Evolution of spatial patterning in vascular plants Suriya Murugesan: Gene-regulatory network governing the origin of butterfly eyespots - a novel complex traits

ALT Keiko Sugimoto (RIKEN) delivering the keynote at #SLS24 on "How do plants reprogramme cell fate in regeneration?"