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Department of Plant Sciences

 
Read more at: MacRobbie Women in Science Research Seminar
MacRobbie Women in Science Research Seminar

MacRobbie Women in Science Research Seminar

6 November 2014

Plant Sciences is once again proud to honour Prof. Enid MacRobbie ScD FRS FRSE as a pioneer of plant biophysics, the first female scientist to gain a personal Chair at Cambridge, life Fellow of Girton, and our first female Head of Department. This year’s MacRobbie Research Seminar (in our legendary pink lecture theatre)...


Read more at: Society for General Microbiology Medal
Society for General Microbiology Medal

Society for General Microbiology Medal

28 October 2014

The Society for General Microbiology’s 2015 Prize Medal has been awarded to Sir David Baulcombe, Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge. Sir David was a co-discoverer of the first 'small interfering RNA' (siRNA) and showed that these molecules have a role in gene...


Read more at: Four-year BBSRC funded studentships available
Four-year BBSRC funded studentships available

Four-year BBSRC funded studentships available

22 October 2014

The University of Cambridge is offering up to 30 four-year BBSRC funded studentships starting in October 2015. A wide range of projects are available across 20 world-class departments and research institutes under the broad themes of: Agriculture and Food Security Industrial Biotechnology & Bioenergy Bioscience for...


Read more at: Moss photo shortlisted in BBSRC competition
Moss photo shortlisted in BBSRC competition

Moss photo shortlisted in BBSRC competition

16 October 2014

Voting for the BBSRC’s Images with Impact competition is online today at http://bbsrc2014.picturk.com/ and Jill Harrison 's entry ‘apical growth in a moss’ has been shortlisted. In plants the overall shape reflects the pattern of branching, the pattern of leaf initiation and the relative growth of leaves initiated from the...


Read more at: Climate change and the fate of New Zealand’s forests
Climate change and the fate of New Zealand’s forests

Climate change and the fate of New Zealand’s forests

10 September 2014

By storing carbon in wood, forests currently play a key role in mitigating climate change. However, there is growing concern that as climate changes forests could shift from being a net carbon sink to a source. New research from the Coomes group published in Global Change Biology explores the consequences of climate change...


Read more at: Wood production in mixed species forests
Wood production in mixed species forests

Wood production in mixed species forests

10 September 2014

New research from the Coomes group aiming to untangle the mechanisms behind diversity-productivity relationships in forests has just been published in Journal of Ecology . Working in Mediterranean mixed forests in Spain, we find that complementary use of canopy space by oak and pine species means that mixtures of these two...


Read more at: Drooling over plants changes their chemistry
Drooling over plants changes their chemistry

Drooling over plants changes their chemistry

28 July 2014

New research from the Tanentzap group that has been published in the journal Biology Letters and is featured by Science Magazine and in the 23 July issue of New Scientist . Plants host a remarkable diversity of symbiotic fungi. Some of these, such as those associated with grasses, produce secondary metabolites that are...


Read more at: Baulcombe to be new President of the Biochemical Society
Baulcombe to be new President of the Biochemical Society

Baulcombe to be new President of the Biochemical Society

8 July 2014

World-renowned plant scientist and geneticist Sir David Baulcombe, FRS, has been elected President of the Biochemical Society. Sir David, whose research has contributed to major advances in molecular biology and biotechnology, will become President of the Society, the largest discipline-based learned society in the...


Read more at: Miles on wheels
Miles on wheels

Miles on wheels

2 July 2014

James Barlow, a technician in David Baulcombe's group, has pledged himself to ride 20,000km on his bicycle in aid of Papworth Trust . As well as cycling in to work and at least one day of the weekend he, with a group of other like-minded people, attempts long distance rides and has currently completed the Hotchillee London...


Read more at: Malaysian visit
Malaysian visit

Malaysian visit

17 June 2014

The Department hosted a visit from a number of delegates from the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) College in Malaysia, who are looking to develop teaching partnerships with UK universities. The 10 member delegation included the Secretary General of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development...