News

The plant that wanted to be an animal

6 May 2016

Most of our knowledge regarding miRNA-mediated regulation of gene expression derives from studies in multicellular plants – mainly Arabidopsis thaliana . We also know that miRNAs are present in unicellular organisms, such as the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhartii, but until now we had no idea about the biogenesis, mode of...

Modelling offers hope for future invaders

3 May 2016

Nik Cunniffe , Chris Gilligan and colleagues have published a paper in PNAS modelling potential management of sudden oak death in California. Sudden oak death – caused by Phytophthora ramorum, an oomycete related to potato blight – has killed millions of trees and has affected hundreds of square kilometres of forest in...

Complex vitamin cycling between marine phytoplankton

1 April 2016

The important role of vitamins in sustaining marine life: a new study identifies complex vitamin cycling between marine phytoplankton Research shines a new light on how nature’s most complex metabolite, vitamin B 12 , is cycled in microbial communities. In aquatic habitats, microalgae live in the sunlit ‘photic zone’...

Contagious silencing in tomato

11 March 2016

Alleles of genes can be heritably expressed at different levels despite sharing the same sequence: they are called epialleles (epigenetic alleles). Occasionally, epialleles communicate between themselves and the silent epiallele converts the active one into another silent epiallele. This contagious silencing is called...

Flowers tone down petal iridescence and avoid confusing bees

26 February 2016

Latest research shows that flowers’ iridescent petals, which may look plain to human eyes, are perfectly tailored to a bee’s-eye-view. Iridescent flowers are never as dramatically rainbow-coloured as iridescent beetles, birds or fish, but their petals produce the perfect signal for bees, according to a new study published...

UK institutions and Indian government sign agreement on crop science

25 February 2016

Collaboration between leading scientists in the UK and India will focus on tackling global food shortages with research into increasing crop yields and improving disease and drought resistance. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 24 February 2016 at the Ministry of Earth Sciences in New Delhi between India’s...

HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year nomination

11 February 2016

Congratulations to Dr Katharine Hubbard who until January this year was employed by the Department of Plant Sciences to develop and deliver world class teaching in Plant Sciences. This has now been recognised by her short-listed for the Royal Society of Biology’s higher education bioscience teacher of the year award. She...

Engineered signaling allows two-way bacterial conversations

4 February 2016

Paul Grant and members of Jim Haseloff’s group , in collaboration with Neil Dalchau and Andrew Phillips from Microsoft Research, Cambridge , have developed a framework for building the cellular interactions required for engineering multicellular systems. Grant, Dalchau, and colleagues combined signaling pathways from V...

Plant Science Research Fellowships at Cambridge University

3 February 2016

The Department of Plant Sciences has exciting career development opportunities for Research Fellows. We welcome approaches to host candidates who are applying for independent Fellowships, such as Royal Society University Research Fellowships, BBSRC David Phillips, NERC or EU Marie Curie awards. Applicants in the following...

Climate modulates diversity-productivity relationships in forests

28 January 2016

Tommaso Jucker and David Coomes – along with collaborators from the FunDivEUROPE project – published a paper in Journal of Ecology which aims to better understand the mechanisms shaping the relationship between tree diversity and aboveground wood production in European forests. The paper sheds new light on the role of...

The plant that wanted to be an animal

Modelling offers hope for future invaders

Complex vitamin cycling between marine phytoplankton

Contagious silencing in tomato

Flowers tone down petal iridescence and avoid confusing bees

UK institutions and Indian government sign agreement on crop science

HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year nomination

Engineered signaling allows two-way bacterial conversations

Plant Science Research Fellowships at Cambridge University

Climate modulates diversity-productivity relationships in forests

Other news

Find us

Contact us

More

Social media

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge