#SLS26
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prelights.bsky.social
How do plants take shape?
The latest preList by @ingridtsang.bsky.social bundles #preprints discussed at #SLS26
A list that features work on plant development, tissue mechanics, stomatal patterning, leaf shape & computational modelling #PlantScience
#preList⬇️
prelights.biologists.com/prelists/sai...
Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 - preLights
The Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026, Shaping Life: Mechanisms of Morphogenesis, brought together researchers exploring the cellular, genetic and mechanical processes that shape plant form. This preList highlights preprints that were discussed or mentioned at the meeting. If you notice any missing preprints, please contact us at preLights@biologists.com
prelights.biologists.com
October 5, 2026 at 2:49 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
A huge thank you to everyone who attended #SLS26 & our concluding keynote speaker @apmahonen.bsky.social for a fascinating talk and exciting new insights into how stem cell fate decisions are regulated in the vascular cambium.
Read more about his team's work: www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...
Group photo of attendees at #SLS26 Ari Pekka Mähönen presenting at #SLS26
September 29, 2026 at 10:03 AM
rituparnagoswami.bsky.social
It was such a lovely conference. I had so many insightful conversations and encouraging discussions. Talks were super amazing. #plantbiology #SLS26
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 29
A huge thank you to everyone who attended #SLS26 & our concluding keynote speaker @apmahonen.bsky.social for a fascinating talk and exciting new insights into how stem cell fate decisions are regulated in the vascular cambium.
Read more about his team's work: www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...
Group photo of attendees at #SLS26 Ari Pekka Mähönen presenting at #SLS26
September 29, 2026 at 11:25 AM
starmorph-syg.bsky.social
Two of STARMORPH PIs were at the @slcuplants.bsky.social for #SLS26! Morphogenesis at its best! @xanderjones.bsky.social @srobertgroup.bsky.social
srobertgroup.bsky.social Stéphanie Robert @srobertgroup.bsky.social · Sep 24
And the end of an amazing meeting! One of the best I have ever attended! Thank you @robinsonsci.bsky.social and News bâtis for the organization! @slcuplants.bsky.social #SLS26
September 28, 2026 at 7:08 AM
vinayshukla.bsky.social
Thank you for organising this fantastic meeting! The quality of the science and the discussions at #SLS26 was superb, and the organizers did an excellent job.
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 23
@vinayshukla.bsky.social presented at #SLS26 a model in which O2 functions as a diffusible developmental signal rather than simply a metabolic resource or stress cue.
Read more from the Root Respiration Group: sites.google.com/view/root-re...
Vinay Shukla presenting at #SLS26 Low O2 signalling in plant development - what is happening in apical meristem and lateral root meristem?
September 24, 2026 at 4:31 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
How do plants grow cups? Leonie Kraska shared her research at #SLS26 investigating the development and plasticity of Marchantia polymorpha gemma cups - organs with a distinct concave geometry

#PlantScience
Leonie Kraska presenting at #SLS26 Images of cup forms in fungi and plants - Nidulariaceae, Mitella japonica and Marchantia polymorpha
September 24, 2026 at 9:59 AM
slcuplants.bsky.social
Begonia possesses remarkable diversity in leaf size and shape. Lucy Turnbull shared her research at #SLS26 investigating leaf morphogenic variation through transcriptomic analyses.

#PlantScience
Lucy Turnbull presenting at #SLS26 Begonia leaf diversity - images of huge varieity of begnia leaf shapes among species.
September 24, 2026 at 10:40 AM
srobertgroup.bsky.social
And the end of an amazing meeting! One of the best I have ever attended! Thank you @robinsonsci.bsky.social and News bâtis for the organization! @slcuplants.bsky.social #SLS26
September 24, 2026 at 12:00 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
@keikoutorii.bsky.social shared her work investigating patterning & differentiation in stomata in her #SLS26 talk "The plant-specific ACTL domain determines bHLH transcription factor heterodimeric partner selectivity during stomatal development"

More at: plant-stomata.org

#PlantScience
Keiko Torii presenting at #SLS26 Graphic from Keiko Torii's first slide showing impact of stomata on plant life on land - taking in CO2 and producing O2 and H2O
September 24, 2026 at 11:04 AM
slcuplants.bsky.social
@joopvermeer.bsky.social discusses integration of mechanical feedback in the formation of lateral roots in his #SLS26 talk "Integration of 3-dimensional differential growth within a tissue by a set of microtubule associated proteins"
Read more about the Vermeer lab work: www.unine.ch/lbmc/
Joop Vermeer presenting at #SLS26 Graphics of root cell with lateral roots emerging and timelapse movie showing lateral root emerging
September 24, 2026 at 9:08 AM
vinayshukla.bsky.social
Thank you so much, Andy! That's really kind of you, and I really enjoyed our conversations at #SLS26. Hope to catch up again soon!
September 24, 2026 at 4:30 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
@thomasgreb.bsky.social shares investigations into plant vascular tissue development at #SLS26 studying repressor proteins and external cues like water availability
Find out more: www.cos.uni-heidelberg.de/en/research-...

#PlantScience
Thomas Greb presenting at #SLS26 First slide of Thomas Greb's talk showing cross section of plant root and talk title: Roads to complexity: The making of plant vascular tissues Illustration of Arabidopsis plant and arrow pointing from hypocotyl area on illustration to a white light microscopy image of the cross section of the hypocotyl area. Text reads: The hypocotyl is a hotspot of vascascular tissue formation
September 24, 2026 at 9:35 AM
seedrevolutionlab.bsky.social
I know @vinayshukla.bsky.social regularly posts to promote others' research here, so I want to return the favour. Great talk Vinay!
#Plantscience
#SLS26
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 23
@vinayshukla.bsky.social presented at #SLS26 a model in which O2 functions as a diffusible developmental signal rather than simply a metabolic resource or stress cue.
Read more from the Root Respiration Group: sites.google.com/view/root-re...
Vinay Shukla presenting at #SLS26 Low O2 signalling in plant development - what is happening in apical meristem and lateral root meristem?
September 24, 2026 at 7:28 AM
umeaplantsciencecentre.se
Nice to see Elsa Gascon sharing her work at #SLS26! 🌱🔬

At UPSC, Elsa works in a collaboration between @stephanevrg.bsky.social and @icelabumu.bsky.social, combining modelling and plant biology to better understand the mechanics of plant tissues.
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 23
Elsa Gascon from @umeaplantsciencecentre.se introduced at #SLS26 a novel representation of multilayered tissues based on simplicial complexes, which captures cell layers while remaining fully compatible with biomechanical modelling.
Find out about Elsa's research: www.umu.se/en/staff/els...
Elsa Gascon presenting at #SLS26 Mechanical simulations using simplicial complexes
September 24, 2026 at 6:53 AM
keikoutorii.bsky.social
Plant geneticists #SLS26 having scientific discussion at The Eagle, Cambridge, where Watson and Crick announced their discovery of the double helix 🧬 in 1953
September 23, 2026 at 10:24 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
@vinayshukla.bsky.social presented at #SLS26 a model in which O2 functions as a diffusible developmental signal rather than simply a metabolic resource or stress cue.
Read more from the Root Respiration Group: sites.google.com/view/root-re...
Vinay Shukla presenting at #SLS26 Low O2 signalling in plant development - what is happening in apical meristem and lateral root meristem?
September 23, 2026 at 6:51 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
Elsa Gascon from @umeaplantsciencecentre.se introduced at #SLS26 a novel representation of multilayered tissues based on simplicial complexes, which captures cell layers while remaining fully compatible with biomechanical modelling.
Find out about Elsa's research: www.umu.se/en/staff/els...
Elsa Gascon presenting at #SLS26 Mechanical simulations using simplicial complexes
September 23, 2026 at 6:31 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
Sabrina Sabatini revealed at #SLS26 a dynamic mechanoadaptive strategy that enables roots to adjust their growth and developmental programs in response to increasing mechanical impedance. Exciting work on investigating how roots reprogramme growth when they hit hard soil.
Sabrina Sabatini presenting at #SLS26 Diagram of root meristem organisation
September 23, 2026 at 6:44 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
@srobertgroup.bsky.social's talk at #SLS26 showed opposing growth gradients & cuticle integrity are key to maintaining hook. "Mechanical cues & reactive oxygen species work together to regulate growth, linking physical & biochemical signals in organ shaping"
Find out more: doi.org/10.64898/202...
Stéphanie Robert presenting at #SLS26 Growth ratio heat map of Arabidopsis thaliana apical hook Live imaging of Arabidopsis thaliana apical hook
September 23, 2026 at 3:35 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
@idonir.bsky.social presented fascinating research at #SLS26 showing diverse mechanisms by which tomato modifies conserved stomatal regulators to achieve surface-specific patterning & environmental responsiveness

Plus PhD/postdoc role #plantscijobs

Find out more: sites.google.com/mail.huji.ac...
Ido Nir presenting at #SLS26 Images and analysis comparing stomatal development responses to temperature in tomato and Arabidopsis Fully funded PhD/postdoc project looking at Promoters, Introns and UTRs as drivers of stomatal developmental plasticity
September 23, 2026 at 7:02 PM
zardilis.bsky.social
So nice to talk at #SLS26 about learning gene regulation dynamics from spatial data, learning interpretable mechanistic models from the flower atlas at the scale of the whole dataset!
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 23
@zardilis.bsky.social describes development of differentiable reaction-diffusion simulations and potential for application to other mechanistic models of morphogenesis to increase quantitative mechanistic understanding.
Find out about Argyris' research: www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/people/argyr...
Argyris Zardilis presenting at #SLS26 First break of symmetry on flower meristem. This formulation is used to address the problem of pattern formation and early symmetry breaks in flower development in Arabidopsis Thaliana, using a 4D spatial gene expression atlas as training data. The model recovers known interactions and predicts new ones that improve the literature-derived network The research further predicts a latent diffusing signal needed to establish the symmetry break, a testable prediction of an unobserved spatial cue.
September 23, 2026 at 1:38 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
Emily Oren from @slcuplants.bsky.social showcased her research quantifying the effects of division on mechanical properties of Arabidopsis hypocotyls using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Automated Confocal Micro Extensometer (ACME).
Read about Emily's research: www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/people/emily...
Emily Oren presenting at #SLS26
September 23, 2026 at 6:20 PM
shibalili1.bsky.social
Great to be part of Day 2 at #SLS26 and to share my work alongside such a diverse range of plant science. Really enjoyed the discussions and the mix of molecular, imaging and quantitative approaches 🌱🔬
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 23
And that's a wrap for our Flash Talk speakers and poster presenters for Day 2. A huge diversity of really interesting research showcasing the importance of combining molecular genetics, biochemistry, genomics, live imaging & computational modelling
September 23, 2026 at 2:27 PM
slcuplants.bsky.social
Kicking off #SLS26 Day 2 is @weibingyang.bsky.social talking about how cell walls guide stem cells in the shoot apical meristem including new research on pectin methylesterification & its influence on cell division patterns and stem cell maintenance.
english.cemps.cas.cn/Research/New...
Confocal microscope image of Arababidopsis meristem and graphic show stem cell dynamics and relationships between Cytokinin, cell wall, cell growth, cell division patterning and cell division activity Text: Mature wall methylesterification is required for stem cell maintenance. Images showing SAM siz different between control plants ant PME5 plants with much smaller meristems. Weibing Yang at lectern presenting at #SLS26
September 23, 2026 at 9:07 AM
slcuplants.bsky.social
Beini Chen from @mpipz.bsky.social reveals new findings during SAM switch to flowering. Live imaging reveals a ring-shaped hotspot of proliferation around the stem cell niche, while cell-cycle dynamics are reprogrammed in a highly spatial manner.

Find out more: www.mpipz.mpg.de/formosa
Beini Chen presenting at #SLS26 Diagram of SAM with zones labelled. SAM cells undergo a transient high-growth and high-proliferation state, especially around the putative central zone during doming. Next question is are all cell-cycle states also spatially and temporarally reorganise?
September 23, 2026 at 1:04 PM