Catharina Merchante / Karen
@kmerchante.bsky.social
Tenured scientist @ihsmumacsic.bsky.social Curious about how plants adjust translation to adapt to their environment 👩🏻🔬🍀Science-Dog-📚-Travel-Nature-🌙-lover
Pinned
🎉 The PGRP2026 website is live & registration is OPEN!
👉 malaga-en.congresoseci.com/pgrp2026/index
Check out our amazing lineup of speakers
Don’t miss out: we´ll also select speakers from submitted abstracts ❗️
Hurry up! we have limited seats!
Join us in Málaga, Oct 5–7, 2026 🌞
👉 malaga-en.congresoseci.com/pgrp2026/index
Check out our amazing lineup of speakers
Don’t miss out: we´ll also select speakers from submitted abstracts ❗️
Hurry up! we have limited seats!
Join us in Málaga, Oct 5–7, 2026 🌞
Join us in Málaga!
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Metamorphosis is nature at its weirdest and historian Oren Harman has just written a beautiful book about it.
Also check out this link for free access to the review I wrote about the book for this week's Nature: nature.com/articles/d41...
Also check out this link for free access to the review I wrote about the book for this week's Nature: nature.com/articles/d41...
December 4, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Metamorphosis is nature at its weirdest and historian Oren Harman has just written a beautiful book about it.
Also check out this link for free access to the review I wrote about the book for this week's Nature: nature.com/articles/d41...
Also check out this link for free access to the review I wrote about the book for this week's Nature: nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
“A program with a 0.5% success rate is not elite. It’s wasteful. Thousands of highly trained scientists will sink dozens of hours into writing proposals with vanishing odds of success. This is not just inefficient — it’s disrespectful of scientific labour.” Very well said @kamounlab.bsky.social!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I just published: ERC-Plus: jackpot science or missed chance to fix academia?
My reflections on ERC-Plus, Europe’s newest ultra-competitive research grant and what it tells us about the academic culture we’re building.
medium.com/p/erc-plus-j...
My reflections on ERC-Plus, Europe’s newest ultra-competitive research grant and what it tells us about the academic culture we’re building.
medium.com/p/erc-plus-j...
ERC-Plus: jackpot science or missed chance to fix academia?
My reflections on ERC-Plus, Europe’s newest ultra-competitive research grant and what it tells us about the academic culture we’re…
medium.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:15 PM
“A program with a 0.5% success rate is not elite. It’s wasteful. Thousands of highly trained scientists will sink dozens of hours into writing proposals with vanishing odds of success. This is not just inefficient — it’s disrespectful of scientific labour.” Very well said @kamounlab.bsky.social!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
“Shared wonder”, the gorilla and the butterfly, is, simply, beautiful 🩷
In Nature’s The month’s best science images 👉
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
In Nature’s The month’s best science images 👉
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
December 3, 2025 at 10:00 PM
“Shared wonder”, the gorilla and the butterfly, is, simply, beautiful 🩷
In Nature’s The month’s best science images 👉
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
In Nature’s The month’s best science images 👉
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
So looking forward to it!! 🤩
📋 Join us on Friday 5th for a fascinating seminar with the researcher Detlef Weigel (Max Planck Tübingen, Germany)
Don't miss it!
🕓 9:30 AM
📍 IHSM La Mayora Auditorium
More information here! ⬇️
Don't miss it!
🕓 9:30 AM
📍 IHSM La Mayora Auditorium
More information here! ⬇️
December 3, 2025 at 7:19 PM
So looking forward to it!! 🤩
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Defender or accomplice? Dual roles of plant #vesicle #trafficking in restricting and enabling #geminiviral systemic infection
📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Cana-Quijada et al.
@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience
📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Cana-Quijada et al.
@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience
December 1, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Defender or accomplice? Dual roles of plant #vesicle #trafficking in restricting and enabling #geminiviral systemic infection
📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Cana-Quijada et al.
@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience
📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Cana-Quijada et al.
@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience
So glad I got to be a part of this! It was a beautiful meeting. Thank you to the organizers @ewjwallace.bsky.social, Matthew Brook, for inviting me. I truly appreciated and enjoyed it.
www.biochemistry.org/about-us/new...
www.biochemistry.org/about-us/new...
Celebrating 30 Years of Translation UK
The Biochemical Society celebrate the 30th ‘birthday’ of their Translation UK conference, honouring a legacy by bringing together researchers at all levels and providing networking and collaboration o...
www.biochemistry.org
November 30, 2025 at 10:59 AM
So glad I got to be a part of this! It was a beautiful meeting. Thank you to the organizers @ewjwallace.bsky.social, Matthew Brook, for inviting me. I truly appreciated and enjoyed it.
www.biochemistry.org/about-us/new...
www.biochemistry.org/about-us/new...
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
November 29, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Join us in Málaga!
🎉 The PGRP2026 website is live & registration is OPEN!
👉 malaga-en.congresoseci.com/pgrp2026/index
Check out our amazing lineup of speakers
Don’t miss out: we´ll also select speakers from submitted abstracts ❗️
Hurry up! we have limited seats!
Join us in Málaga, Oct 5–7, 2026 🌞
👉 malaga-en.congresoseci.com/pgrp2026/index
Check out our amazing lineup of speakers
Don’t miss out: we´ll also select speakers from submitted abstracts ❗️
Hurry up! we have limited seats!
Join us in Málaga, Oct 5–7, 2026 🌞
November 27, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Join us in Málaga!
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
🏆 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐏𝐉 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭! 🏆
Read our EiC
@katherinedenby.bsky.social
´s editorial about the prizes and 2024 winners 👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70567
Discover the winners of the six award categories in the thread below 🧵
🌟Congratulations to all authors! 🎉
Read our EiC
@katherinedenby.bsky.social
´s editorial about the prizes and 2024 winners 👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70567
Discover the winners of the six award categories in the thread below 🧵
🌟Congratulations to all authors! 🎉
Editorial for TPJ paper prizes 2024
Click on the article title to read more.
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
🏆 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐏𝐉 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭! 🏆
Read our EiC
@katherinedenby.bsky.social
´s editorial about the prizes and 2024 winners 👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70567
Discover the winners of the six award categories in the thread below 🧵
🌟Congratulations to all authors! 🎉
Read our EiC
@katherinedenby.bsky.social
´s editorial about the prizes and 2024 winners 👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70567
Discover the winners of the six award categories in the thread below 🧵
🌟Congratulations to all authors! 🎉
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Looking for 2 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬!
🌿 Join TPJ! You´ll:
🧬 Select standout TPJ papers
📰 Write short commentaries
🎨 Choose cover images
💬 Work with authors & SEB team
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/rheditor
📩 Rosie Trice 𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞@𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦
🗓️24Nov2025
🌿 Join TPJ! You´ll:
🧬 Select standout TPJ papers
📰 Write short commentaries
🎨 Choose cover images
💬 Work with authors & SEB team
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/rheditor
📩 Rosie Trice 𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞@𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦
🗓️24Nov2025
October 28, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Looking for 2 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬!
🌿 Join TPJ! You´ll:
🧬 Select standout TPJ papers
📰 Write short commentaries
🎨 Choose cover images
💬 Work with authors & SEB team
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/rheditor
📩 Rosie Trice 𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞@𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦
🗓️24Nov2025
🌿 Join TPJ! You´ll:
🧬 Select standout TPJ papers
📰 Write short commentaries
🎨 Choose cover images
💬 Work with authors & SEB team
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/rheditor
📩 Rosie Trice 𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞@𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦
🗓️24Nov2025
Join us in beautiful Málaga 😊
𝐏𝐆𝐑𝐏𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨! 🎉
Kudos to the artist: @laura-ah.bsky.social
Website and registration info coming VERY soon — how exciting! 🤩
Kudos to the artist: @laura-ah.bsky.social
Website and registration info coming VERY soon — how exciting! 🤩
November 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Join us in beautiful Málaga 😊
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Libro precioso
November 2, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Libro precioso
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
📢 Abstract submission is now OPEN!
Join us for the 77th International Symposium on Crop Protection (ISCP 2026) 🪴
🗓️ 19 May 2026 | Ghent University, Belgium
🔗 Details here: www.ugent.be/bw/plants-an...
#ISCP2026 #GhentUniversity #CropProtection #PlantHealth #SustainableAgriculture #Research
Join us for the 77th International Symposium on Crop Protection (ISCP 2026) 🪴
🗓️ 19 May 2026 | Ghent University, Belgium
🔗 Details here: www.ugent.be/bw/plants-an...
#ISCP2026 #GhentUniversity #CropProtection #PlantHealth #SustainableAgriculture #Research
International Symposium on Crop Protection
The 76th International Symposium on Crop Protection will take place on Tuesday 20 May 2025. The official language of the Symposium is English.
www.ugent.be
November 1, 2025 at 12:42 PM
📢 Abstract submission is now OPEN!
Join us for the 77th International Symposium on Crop Protection (ISCP 2026) 🪴
🗓️ 19 May 2026 | Ghent University, Belgium
🔗 Details here: www.ugent.be/bw/plants-an...
#ISCP2026 #GhentUniversity #CropProtection #PlantHealth #SustainableAgriculture #Research
Join us for the 77th International Symposium on Crop Protection (ISCP 2026) 🪴
🗓️ 19 May 2026 | Ghent University, Belgium
🔗 Details here: www.ugent.be/bw/plants-an...
#ISCP2026 #GhentUniversity #CropProtection #PlantHealth #SustainableAgriculture #Research
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
🌱 "Go barefoot in the sun. Sit close to trees. Listen to the wind. And remember who you actually are. This was your ancestor's therapy." —Nicole Le Pera
October 28, 2025 at 11:00 PM
🌱 "Go barefoot in the sun. Sit close to trees. Listen to the wind. And remember who you actually are. This was your ancestor's therapy." —Nicole Le Pera
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Rosa Lozano-Durán (@geminiteamlab.bsky.social), one of the newly elected EMBO members 2025, has introduced her research at the @embo.org Members' Meeting in Heidelberg.
We are so proud of you!
#plantsci
We are so proud of you!
#plantsci
October 24, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Rosa Lozano-Durán (@geminiteamlab.bsky.social), one of the newly elected EMBO members 2025, has introduced her research at the @embo.org Members' Meeting in Heidelberg.
We are so proud of you!
#plantsci
We are so proud of you!
#plantsci
😲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧!
Female Japanese Dinidorid stinkbugs have a surprise: a newly discovered symbiotic organ. Inside, they grow fungi that they rub onto their eggs, forming a protective blanket that shields the clutch from parasitic wasps
🪲🐝
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Female Japanese Dinidorid stinkbugs have a surprise: a newly discovered symbiotic organ. Inside, they grow fungi that they rub onto their eggs, forming a protective blanket that shields the clutch from parasitic wasps
🪲🐝
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Dinidorid stinkbugs were reported to possess a conspicuous tympanal organ on female hindlegs. In this study, we show that this organ is specialized to retain microbial symbionts rather than to perceiv...
www.science.org
October 23, 2025 at 8:30 AM
😲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧!
Female Japanese Dinidorid stinkbugs have a surprise: a newly discovered symbiotic organ. Inside, they grow fungi that they rub onto their eggs, forming a protective blanket that shields the clutch from parasitic wasps
🪲🐝
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Female Japanese Dinidorid stinkbugs have a surprise: a newly discovered symbiotic organ. Inside, they grow fungi that they rub onto their eggs, forming a protective blanket that shields the clutch from parasitic wasps
🪲🐝
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
🚨 SPECIAL ISSUE - CLOSING SOON 🚨
🌿 Plant Proteostasis 🌿
📝 Edited by Pablo Manavella & Catharina Merchante
📅 Deadline: 30 November 2025
📄 Manuscripts welcomed, please contact us 👉 bit.ly/JXBissues
#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪
@sebiology.bsky.social @kmerchante.bsky.social
🌿 Plant Proteostasis 🌿
📝 Edited by Pablo Manavella & Catharina Merchante
📅 Deadline: 30 November 2025
📄 Manuscripts welcomed, please contact us 👉 bit.ly/JXBissues
#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪
@sebiology.bsky.social @kmerchante.bsky.social
** UPCOMING SPECIAL ISSUE **
Plant Proteostasis
Editors: Pablo Manavella & Catharina Merchante
Deadline: 30th Nov '25
Manuscripts of any format welcomed, please contact the office (bit.ly/JXBissues)
#JXBspecialissues 🌱 🌿 🧪 #plantscience
@kmerchante.bsky.social @sebiology.bsky.social
(1/2)
Plant Proteostasis
Editors: Pablo Manavella & Catharina Merchante
Deadline: 30th Nov '25
Manuscripts of any format welcomed, please contact the office (bit.ly/JXBissues)
#JXBspecialissues 🌱 🌿 🧪 #plantscience
@kmerchante.bsky.social @sebiology.bsky.social
(1/2)
October 20, 2025 at 10:52 AM
🚨 SPECIAL ISSUE - CLOSING SOON 🚨
🌿 Plant Proteostasis 🌿
📝 Edited by Pablo Manavella & Catharina Merchante
📅 Deadline: 30 November 2025
📄 Manuscripts welcomed, please contact us 👉 bit.ly/JXBissues
#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪
@sebiology.bsky.social @kmerchante.bsky.social
🌿 Plant Proteostasis 🌿
📝 Edited by Pablo Manavella & Catharina Merchante
📅 Deadline: 30 November 2025
📄 Manuscripts welcomed, please contact us 👉 bit.ly/JXBissues
#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪
@sebiology.bsky.social @kmerchante.bsky.social
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
People are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is.
Doing so typically makes them unhappy.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Doing so typically makes them unhappy.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 13, 2025 at 2:33 AM
People are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is.
Doing so typically makes them unhappy.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Doing so typically makes them unhappy.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Splicing was discovered in adenoviruses, but was thought to be only anecdotal in plant viruses... We may need to revisit plant viral transcriptomes and proteomes!
How do geminiviruses maximize their limited coding capacity? Our recent preprint uncovers splicing of viral transcripts as one more strategy used by this viral family. We show that RNA splicing is prevalent in the geminivirus TYLCV — and required for infectivity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pervasive splicing in a plant DNA virus
Viruses maximize their limited coding space through strategies that increase transcript and protein diversity. In mammalian viruses, splicing is a well-established mechanism for proteome expansion, ye...
www.biorxiv.org
October 3, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Splicing was discovered in adenoviruses, but was thought to be only anecdotal in plant viruses... We may need to revisit plant viral transcriptomes and proteomes!
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
How do geminiviruses maximize their limited coding capacity? Our recent preprint uncovers splicing of viral transcripts as one more strategy used by this viral family. We show that RNA splicing is prevalent in the geminivirus TYLCV — and required for infectivity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pervasive splicing in a plant DNA virus
Viruses maximize their limited coding space through strategies that increase transcript and protein diversity. In mammalian viruses, splicing is a well-established mechanism for proteome expansion, ye...
www.biorxiv.org
October 3, 2025 at 1:13 PM
How do geminiviruses maximize their limited coding capacity? Our recent preprint uncovers splicing of viral transcripts as one more strategy used by this viral family. We show that RNA splicing is prevalent in the geminivirus TYLCV — and required for infectivity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I had the incredible luck of attending the seminar that Jane Goodall gave in Malaga this spring.
She truly knew how to communicate science and how to engage people. Her passion was contagious.
RIP.
🩷🐒
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science www.nature.com/articles/d41...
She truly knew how to communicate science and how to engage people. Her passion was contagious.
RIP.
🩷🐒
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science
The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.
www.nature.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I had the incredible luck of attending the seminar that Jane Goodall gave in Malaga this spring.
She truly knew how to communicate science and how to engage people. Her passion was contagious.
RIP.
🩷🐒
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science www.nature.com/articles/d41...
She truly knew how to communicate science and how to engage people. Her passion was contagious.
RIP.
🩷🐒
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Con profunda tristeza, lamentamos compartir que nuestra querida fundadora, la Dra. Jane Goodall, ha fallecido por causas naturales hoy, a los 91 años de edad, en California, donde se encontraba en gira por los Estados Unidos.
October 1, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Con profunda tristeza, lamentamos compartir que nuestra querida fundadora, la Dra. Jane Goodall, ha fallecido por causas naturales hoy, a los 91 años de edad, en California, donde se encontraba en gira por los Estados Unidos.
Reposted by Catharina Merchante / Karen
Hoy ha sido el #DíaMundialDeLaTraducción, así que debemos felicitar a quien mejor lo está haciendo... desde hace unos 3.800 millones de años: el #ribosoma.
September 30, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Hoy ha sido el #DíaMundialDeLaTraducción, así que debemos felicitar a quien mejor lo está haciendo... desde hace unos 3.800 millones de años: el #ribosoma.