Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · 7d

In this new paper from the Ying Wang lab in PBJ, a VIGS system for sugar beet was optimized using a BSCTV vector.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excited to welcome first author Zhangyao Nie later this month to our lab on a CSC preference scholarship 🎓!

1

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Molecular Biotechnology – UGent @mobi-ugent.bsky.social · 7d

🎉 Great news from MoBi!
Gerard Serrat Mayayo will start as an FWO SB doctoral fellow in Prof. @laurenspauwels.bsky.social EDIT group, and Dylan Cool obtained a Baekeland mandate with Prof. Tina Kyndt (EPIC), Prof. Kris Audenaert & BASF
Congrats — we look forward to 4 exciting years! 👏

1 1

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · 9d

First 🌽 maize plants for the #MeioCOntrol @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social project are now in soil at the @fbwugent.bsky.social greenhouses in Merelbeke 🌱 Together with ILVO and @kuleuvenplantinst.bsky.social , the EDIT group @mobi-ugent.bsky.social will use these to study meiotic recombination in crops

1 3

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Aug 8

Had a great week sharing our experiences on plant transformation & gene editing at the 1st
@aabiologists.bsky.social PlantEd Training School, HHU Düsseldorf. Expertly organised by Goetz Hensel, with great lectures from @sadiyehayta.bsky.social, @marksmedley1.bsky.social & Katrijn Van Laere

3 6

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Association of Applied Biologists @aabiologists.bsky.social · Aug 5

Our 1st PlantEd Training School is underway now in Düsseldorf!

🌱🧬 With early career scientists attending from all over the world to train up on targeted plant mutagenesis, we're happy to see them out enjoying the sights yesterday evening after a packed first day!

#plantscience #earlycareer

PlantEd trainees posing across the river from the Rhine Tower in Düsseldorf

PlantEd trainees on the steps in front of the mirrored pebble building in Düsseldorf

2 3

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Plant Systems Biology @psb-vib.bsky.social · Jul 3

PAPER from @bertderybel.bsky.social, @moritznowack.bsky.social and @laurenspauwels.bsky.social in @theplantcell.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...

KIL transcription factors facilitate embryo growth in maize by promoting endosperm elimination via lytic cell death

The transcription factors KIL1 and KIL2 promote lytic cell death, thereby facilitating embryo growth and determining the embryo-endosperm size ratio in mai

academic.oup.com

1 4

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Jun 30

🚨 Vacancy PhD student 🚨

Passionate about #CRISPR, plant biotechnology, & breeding?

Join our project on meiotic recombination in #maize 🌽

A collaboration of our lab @fbwugent.bsky.social, ILVO & @kuleuvenplantinst.bsky.social

🔗https://www.ugent.be/en/work/scientific/doctoral-fellow-41

6 5

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Jun 23

🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨

We used single-cell RNA-seq + GRN analysis to uncover novel morphogenic genes that boost #maize transformation frequency 🌽

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thanks to @vandepoelelab.bsky.social @bertderybel.bsky.social and all other co-authors!

#PlantScience

12 29

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Moritz K. Nowack @moritznowack.bsky.social · Jun 23

Our latest on cell death and our second on maize: Using single-nucleus RNAseq of maize endosperm, Nicolas Doll (now @rdplab.bsky.social‬) shows that KIL transcription factors promote endosperm cell death to facilitate embryo growth - with a genomic imprinting twist! academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...

Confocal image showing a nucleus of a maize endosperm cell expressing proNAC130:NL-mCherry counterstained with DAPI.

2 13 31

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Jun 15

Science & sunshine 🔬☀️ We traded pipettes for drinks last Friday with a visit to GAZON (instagram.com/gazon.gent), Ghent's most popular summer bar and just next door to our campus! 🍻

2

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Jun 3

The full Agrobacterium 2025 programme is now live!
📅 Early bird registration ends June 13 — don’t miss out!
🚶‍♀️ Join the Tall Tales of Leuven city walk (Sept 14) — included in the fee, but registration required.
🔗 tinyurl.com/4rdw84fa
#Agrobacterium2025 #PlantScience

1

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · May 10

🚨 #Agrobacterium2025: Abstract deadline this Monday! 🚨

Our final invited speaker: Christoph Dehio @biozentrum.unibas.ch @unibas.ch
— diving into β-glucan synthesis 🔬
👉 Check out this recent paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📢 Submit your abstract now: www.biw.kuleuven.be/biosyst/crop...

1

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Molecular Biotechnology – UGent @mobi-ugent.bsky.social · May 1

Last week, Mobi explored how to use AI to transform our research and education 🤖. Great hands-on sessions by Evelyne De Caluwé and AnneMarie Leuridan that went far beyond ChatGPT 🚀✨ #PromptEngineering #VibeCoding #AITrends

1 2

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Apr 23

Big news for #Agrobacterium2025 in Leuven, Belgium.
Thanks to our amazing #sponsors, we’re able to offer travel awards for grad students + poster prizes! 🏆✈️
📢 New abstract deadline: May 10
👉 www.kuleuven.be/agrobacterium2025
#SciComm #PhDLife #Microbiology #PlantScience

1 2 2

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Apr 16

Our next invited speaker for #Agrobacterium2025 is Erh-Min Lai from Academia Sinica.

Breakthrough report published this week by
Chih-Horng Kuo, Erh-Min Lai and Chih-Hang Wu
doi.org/10.1111/pbi....

15-16/9 in Leuven, Belgium. Abstract deadline: May 1! kuleuven.be/agrobacteriu...

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Mar 31

Happy to announce that our next invited speaker for #Agrobacterium2025 is Alexandra Weisberg from @osubpp.bsky.social!

Seminal paper by @weisbergaj.bsky.social here: www.science.org/doi/full/10....

15-16/9 in Leuven, Belgium. Abstract deadline: May 1!
www.kuleuven.be/agrobacterium2025

1 5

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Mar 26

Excited to announce Prof. Patrick Shih @innovativegenomics.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social as an invited speaker for #Agrobacterium2025 on 15-16/9 in Leuven, Belgium

Recent publication Shih lab: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Abstract deadline: May 1!
www.kuleuven.be/agrobacterium2025

1 2

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Mar 23

Just arrived in Songdo, Korea! Excited to be teaching 🌱Plant Biotechnology at Ghent University Global Campus for the next few weeks. 🎓 #GUGC @mobi-ugent.bsky.social @fbwugent.bsky.social #plantscience

1 8

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Mar 3

#Agrobacterium 2025. The 45th American Crown Gall meeting and the 5th European Agrobacterium conference: registration and abstract submission is now open! #deadline May 1, 2025. Thanks to our sponsors we will select some students for travel grants.

www.kuleuven.be/agrobacterium2025

2 3

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Feb 15

Again a superb example of the power of #CRISPR gene editing in crops by Xiao-Ya Chen and Caixia Gao labs! Engineering of Coenzyme Q10 production is rice and wheat using advanced prime editing and GRAND systems to make quintuple amino acid substitutions. #plantresearch www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

2

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Molecular Biotechnology – UGent @mobi-ugent.bsky.social · Feb 14

March IPBO Online Café Series! ☕🌱 @laurenspauwels.bsky.social from @fbwugent.bsky.social and Prof. Runo, Kenyatta University will discuss Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and gene editing to manage witchweed in crops.

📅 Friday, March 7th, 2025
⏰ 3:30 PM (EAT)
🖱️ Register: lnkd.in/gEMSBa3f

1 2

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Feb 3

Vacancy @AgroBioTech in Gembloux! Full-time academic position in #plantgenetics to study plant genetic resources for supporting the agroecological transition #vacancy #plantresearch www.gembloux.uliege.be/upload/docs/...

1

Reposted by Laurens Pauwels

Sebastian Soyk @sebastiansoyk.bsky.social · Jan 4

Very happy to see our work on deleterious mutations in #tomato published in @naturegenet.bsky.social 🧬🌱🍅! We identify deleterious mutations that were enriched during #domestication and apply #CRISPR to repair a mutation in cultivated tomato. #genetics #plantscience

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Repairing a deleterious domestication variant in a floral regulator gene of tomato by base editing - Nature Genetics

A deleterious mutation in the tomato transcription factor SSP2 was enriched during domestication. Repairing the deleterious mutation in cultivated tomato by base editing leads to compact growth and ea...

www.nature.com

7 52 120

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Dec 26

Save the date! #AGROBACTERIUM2025 Joint event of the 45st American Crown Gall meeting and the 5th European #Agrobacterium conference SEPTEMBER 15-16 2025, LEUVEN, BELGIUM More info soon!

1 1

Laurens Pauwels @laurenspauwels.bsky.social · Dec 25

🎉 New @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social preprint from the @sebastiansoyk.bsky.social lab and Gwen Swinnen (a former PhD student of mine 😊) on the use of GRF-GIF and RUBY for transformation and #CRISPR in 🍅 Tomato. Great work! 👏✨
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

2