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Arif Ashraf

@aribidopsis.bsky.social

820 followers 580 following 430 posts

Assistant professor of Botany @science.ubc.ca‬. My lab works on cell division and beyond. Lab website: https://www.ashraflab.com/

www.ashraflab.com

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · Aug 13

(1/n) Past 2 years, I had to spend a major portion of time and energy for job applications, interviews, moving to new cities or country, setting up labs, closing lab, recruiting people, training people, and finally, going to many many conferences.

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Carolyn Rasmussen @carolynplants.bsky.social · 1d

Excited to share this preprint on the microtubule severing protein Katanin, and its role in cell elongation and division in maize. First author Stephanie Martinez worked collaboratively with many folks to bring you this preprint. Check it out! 🔬🌽 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

KATANIN promotes cell elongation and division to generate proper cell numbers in maize organs

Microtubule severing is essential for proper eukaryotic cell elongation and division. Here we show that the microtubule severing protein, KATANIN, is encoded by two genes in Zea mays (maize) called Di...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Liz Haswell @ehaswell.bsky.social · 23h

I started to work on MscS-Like proteins 20 years ago, dreaming that they were involved in plant mechanotransduction. And it is becoming more & more clear that they are!
#plantscience 🧪
"DmMSL10 is crucial for mechanosensing, facilitating AP firing by generating a receptor potential (RP) amplitude."

Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 7d

🍀🔬

MSL10 is a high-sensitivity mechanosensor in the tactile sense of the Venus flytrap @natcomms.nature.com from Toyota lab.

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

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Carolyn Rasmussen @carolynplants.bsky.social · 1d

A time projection of the microtubules in the katanin mutant by Stephanie Martinez 🥳

Maize epidermal cells with a live cell marker for microtubules where microtubule color from cyan to red indicate time.

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 2d

🔬🍀

Gorgeous imaging by Takashi Ueda sensei's lab!

Retrieval from vacuolar and endosomal compartments underpinning the neofunctionalization of SNARE in plants @natplants.nature.com

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

Protocol for Super-resolution Confocal Imaging: bio-protocol.org/epdf/3732

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 2d

(3/3) Shimon Sakaguchi published his foundational work in 1995 in the Journal of Immunology, a society's journal with ~3.4 impact factor (current year).

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7636184/

Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 2d

(2/3) The core of Shimon Sakaguchi's experiment was simple, elegant, and driven by a fundamental biology question.

nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 2d

(1/3) Congratulations to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi! 🎉🎉🎉

nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

Two important facts about Shimon Sakaguchi's discovery highlighted in this thread.

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Kirk Amundson @kirkamundson.bsky.social · 3d

UMass Amherst Biology is recruiting a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the area of Plant Physiology. Deadline Nov 1. Please spread the word and apply!

careers.massachusetts.edu/mob/en-us/jo...

Assistant Professor - Plant Physiology

The Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the area of Plant Physiology. The successful can...

careers.massachusetts.edu

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks, Milos. Credit goes to @juliazheku.bsky.social

Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 5d

Lab is expanding to a new horizon of imaging!

I am extremely proud of my grad student @juliazheku.bsky.social Julia to take a lead on our new Vibratome and create this GORGEOUS 3D image of the radial section of wheat root.

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Charles Roussin-Léveillée @charlesrleveillee.bsky.social · 5d

NEW ARTICLE FROM THE LAB 🎉🍀🧫

Groundbreaking work performed by @hueihsuantsai.bsky.social and all!

Please, go have a read! Congrats to making it to the cover!!!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 5d

🍀🔬

Actin filaments drive spindle positioning in Arabidopsis meiosis II @newphyt.bsky.social

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks a lot @planteditors.bsky.social
This is amazing!

Plant Editors @planteditors.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks, added! go.bsky.app/Q9QiX9C

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Wolfgang Busch @rootstrapping.bsky.social · 6d

Membrane trafficking meets root barriers, resilience, and carbon storage 🌱🌍
New discovery: Blocking clathrin-mediated endocytosis in Arabidopsis roots sparks ROS bursts → ectopic suberization. This might unlock ways to increase suberization in roots and C in soils
#PlantScience #RootBiology #Suberin

doi.org

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 6d

Penelope Lindsay on ear development in maize. From last week's #Zeavolution seminar: youtu.be/KEZ8LdkD1to

CLAVATA receptor networks shape maize development

YouTube video by Zeavolution

youtu.be

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Sunil Kenchanmane Raju @kenchanmane.bsky.social · 6d

Can’t believe it’s been a year already! Time really does fly when you’re having fun.
🎉Celebrating the 1st anniversary of our lab @ucriverside.bsky.social
Grateful to my brilliant team for the energy and fun you bring every day and to my mentors for their continued guidance 🙏

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Plant Editors @planteditors.bsky.social · 6d

Interesting new work on #herbivore defenses in #Arabidopsis published in @newphyt.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The mid‐SUN‐POD1 complex ensures the structural integrity of ER bodies required for herbivore defense in Arabidopsis

Specialized endoplasmic reticulum (ER) bodies in Brassicaceae plants facilitate defense against herbivores by storing β-glucosidases that activate toxic compounds upon tissue damage. The mechanisms .....

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Sweta Agrawal @hokuba.bsky.social · 6d

The Agrawal lab is moving! This January we will be setting up shop at #UBC in Vancouver, in the department of #Zoology! We are actively recruiting at all levels, especially masters and PhD students. These position are #funded! Please send anyone interested my way!

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Prof. Keiko Torii @keikoutorii.bsky.social · 6d

🌱Tenure-track Assistant Professor Position OPEN🌱
-Plant Interkingdom/Environment Interactions & Plant Immunity- at The Univ. Texas at Austin, Molecular BioSciences.
Deadline Nov 1st. Please spread the words and APPLY! Contact me if you have any questions.
apply.interfolio.com/175001

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Alejandro Montenegro @aemonten.bsky.social · 7d

A new issue of CSH Protocols is out!

The cover image highlights the work by Wallace et al.,who provide an overview of recent progress in the field of maize microbiome research.

⬇️Links below

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Ivan Radin @radinbio.bsky.social · 7d

In case you missed it, our workshop on Fiji Basics for Visualization and Quantification of Plant Images is now available on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TMJ...
We give a lot of practical tips on how to get started with Fiji.
Keep an eye out for announcements on follow-up workshops.

Imaging Workshop Webinar Series: FIJI Basics for Visualizing and Quantifying Plant Images

YouTube video by Plant Cell Atlas

www.youtube.com

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Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 7d

🍀🔬

MSL10 is a high-sensitivity mechanosensor in the tactile sense of the Venus flytrap @natcomms.nature.com from Toyota lab.

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

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee @naascarabidopsis.bsky.social · 9d

this year's applicants - now limited to 1st YEAR GRAD STUDENTS- “will have just over 6 weeks—& that’s only after earlier this week the agency extended the posted deadlines by about 2 weeks, from late October to early November, with no announcement or explanation.”
www.science.org/content/arti...

‘Completely shattered.’ Changes to NSF’s graduate student fellowship spur outcry

The announcement comes months later than usual, leaving many would-be applicants stranded

www.science.org

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Andrea Sama @amsama.bsky.social · 9d

Really excited to share the pre-print of my first paper! It details the computational method we used to identify uncharacterized metabolites along the developmental gradient of maize roots, I hope you find it interesting! 🌱🌽

bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 13d

Computational method for mapping mass signatures along developmental gradients reveals a novel role for a monosaccharide tetrose in maize salt-stress response. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.22.677919v1

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Reposted by Arif Ashraf

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 10d

11 years of the lab chalkboard (it's even older than that, just have to dig up those photos)

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