Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Greg Copenhaver @copenhaverlab.bsky.social · 2d

The @uncchapelhill.bsky.social Department of Biology is searching for tenure-track Assistant Professor in Plant Molecular Biology. Chapel Hill is a wonderful place and Biology is an amazing group of people. To apply, see:
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

47 30

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Ben R Lee, PhD @benrlee.com · 5d

🚨 Please repost widely!🚨

I am recruiting a PhD student to join my lab next fall to work on forest and climate change ecology projects in southern Appalachia! Come join me in one of the most beautiful, biodiverse, and understudied parts of North America. Details below and happy to answer questions

An ad for a PhD position to start fall 2026 working with me at ETSU. For more info, please email at LeeBR1@etsu.edu.

A close-up picture of dimpled trout lilies active in early spring, still largely surrounded by the previous year's senesced tree leaves.

A beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains from on top of Carver's Gap on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.

2 53 47

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · 6d

Interesting read -10.1093/plphys/kiaf465 "Allelic variants of IRKI contribute to photosynthetic efficiency by regulating rubisco activase in Populus" there is a lot we don't know about regulation of photosynthesis here a receptor like kinase interacting protein has a role @plantphys.bsky.social

1

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Lancaster Plant Biology @lancasterplantbio.bsky.social · 8d

New #PhD opportunities! NorthWestBio projects now online for 2026! Including a #photosynthesis project w/ @marjorielundgren.bsky.social looking at how photosynthetic diversity may affect future crop nutrient quality. Plant projects and the full set of projects available here: tinyurl.com/529yz4jd

FindAPhD : NorthWestBio Fully Funded Doctoral Training Programme Studentship 2026 at University of Glasgow

Apply for a PhD: NorthWestBio Fully Funded Doctoral Training Programme Studentship 2026 at University of Glasgow

tinyurl.com

7 4

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Ben Long @botbml.bsky.social · 12d

We really enjoyed putting together this Darwin Review for JXB. Fun to think about how carboxysomes work and why plants don't have them.

@jxbotany.bsky.social

Function, Evolution, and Future of Carboxysomes url: academic.oup.com/jxb/article-...

The Function, Evolution, and Future of Carboxysomes

Abstract. Since their discovery as rubisco-containing compartments more than 50 years ago, significant breakthroughs have advanced our understanding of car

academic.oup.com

1 10 17

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Xinyou Yin @xinyou-yin.bsky.social · 26d

Just came across this paper "Dual-cycle CO2 fixation enhances growth and lipid synthesis..."
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dual-cycle CO2 fixation enhances growth and lipid synthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana

Carbon fixation through the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle accounts for the majority of carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake from the atmosphere. The CBB cycle generates C3 carbohydrates but is inefficient ...

www.science.org

1 2

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Sep 5

I'm deeply saddened. A tireless champion of plant #synbio and man of integrity. His insistence on focusing on real-world problems, calling out BS and bringing together lab and Ag, industry and academia will be sorely missed

Catalin Voiniciuc @cvoiniciuc.bsky.social · Sep 5

With deep sadness, we announce the passing of Dr. Andrew Hanson, C.V. Griffin Sr. Eminent Scholar in the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida. To participate in a video montage honoring Dr. Hanson, please record & share a memory by Sept 9: ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

1 1

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Sep 4

Calling #mycologists and anyone working on plant fungal interactions, please help spread the word - opportunity to come work with these wonderful people @minyaaa.bsky.social @roseamarks.bsky.social @dallingjim.bsky.social

1 4

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Sep 4

We are hiring! The #PlantBio department at UIUC is looking to recruit an Assistant Professor in Plant-Fungal interactions. Application deadline is October 31st @dallingjim.bsky.social see the link below for more details:
illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Assistant Professor- Department of Plant Biology

Duties & Responsibilities

illinois.csod.com

1 17 10

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Gozde Demirer @prof-gozde.bsky.social · Aug 26

Big news from the Demirer lab: first 4 research papers are preprinted! Check them out, feedback welcomed:

eCIS for plant protein delivery: tinyurl.com/mrx4d878
R2 for targeted insertion: tinyurl.com/5n73za6h
Transient expression: tinyurl.com/38p2ud6w
Chemotaxis assay: tinyurl.com/3nw9haes

More ⬇️

2 9 13

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Lars Østergaard @larsostergaard.bsky.social · Aug 25

👉 my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Join us and be part of shaping the future of #plantscience at Oxford as we move to the new Life and Mind Building lifeandmind.web.ox.ac.uk/home (recognised for its potential to change the World edition.cnn.com/2025/01/01/s...) @biology.ox.ac.uk www.biology.ox.ac.uk

'

my.corehr.com

1 42 42

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · Aug 20

A great example of how comparative genomics across the full range of vascular plant lineages can be used as a catalyst for gene discovery!
Exciting new single cell datasets for gymnosperms, ferns and lycophytes!
The scale of this study is really amazing!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

A unified cell atlas of vascular plants reveals cell-type foundational genes and accelerates gene discovery

A cross-species single-cell atlas highlights a core subset of cell-type foundational genes associated with major vascular plant cell types, enabling the identification of hidden cell types and the dev...

www.cell.com

33 77

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Aug 21

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

Assembly-dependent translational feedback regulation of photosynthetic proteins in land plants - Nature Plants

Algae fine-tune protein synthesis to assembly demands of photosynthetic complexes. In land plants, this feedback control is conserved in Rubisco and partly in photosystem II, but varies or is absent i...

www.nature.com

2

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching @plantteaching.bsky.social · Aug 18

#PlantScience

10 16

Reposted by Steven Burgess

闵娅(Min Ya; Minya) PhD @minyaaa.bsky.social · Aug 7

I’m proud to present the main work from my postdoc, 3+ years in making from scratch, my ultimate #MimulusPropaganda up till now:

The Moment
That
Symmetry
Breaks.

#plantscience #development #imaging #microscopy 🧪🌸🔬
w. Captain Yaowu & @biancatash.bsky.social

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

14 59 210

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Liana Lareau @lianafaye.bsky.social · Aug 7

This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice

Evolution has shaped the genetic code, with subtle pressures leading to preferences for some synonymous codons over others. Codons are translated at different speeds by the ribosome, imposing constrai...

www.biorxiv.org

6 83 210

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Conor McClune @cmcclune.bsky.social · Aug 7

A truly enabling new approach by @taralowensohn.bsky.social Will Cody and @sattelylab.bsky.social to probe plant genetics at scale.

Single-gene-per-cell delivery coupled to an effective transcriptional selection system

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

1 13 20

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Elisabeth Bik - Perpetrator 5, a fraudulent microbiologist @elisabethbik.bsky.social · Aug 4

Fantastic new paper by @reeserichardson.bsky.social et al.

An enormous amount of work showing the extent of coordinated scientific fraud and involvement of some editors.
The number of fraudulent publications grows at a rate far outpacing that of legitimate science.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

6 59 130

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Johnathan Napier @johnathan-n.bsky.social · Jul 31

Great to see our collaborative study with Ed Cahoon and colleagues on the front cover of PBJ, describing our successful efforts to engineer the accumulation of astaxanthin in GM camelina seeds. Astaxanthin is a ketocarotenoid that is a powerful antioxidant & used in aquaculture feeds as a pigment.

2 3

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching @plantteaching.bsky.social · Jul 30

Lots of talk about teaching yesterday at #PlantBio2025.
A few resources that might be useful.
1) From LUCA to Lily: 12 perspectives for teaching about plants
blog.aspb.org/from-luca-to...

From LUCA to Lily: 12 perspectives for teaching about plants | Plant Science Today

The other day I was talking to a friend about the need to demystify plants, so that teachers feel as confident in their teaching of plant biology as they do about animal biology. I wonder if sometimes...

blog.aspb.org

1 8 20

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Jul 29

Or how representative arabidopsis and or other models are...

1 1 1

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Jul 29

I think it is a fair point, unless testing some fundamental theory about how networks work is being tested, always feels unsatisfying... But I suppose you could argue if a key regulator has a conserved function it is possible to engineer without properly understanding the process

1 1 1

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching @plantteaching.bsky.social · Jul 23

This is a great program. We started in in 2016 and it just gets better and better!
Check out some past fellows who are on Bluesky: @philcarella.bsky.social @mattbnt.bsky.social @psaima.bsky.social @fromani.bsky.social @sjb287.bsky.social @aribidopsis.bsky.social @cavycavs.bsky.social

Plantae.org @plantaeofficial.bsky.social · Jul 22

📣 Are you a creative and articulate plant scientist looking to connect with other like-minded folks? Application is now open for the 2025-2026 Plantae Fellows program!🌱

👉 Learn more and apply by August 31! buff.ly/JqoDSHq

#plantscience

1 15 29

Steven Burgess @sjb287.bsky.social · Jul 23

👆This was a great experience, the more you put in the more you get out, chance to get involved with aspb and make connections. Highly recommend for ecrs

1 1

Reposted by Steven Burgess

Maciek Wiatrak @macwiatrak.bsky.social · Jul 21

💥 Excited to introduce Bacformer 🦠 - the first foundation model for bacterial genomics. Bacformer represents genomes as sequences of ordered proteins, learning the “grammar” of how genes are arranged, interact and evolve.

Preprint 📝: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧵 1/n

3 59 91