Congratulations Dr. @lbmountain.bsky.social! The past 6 years with you in the lab were a joy! Starting as a rotation student, MSc student and PhD student, moving with us from Heidelberg to Bern, sharing so many memories. You will be missed is the understatement of the year. Thank you for everything!
Congratulations Dr. @lbmountain.bsky.social I could not be prouder of your achievements and the scientist you have grown into.
Your output, your calm demeanour, your focus, your enthusiasm and your community-oriented mindset make you a fantastic scientist, team member, person and role model.
🔬 MSc/PhD/postdoc position available - An exciting and innovative research opportunity! 🌱
Our lab at the Institute of Plant Sciences, Volcani Institute (ARO), is seeking an outstanding MSc, PhD, or Postdoc to join a cutting-edge research project on plant development and environmental responses.
Very proud of our stellar postdoc @charlotte-dlslle.bsky.social to have secured a MSCA postdoc fellowship! Very happy to have you an extra two years in the lab and accompany you on your journey to become a scientific leader and role model!
Participants of the Rigi Workshop 2026
🌄 The #RigiWorkshop 2026 is in full swing - once again bringing together early-career #researchers! 🧪 A big thank you to the organisers @caroreymond.bsky.social, @dudinlab.bsky.social & @michaelraissig.bsky.social 🙏
What a fun meeting! The future of Swiss science is bright ⭐️
Thanks @dudinlab.bsky.social @michaelraissig.bsky.social for the invite!
Wonderful to see old friends @annikaguse.bsky.social @lsaunders.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social and new
Today is the last day of the Rigi Workshop 2026 organised by @dudinlab.bsky.social @michaelraissig.bsky.social and @scnat.ch.Thanks to the participants and the fantastic speakers: Gautam Dey, Edwige Moyroud, Annika Guse, Susana Coelho, Lauren Saunders and Jan deVries. #SwissSocietyofPlantBiology
Four Images: A scientist in a lab looking at a pipetting robot, a greenhouse with lots of pots containing plants, a scientist with drones and other euipment in a field, and a tractor driver with lots of high-tech equipment in the cockpit. The text is: TalentCampus@KWS May 29, 2026 A look behind the scenes: All KWS research and development departments open their doors
The headline and text says: May 29, 2026 in Einbeck, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Seeding the future – breeding combines sciences and talents The image is a wheel showing all the R&D contributions to plant breeding, incl. Molecular Biology Experimental Fields Cell Biology Breeding Phytopathology Chemical Analytics Greenhouse Phenotyping Digitalization
Highlights of the program Information stands Breeders of our main crops explain their work From sowing to harvesting: all the special machines of a breeding station Digital tools for field trialing Root phenotyping: how roots grow in the soil Phenotyping with drones: multispectral from a bird's eye view Phytopathology: insects, fungi, nematodes and other pathogens Chemical Analytics and process analysis Catch crops - concepts for agriculture, soil health, CO2 balance Biological seed treatment Breeding technologies – data and genomics specialists support breeding Genome Editing: new breeding technologies and their application at KWS Regulatory Affairs: paving the way to approval From lab to market: how KWS protects intellectual property Marker lab: examine the DNA The art of engineering for seed production Career opportunities at KWS Hands-on activities The start of a new generation of varieties: crossing plants by hand Tissue culture: placing plant parts on a special diet in vitro Leaf harvest for the marker lab Live view of root growth: navigate a camera through the soil
If you're interested in #PlantScience R&D work at a plant breeding company: @kwsgroup.bsky.social is hosting its annual R&D TalentCampus here in Einbeck on May 29th.
More info here:
www.kws.com/corp/en/care...
10 more days to apply - wonderful place and wonderful people (even though I might be slightly biased...)
Save the date: Plant Development PhD school (i.e. Retzbach 2.0) in Neustadt, Germany.
Sept 23rd-25th, 2026
~€350 all inclusive
Excellent speakers and a relaxed atmosphere for early-career researchers (PhDs & postdocs). Registration opens soon.
For more info, see
raissiglab.org/plantdevosch...
paper is out now in Nature Plants, here is a link: Imputation integrates single-cell and spatial gene expression data to resolve transcriptional networks in barley shoot meristem development. Nat. Plants (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Interested in learning about the latest and greatest research in how plants respond to excess salt, too little or too much water? Come to the GRC in Salt and Water Stress in Switzerland. Lots of opportunities for all career levels. www.grc.org/salt-and-wat.... Please repost!
Look at this remarkable preprint by @lbmountain.bsky.social, presenting a single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the developing Brachypodium distachyon leaf.
What a joy it was to watch Lea progress during the analysis and to continuously find more and more exciting facts about the developing leaf 🌾
Thanks so much for the shoutout Dominique! Indeed, a good day for American democracy and thus democracy worldwide
🙏 Anybody knows from where I can download a raster map with the different ecoregion of Europe?
A wonderful collaboration with our colleagues from Düsseldorf within the @cerealcell.bsky.social consortium. @isaiavardanega.bsky.social @simonrdg.bsky.social Jan Maika.
Thanks to the sequencing facilities at Uni Heidelberg and Uni Bern, and past and present team members for this "tour de force"
7/ Finally—our community tool 🌾
shiny.ips.unibe.ch
The B. distachyon Leaf Gene Expression Viewer allows visualization of any gene across the whole leaf, epidermal, or stomatal subsets.
Interactive UMAPs and ggPlantmap provide an eFP-browser-like experience for grass developmental biology.
6/ As a proof of concept we functionally analyzed two novel marker genes, one that is expressed in dividing leaf cells and another one that is expressed in the developing stomatal lineages.
5/ Gene regulatory network analysis of the stomatal clusters identifies top transcription factors per clusters and could distinguish the targetome of co-expressed yet functionally distinct stomatal transcription factors BdMUTE and BdFAMA
4/ Pseudotime analysis reconstructs the guard cell lineage trajectory, mapping the sequential activation of key transcription factors and identifying novel stage-specific marker genes. Again, RNA-FISH validates sequential activity of the novel markers along developmental stages.
3/ Focusing on the epidermis, we resolved most cell lineages of the grass leaf epidermis including stomatal guard cells and subsidiary cells, hair cells and silica cells. We used known and novel marker genes and multiplexed, RNA-FISH to confirm the in silico clusters in the actual leaf epidermis
2/ Our Brachypodium leaf atlas spans all major tissues. UMAPs resolve epidermal, mesophyll, vascular, and meristematic compartments. Known markers define cluster identities—revealing a coherent developmental continuum across the vegetative leaf.
1/ Preprint alert:
🌾 The developing leaf of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon at single-cell resolution
👉 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
A 70k-cell single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the developing grass leaf—from the shoot meristem to mature leaf tissues. @cerealcell.bsky.social @lbmountain.bsky.social
Check out this advertised professorship in Bern with my colleagues at the Institute of Plant Sciences! Please share widely to reach candidates from across the world and beyond our local academic bubbles. 🫧
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Last but not least, I want to thank Sharon Kessler and @stanfordstomata.bsky.social . Your continuous support throughout my career, your encouragement to keep going even if my career path was far from straightforward, means a lot!
@priyaramakrishna.bsky.social,Sara Simonini,Edwige Moyroud,@anneroulin.bsky.social,Aurélia Emonet,Charlotte Delesalle,@pejullien.bsky.social,@matthiaserb.bsky.social, @rodrigoreislab.com,Rubén Manzenado Delgado,@joopvermeer.bsky.social,Sergio Acebron, @lmueller.bsky.social,Pep Vilarrasa-Blasi
I want to thank Uta Paszkowski @paszkowskilab.bsky.social, whom I met during the Brachy conference in summer, and who boosted my self-esteem tremendously. Having successful mothers in science role models means the world to me.
Thank you to our PhD student Ari (not on Bluesky, why??). Without Ari’s help, this proposal would not have been possible. I am beyond excited to continue our path together and teach and learn new things all at the same time.
🌵 So proud of my fav scientist in the world 🌵
Thrilled to see what will come of this super innovative project dissecting how leaf succulence is built and how it affects CAM photosynthesis!
Congrats @heikelindner.bsky.social and the Kalanchoë team!
🌿🌱 We’re hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor (potentially open rank) at the Institute of Plant Sciences
@unibe.ch in Plant Population Ecology 🌻🌳
Be our colleague and join us in beautiful Bern, Switzerland
Apply by Jan 23 2026 👉 ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jo...
