Keith Duncan

I'm sitting in front of my imaging workstation with the X-ray microscope scan of a young soybean flower on the screen, the same data that was used to generate the high resolution image that my wonderful tattoo artist Adriana used to tattoo this same image onto my arm. I'm posing in front of the screen, showing the tattoo in a similar orientation to the image on the workstation.

Final phase of #TattooYourResearch, working with the original XRM scan data of the young soybean flower used by the brilliant and talented Adriana from Self Inflicted Studios (St. Louis).

2D image from an X-ray microscope scan through the top segment of an Arabidopsis carpel, focusing on the stigmatic surface and the young ovules, with some pollen tubes in evidence.

Beautiful work, @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social! I'm trying the same thing with XRM.

image of a maize inflorescence meristem that is labeled by the plasma membrane marker PIP2-CFP and BAM1D-YFP.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/JAIVZX...

Excited to share my latest work in @newphyt.bsky.social. Here, we used TurboID proximity labeling with CLAVATA receptors FEA3 and BAM1D in maize meristems to better understand the signaling pathways important for meristem regulation. #PlantScience

Newly completed tattoo of a soybean flower, on my right bicep. The image is a 3D volume rendering from an X-ray microscope scan of a developing soybean flower just prior to pollination, where the pollen-filled anthers are visible arranged around the central ovary, containing three ovules that will develop into soybeans after pollination.

I've done dozens of XRM scans of developing soybean flowers, samples about the size of a small rice grain. Ideal for testing XRM sample prep methods, it has become the 3D-equivalent of my catchphrase. Brilliant artistry by Adriana Maria at Self-Inflicted Studios here in St. Louis.

St. Louis Magazine Reporter & 314 Podcast Host Sarah Fenske stands alongside Danforth Center President Giles Oldroyd, PhD. A quote attributed to Oldroyd is overlaid on the image. It reads: "I'm really optimistic. I think that for plant science, our time is now. The opportunities are right now. There is a transformation coming in the way the we approach food production, and I believe the Danforth Center can be the world leader in that place, and St. Louis can be the destination."

Our President, @gilesoldroyd.bsky.social is stepping up to the mic with @sarahfenske.bsky.social, where he shares what drew him to move to #STL and join the Danforth Center—and why he believes this region is uniquely positioned to make a global impact.

🎧 Tune in: www.stlmag.com/podcasts/314...

2D image from a 3D volume rendering of a young, developing soybean flower, generated from an X-ray microscope scan of this sample. Pollen-filler anthers are prominent, arrayed around the young ovary with three ovules that, when pollinated, will develop into soybeans. Pseudocolor is a range of grayscale.

New ink lands this arvo.
#TattooYourResearch
#TattooYourScience

Getu Beyene Duguma | Principal Investigator | Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Getu Beyene Duguma, PhD, is a Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Learn more about Getu's research.

Meet Getu Beyene Duguma, PhD, Member and Principal Investigator at the Danforth Center. Getu’s research is making a positive impact on some of the same food security crops he grew up farming in Ethiopia.

https://www.danforthcenter.org/our-work/principal-investigators/getu-beyene-duguma/

New light sheet microscope it the lab next to the very first one commercialy available (11 years difference). Perfect systems for advanced crop and microbe live co-imaging, significantly improved with our custom-made illumination and perfusion devices. 😍

A Conversation with Nezka Pfeifer | The Olfactory Contractor A conversation with curator Nezka Pfeifer on scent in museums and the challenges and rewards of olfactory storytelling.

How does scent change the way we curate museum exhibitions? #SmellingTheBouquet

In a recent episode of the Internet of Senses Institute Podcast, Sofia Ehrich spoke with @mobotmuseum.bsky.social curator Nezka Pfeifer @mobotgarden.bsky.social.

Read and listen olfactorycontractor.com/conversation...

Really beautiful!
Hernández-Damián & al. in press| Simojoflorum mijangosii gen. et sp. nov. preserved in the #Mexican #amber unravels the polycarpellate condition in the tribe Mimoseae (Caesalpinioideae, #Fabaceae) | Historical biology: doi.org/10.1080/0891...
#palaeobotany #Mexico #flower #botany

View of the Gateway Arch from inside the Old Court House in Saint Louis,. The Arch is framed by the Court House window frame.

Random bewilderment. My cousin and her two grown children were visiting over the weekend from Australia. They informed me that as of 1 Jan 2026, non-US residents must pay an extra $100 EACH for entry into a US National Park. Happily the Arch doesn't have an entry fee.

Gratuitous X-ray microscopy imaging, a "bouquet" of developing soybean flowers.
@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social
@danforthcenter.bsky.social

How simple would it be for such powerful resources to decisively solve basic challenges like Recycling and Food Waste.

2025 took us around the world 🌍
From Zurich to Beijing, London, Paris, Montreal, all over the Americas, we explored scientific datasets in VR with the researchers who created them -- and pushed #syGlass to new limits for 3D analysis.
On to 2026. 🔬✨
#3DThursday #Microscopy #ScientificImaging

Meet our CSTM Member of the Month! @allyangermeier.bsky.social is a microscopy expert who focuses on vitrifying cyanobacteria to optimize cryo-EM workflows and uses hybridization chain reaction to study the spatiotemporal localization of phasiRNAs in plants.

Cover from Dream Theater's 1992 album "Images And Words."

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
A tangentially-festive sample this week: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonising the root cells of Ivy 🌿🎄☃️
#mycosky #festive #fungi

Teff is an “orphan crop” that 80M people in Ethiopia depend on daily.
Dr. Getu Duguma’s team is developing short-stature, lodging-resistant teff to boost yields and support smallholder farmers.

More: campaign.danforthcenter.org/feed-people/
#FutureForwardFriday #FeedPeople #OrphanCrops

Achieving Micrometer-Scale 4D X-ray tomography of Living Leaf Tissue in the Laboratory https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.21.689754v1

We're using XRM to visualize and measure how heat impacts pollination to learn how some soybean flowers tolerate heat stress. This is 3D volume rendering of a single intact soybean flower with an overlay of the stigmatic structure. The pollen-filled anthers are ~200um in diameter.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Raymond Wightman, Microscopy Core Facility Manager at The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, will be presenting at our event.

Dr. Wightman will be sharing "FLIM-confocal-Raman imaging in all things plant" - a session you won't want to miss!

Screen shots from three different X-ray tomography instruments, where scans are underway and the progress bars are showing the current status.

I love my career in X-ray tomography imaging, but so much of my life is watching green progress bars...

eBERlight 101: Application of X-ray methods in biological and environmental research workshop (2026) Wed 11 Feb - Fri 13 [EST]: The eBERlight group at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a synchrotron facility at Argonne National Laboratory (Lemont, IL, USA), is hosting the 2nd eBERlight 101…

📅New #PlantSciEvents Event Added: eBERlight 101: Application of X-ray Methods in Biological and Environmental Research Workshop

👉https://buff.ly/duLFwhs

#PlantScience

Selfie with my cobalt blue Yamaha FJR1300 sport touring motorcycle in the background.

Love my 2012 FJR1300.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer."

Album cover photo from U2's "October," released in 1981, featuring the song of the same title.

My yearly tradition...

3D volume rendering from an X-ray microscope scan of a single Arabidopsis flower, digitally cut away to show the individual pollen grains computationally segmented and displayed in bright pink, contained in anthers arranged around the central stigmatic carpel.

@nickdesnoyer.bsky.social I've enjoyed following your development of these flowers, wonderful. Any random aesthetic interest in pairing with some XRM imaging?

Revisiting the Source of Wilt Symptoms: X-Ray Microcomputed Tomography Provides Direct Evidence That Ralstonia Biomass Clogs Xylem Vessels | PhytoFrontiers™ Ralstonia causes wilt diseases by colonizing xylem vessels and disrupting water transport. The dogma is that bacterial biomass clogs vessels and reduces the flow of xylem sap due to Ralstonia abundanc...

When I had the opportunity to perform X-ray microCT on infected tomato plants, I was excited to directly test the dogma in my field -- Does Ralstonia actually cause wilt symptoms by clogging the xylem?

apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/full/10....

(Yes)

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation

🌿 Amazing opportunity for scientists from any field to move into plant biology! I might host a fellow in the area of root-microbe or root-environment interactions (DM me). 👉 simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-plant-biology

#PlantScience #ClimateChange #HarnessingPlants

As promised, here's a 3D volume rendering from an XRM scan of a single Arabidopsis flower, showing the anemone-like stigmatic structures on top of the carpel and array of ovules within. The carpel is ~300um in diameter.
@danforthcenter.bsky.social
@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social