Thea Kongsted

Bed of Chara hosting a frogspawn in an Oxford pond

An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Great summaries of our paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... in Science: www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... and New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2515... and in the Science museum blog: blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/in-the-begin...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?

Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n

Registration is now open! The 4th edition of the Mendel Early Career Symposium will take place on 21-22 May at the GMI, part of the @viennabiocenter.bsky.social. This two-day event brings together researchers across career stages to discuss the latest research in all areas of plant science.

Come and hear me yap about the #LiverwortHunt, a citizen science project which we (@slcuplants.bsky.social) ran in 2021, and was published last year as a part of the Marchantia polymorpha pangenome paper doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, pollination occurs via a synchronized rhythm of floral sex timing between two hermaphroditic flowering types. A-type plants present female-phase flo...

Did you know there are 2 types of avocado varieties? A-types switch from female to male, B-types male to female, within a single day. This reciprocal sex alternation promotes cross-pollination and has a simple genetic basis. Read more in this recent preprint from the final chapter of my PhD thesis 🥑

Amazing lineup of speakers and free registration — now is the time to sign up if you’re interested in pangenome graphs! There’s also an option to present a poster

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)

The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used

> neal.fun/size-of-life/

Interior of Sainsbury Laboratory building showing experimental laboratories on left with floor-to-ceiling glass facing into the main central avenue with people walking on stairs and sitting at study boxes. Lots of natural light and views to the Cambrdge University Botanic Garden. Overlay text "Join SLCU" and logos and closing date of 15 January 2026.

🌱 2x David Sainsbury Career Development Fellowships at @slcuplants.bsky.social

Unique opportunity for early-career researchers to launch their own independent research programme in quantitative plant development, with generous support & world-class facilities.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/david-s...

Marchantia Workshop 2026 News

International Marchantia Workshop 2026

Nov. 27th – 29th, 2026
Kobe, Japan

sites.google.com/view/marchan...

Postdoc position in Terrestrial Ecology: Terrestrial Nitroplast in Moss-Cyanobacteria Interactions

@stuartmcdaniel.bsky.social @fernway.bsky.social @jcarlosvillarreal.bsky.social @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social ...know anyone who would like to come to #Copenhagen for 2 years to work with us on the evolution of symbioses? employment.ku.dk/all-vacancie...

Grow your career with UBC Botany! The department is recruiting a assistant professor in non-seed plant diversity--researchers conducting innovative work in bryophyte, fern or lycophyte diversity are invited to apply: science.ubc.ca/about/careers @ubcbotany.bsky.social

The life of a plant scientist… In order of magnification: me taking some #Marchantia from my courtyard, the picture I took in that very moment, and the microscopy image of that sample sectioned through a gemma cup. Turquoise: chlorophyll, yellow: WGA-FITC (binds chitin of e.g. fungi)!

Not one, but two microscopy masters from @slcuplants.bsky.social speaking at Flora in Focus: A Microscopy Conference for Plant Scientists - Raymond Wightman and How-Wei Wu!

#NikonMicroscopy #microscope #lightmicroscopy #plantscience #FLIM #confocal #biology

FindAPhD : Prestigious Sainsbury PhD Studentships in plant sciences at Gatsby Charitable Foundation Apply for a PhD: Prestigious Sainsbury PhD Studentships in plant sciences at Gatsby Charitable Foundation

Next year's Sainsbury PhD studentships have now gone live! 📢
Find out the details about each of the eight exciting opportunities:
www.findaphd.com/phds/program...

A century of theories of balancing selection Traits that affect organismal fitness are often highly genetically variable. This genetic variation is vital for populations to adapt to their environments, but it is also surprising given that natur...

Modestly, we decided to review a century's worth of theories of balancing selection :) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

DEEP seeks Associate Professor in Plant Ecology – apply now! - Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences DEEP seeks Associate Professor in Plant Ecology – apply now! - Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences

We’re hiring! 📣

DEEP at @stockholm-uni.bsky.social is looking for a tenured Associate Professor in Plant Ecology. Join a vibrant research & teaching community in the heart of Sweden’s capital.

Learn more and apply below by 16 Nov.👇

This is a remarkable study describing a new fungal species in a 407 million year old plant - Rugososporomyces lavoisierae Strullu-Derrien and Schornack sp. nov - using some amazing technology. Worth a read 👇

Purple pollen visible in a dissected flower of Linum grandiflorum, flowering flax, an insect-pollinated species.

*Postdoc in Evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University*
We are recruiting a postdoc for a large interdisciplinary project to investigate evolutionary drivers and genomic consequences of pollen evolution in response to pollination mode shifts in flowering plants. 1/5

su.varbi.com/what:job/job...

Marchantia berteroana at 3000 meters above the sea level. Vallecitos, Mendoza.

Bryophytes hold a larger gene family space than vascular plants - Nature Genetics A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

Very important paper and resource. Bryophyte genomes expanded by one order of magnitude. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

Out after peer review, collaborative study from Nordborg & Weigel labs with help from many others. Not the largest collection of new Arabidopsis thaliana genomes, but we hopefully put forward some good ideas for how to think about pangenomes and their analysis!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Are you interested in plant evolution? 🦠🌱🫛
Join us @gmivienna.bsky.social for the 4th #EMBO Workshop "Plant evolution: from origins to diversification on land" on November 25-27 2025
Submit your abstract by August 25!
#algae #bryophytes #nonseedplants #plantevodevo

Today @englishse.bsky.social will be at #ESEB2025 discussing the challenges and opportunities for flexible and inclusive working patterns in academia💪🏼Join in the discussion on S11 Room 122+123 @ 2.30pm! @eseb2025.bsky.social

1/ How do animals develop immunity against a newly encountered transposable element from scratch? Our study reveals that the mobility of TEs is their Achilles heel, allowing hosts to develop a powerful small RNA-mediated silencing response.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

HPV vaccination: How the world can eliminate cervical cancer HPV vaccines offer a rare opportunity to effectively eliminate one type of cancer. By taking this opportunity, it’s possible to save hundreds of thousands of women each year.

Some positive stories 👇🏾

“Countries with widespread HPV vaccination and regular cervical cancer screenings are already seeing dramatic reductions in cancer rates. They demonstrate that it’s possible to effectively eliminate the disease”

@scientificdiscovery.dev

ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...

The minimal cell-cycle control system in Marchantia as a framework for understanding plant cell proliferation The regulation of cell division is broadly conserved across eukaryotes, governed by cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) to coordinate progression through the cell cycle. Plants have evolved a ...

After a lot of work, we are finally able to share this project about the cell cycle in Marchantia from the Haseloff lab. If you want to find out how cell division is controlled, you can’t miss out this one… #PlantScience #Synbio #EvoDevo

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

First Ma lab #GMI paper is now online! It‘s a mini-review on insect-induced plant #galls —their coolness and research potential! Plant galls induced by insects: Coordinated developmental reprogramming and defence manipulation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...