The UK HE sector will not deliver graduates with the plant skills needed for food production in a changing climate or for wider national priorities (food security, environment, biosecurity, etc.) if this decline continues.
Nottingham Uni's plans to dicontinue Plant Biology, Agriculture, Food Science & Microbiology courses come at a time when only 9 UK institutions offer genuinely plant-focused courses (doi:10.1002/jsf2.70001)
Please read + sign the Open Letter asking the University to reconsider: tinyurl.com/bdeueuuu
Links to petitions for the suspended courses in Biosciences, University of Nottingham:
Plant Biology c.org/d8PQr9Rd9Z
Food Science & Nutrition c.org/Tp7gQBgYwD
Agriculture c.org/CDkdk95LxZ
Microbiology c.org/YXLh57RZyy
Our paper is now online in Science Advances! Congrats @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social and all coauthors!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Very exciting to see this out in the world! @tcheaven.bsky.social did some excellent work and I'm happy to have played a (small) supporting role on this project
We are excited to share our latest preprint from the Hogenhout lab (@matteogravino.bsky.social @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social
, @johninnescentre.bsky.social
) on plant-aphid interactions, showing that the aphid effector Mp10 balances suppression of DAMP responses and activation of ETI via EDS1.
➡️ Overall, the UK HE sector is not delivering graduates with the skill set outlined in numerous reports as required to enable food production in a changing climate. Our research highlights the need for curriculum reviews and greater focus on plant science.
📊 We found a surprising lack of consistency in plant science teaching. The only common curricula we identified was limited to the 18 courses we grouped as Plant Science, which are delivered by just 9 institutions.
🔍 We found a wide diversity in the information made available by university websites on course structures and module content. As a result a prospective student/employer interested in plant science will find it virtually impossible to determine which degree will deliver the skills they need.
⚠️ Skills shortages in crucial areas like soil science and plant pathology are well-documented. Yet, our data shows these topics are often overlooked in general biology courses. #FoodSecurity #PlantBlindness #SkillsGap
🌱 Is UK higher education keeping pace with the critical need for plant scientists? Our new study reveals a concerning gap between national priorities and university curricula.
doi.org/10.1002/jsf2...
#PlantSciEd #plantscience #plantsci #horticulture #botany #HigherEducation
“unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted”.
Sign this statement and make sure that our voices are heard.
www.aitrainingstatement.org
@tom-mathers.bsky.social @samtmugford.bsky.social @fionabugsnbees.bsky.social @caterpillar-coevo.bsky.social
...recognised as the primary vector of 'carrot yellows' by carrot growers in Northern Europe. This research provides valuable insights into the evolution of psyllids and their interactions with phytopathogenic bacteria. Ultimately, this will lead to more effective pest management strategies. 🌱
...psyllids. We identified gene families linked to insecticide resistance, which could explain their ability to survive control measures. 🧬
With the help of collaborators in Scotland, Finland, Norway, and Austria we also discovered genetic subpopulations within Dyspersa apicalis, which is...
This work from the
@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social lab was part of the CALIBER project, evaluating the risk of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum in UK carrots, potatoes and tomatoes (hubs.ly/Q02wxL-30). Our high-quality genome assemblies revealed insights into the genetic makeup of these...
Our preprint is now live! We have sequenced the genomes of three psyllid species. These insects pests transmit devastating plant diseases like 'zebra chip' in potatoes and 'carrot yellows' in carrots. 🥕
#MolecularEntomology #MPMI #PlantPathology #psyllids #liberibacter
If you'd like a condensed version of this story, and also another recent preprint from the @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social lab here's a talk I recently gave at the Tulip graduate school in Toulouse
youtu.be/9EoC6Zd6f_k?...
We're happy to present a pre-print from the Hogenhout lab (@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social), describing how a family of proteases in aphid oral secretions suppress plant immunity.
We’re delighted to share our latest preprint from the Hogenhout lab (@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social) on the molecular mechanisms on plant-aphid interactions. Here we show how the aphid Mp10 effector protein acts as a local anaesthetic to suppress the plant perception of aphid attack
Genome dynamics across the evolutionary transition to endosymbiosis. #GenomeDynamics #Endosymbiosis #CurrentBiology #Genomics #Genomics #BioSky #SciSky 🧪🧬
www.cell.com/current-biol...
🙌
This is terrifying.
