Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

More women in leadership positions: This chart shows the development within the Max Planck Society from 2019 to 2025 among directors, independent research group leaders, group leaders, postdocs, and PhD candidates.

We can do it! The positive trend in #womeninscience leadership positions within the Max Planck Society continues. All figures in detail 📈➡️ www.mpg.de/26233321/app... #idw2026

VACANCY - We’re searching for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the newly appointed group of Dr @hassansalem.bsky.social, to explore the developmental biology of host-microbe symbiosis

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

Deadline - 25 March 2026
Salary - £37,500 - £45,350
Contract - 3 years, full-time

Tracing modern breeding introgressions in European potato - Theoretical and Applied Genetics The European potato germplasm originated from a few founding genotypes, and its narrow genetic base has since been broadened through introgressions from wild relatives. We combined pedigree records an...

🥔 We traced the ancestral legacy of modern breeding introgressions in European potato! Combining pedigree records & genome-wide SNPs, we reveal which wild relatives shaped the European gene pool and how.

📄 doi.org/10.1007/s00122-025-05143-z

🚨Job Alert – Please RT!
We’re looking for bright minds to join our community!
We are looking for 12 postdocs and 7 PhD students!
Details on all projects and application: www.ceplas.eu/en/training-...
@leibnizipk.bsky.social @mpipz.bsky.social @hhu.de @fz-juelich.de @unicologne.bsky.social

Call for Applications - Max Planck Postdoc Program, apply now!

The Max Planck #PostdocProgram offers top emerging talents a range of attractive measures and opportunities. The current call for applications is open from March 1st until April 13th, 2026. Please share or consider applying! 🙏
www.mpg.de/en/max-planc... #careerinscience #sciencecareer

Miltos Tsiantis Interview with Miltos Tsiantis, who studies plant development and is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne.

Q&A with Miltos Tsiantis, who studies plant development and is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne. www.cell.com/current-biol...

What a great talk by Kirsten Bomblies and an inspiring discussion on #womeninscience. 🌿Always believe in yourself - you belong here! 🧪🔬Learn more about our fantastic female scientists @mpipz.bsky.social here 👉 www.mpipz.mpg.de/5784211/inte...

The post shows a picture of Meng after successfully passing her viva on a green background with words congratulating her on acquiring the PhD title.

🎓 Congrats to Dr. Meng Zhang on defending her PhD in the lab of @amarques.bsky.social @mpipz.bsky.social! Welcome to the circle of doctors and all the best ahead! 👏
#PhDone #NewDoctor #PlantScience

Poster Barbara McClintock Seminar

We are excited to welcome Kirsten Bomblies as the speaker at our 🌿Annual Barbara McClintock Seminar🧪 and guest at our roundtable discussion @mpipz.bsky.social on “Women in Science,” held in celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. #11Feb #womeninscience

Bean root system, text: "Dig into the latest in root and rhizosphere science: Mini Symposium of the ISRR, January 28th 2026"

Rooting for roots?
#PlantScience

Join us online for the Mini Symposium of the International Society of Root Research @rootscientists.bsky.social

Register here for free:

tinyurl.com/yzeddrjx

Programme👇

Job alert🚨I am advertising a 2-year postdoctoral position to work on the mathematics of plant morphogenesis @mpipz.bsky.social. Candidates with interests in mathematical modelling, mechanics, or biophysics are strongly encouraged to apply. 🌱Reposts are appreciated!

jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/4...

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We are #hiring!
Join Miltos Tsiantis’s lab within the IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social to identify genes driving root sucker formation in crucifer plants — combining evolution & genetics.
📆 Deadline: Jan 5, 2026
✏️ Apply via: gradschool.mpipz.mpg.de
ℹ️ More info: mpipz.mpg.de/imprs

Evolution of repressive sequences within an enhancer contributed to morphological diversity in crucifer plants | PNAS Cis-regulatory sequences, such as enhancers, play a crucial role in morphological evolution, but how their diversification leads to evolution of no...

📣📣Paper alert! Excited to share a new paper @pnas.org from the Tsiantis lab @mpipz.bsky.social and colleagues on how enhancer evolution shapes leaf diversity. 🌱🌿Congratulations! 👏🥳 Read more 👉 bit.ly/4583PdR #plantsci #evolution
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

How do plants fight disease? 🌱 #NASmember Jane Parker studies NLR proteins that help plants sense attackers and launch powerful immune defenses. She shares her latest findings on how these proteins signal plants to resist disease in a new @pnas.org QnAs: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We are #hiring!
In Nadine Töpfer’s group within the IMPRS @unicologne.bsky.social, the PhD candidate will use computational modelling to unravel metabolic interactions between plants and their root microbiota.
📆Deadline: Jan 5, 2025
✏️Apply via: gradschool.mpipz.mpg.de
ℹ️More info: mpipz.mpg.de/imprs

The post shows a picture of Mingming after successfully passing his viva on a green background with words congratulating him on acquiring the PhD title.

Congratulations to Mingming Fang on successfully defending his PhD!
Completed at @mpipz.bsky.social in the lab of Miltos Tsiantis — all the best for what’s next! 🎉👏
#PhDone #NewDoctor #PlantScience

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We are #hiring!
Join Raphael Mercier’s team within the IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social to investigate meiotic recombination, focusing on inversions, selection & genome evolution.
📆 Deadline: Jan 5, 2025
✏️ Apply via: gradschool.mpipz.mpg.de
ℹ️ More info: mpipz.mpg.de/imprs

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We are #hiring!
This IMPRS PhD project @algazuccaro.bsky.social group @unicologne.bsky.social explores plant–microbiome interactions.
🗓️ Deadline: Jan 5, 2025
✏️ Apply via: gradschool.mpipz.mpg.de
ℹ️ IMPRS: mpipz.mpg.de/imprs
🔗 Group: ag-zuccaro.botanik.uni-koeln.de

📣🥳 We are thrilled to share that our director, Raphaël Mercier @raphmercier.bsky.social has been awarded the VinFuture Special Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields 🌱✨. Congratulations 👏👏 #plantsci #genetics 👉https://bit.ly/3MtCGLW
vinfutureprize.org/laureates/pr...

Shining a Spotlight on Polyploid Cells – a tool to uncover spatial patterns of DNA content across tissues Several research teams have collaborated to develop a new computing pipeline that enables high-throughput quantification of ploidy, i.e., the number of copies of chromosomes, in different tissues base...

Press release on our new work about inferring Spatial Ploidy (iSPy), a collaboration with the @roederlab.bsky.social and the Fox Lab, with @nickrussell31.bsky.social being the first author @mpipz.bsky.social @cp-cellrepmethods.bsky.social www.mpipz.mpg.de/5771290/pr-f...

Spatial ploidy inference using quantitative imaging Polyploidy (whole-genome duplication) is a common yet under-surveyed property of tissues across multicellular organisms. Polyploidy plays a critical r…

🚀New publication out by @pauformosa.bsky.social @mpipz.bsky.social and collaborators @duke-university.bsky.social, @cornelluniversity.bsky.social introducing a computational pipeline enabling high-throughput ploidy quantification. 🔬📊 👏👏 👉https://bit.ly/4pOipiq
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!"

We are #hiring!
Join Juliette de Meaux’s group within the IMPRS @unicologne.bsky.social to explore the genomic & ecological drivers of gene flow in grassland Arabis species.
🗓️ Deadline: Jan 5, 2025
✏️ Apply via: gradschool.mpipz.mpg.de
ℹ️ More info: mpipz.mpg.de/imprs

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We’re #hiring! Our #IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social & @unicologne.bsky.social recruits 4 PhD students. We look for candidates with a keen interest in experimental & computational plant biology to join us in 2026!

Find details at www.mpipz.mpg.de/imprs/imprs-... and apply by Jan 5.

#PlantSciJobs

Florigen activation complex forms via multifaceted assembly in Arabidopsis Nature - In flowering plants, DNA–FD–14-3-3 recruits FT to the florigen activation complex both through DNA–FT interactions and by reducing liquid phase condensation of FD...

Honoured to have participated in this amazing story uncovering novel #florigen roles in #Arabidopsis Congrats to @HeGao @NaDing and collaborators!!
Check it out @nature.com
🌱 🌸 🧬 🔬

#bZIP #proteinphosphorylation @mpipz.bsky.social
rdcu.be/ePPjS

Florigen activation complex forms via multifaceted assembly in Arabidopsis - Nature In flowering plants, DNA–FD–14-3-3 recruits FT to the florigen activation complex both through DNA–FT interactions and by reducing liquid phase condensation of FD protein, which promotes dimerization,...

📣Paper alert! New paper out in @nature.com by the group of George Coupland @mpipz.bsky.social and colleagues on new roles for the florigen protein in flowering 🌱🌿. Congratulations!👏👏 👉https://www.mpipz.mpg.de/pr-coupland-2025-11-en
#Arabidopsis #plantsci
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A common pathway controls cell size in the sepal and leaf epidermis leading to a nonrandom pattern of giant cells Arabidopsis leaf epidermal cells have a wide range of sizes and ploidies, but the mechanisms patterning their size and spatial distribution remain unclear. This study shows that the pathway controllin...

Check out our story in @plosbiology.org about how a nonrandom, clustered giant cell pattern forms in the sepal and leaf epidermis! It has been a great journey with @gweissbart.bsky.social, Frances Clark, Xihang Wang, @roederlab.bsky.social and co-authors.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

🌱 Postdoc position in Plant Genomics/Bioinformatics!

Love genome plasticity, computational methods, and solving big questions in plant biology? Join our newly established Institute for Crop Biology at HHU Düsseldorf.

More info on schneebergerlab.org/career/
Apply by Nov. 30 | 3-year position

The post shows a picture of Mung after successfully passing her viva on a green background with words congratulating her on acquiring the PhD title.

🌟 We celebrate Dr. Mung Hsia Foo from Hirofumi Nakagami’s lab @mpipz.bsky.social for completing her PhD! 🎓👏 Best of luck for the exciting journey ahead! 🌱
#PhDSuccess #PlantScience #PhDone #ScientificAchievement

The post shows a picture of Raissa after successfully passing her viva on a green background with words congratulating her on acquiring the PhD title.

🎉 Fantastic news! Dr. Raissa Krone from Stanislav Kopriva’s group within the IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social and @unicologne.bsky.social has earned her PhD. Congrats on this great achievement and best wishes for what’s next! 🌿✨
#PhDSuccess #PlantScience #PhDone #ScientificAchievement