Welcome to
Plants and Pipettes
Join us in exploring the fantastic world of molecular plant biology! We dive deep into the cells of all green things and together we discover the mechanisms behind photosynthesis, flower development and much more!
Life in the litterbox
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when life gives you kitty litter, you make… a new affordable growth system that could make it easier to broaden our understanding of plant-microbe …
Fungal Juice- Keeping Science Simple
In order to help our favourite lab plants and microorganisms grow fast and strong, we aim to provide them with the conditions and nutrients they need. To do so, we often rely on media mixes that are b…
The Isolated Cycad
Encephalartos woodii is a cycad. And Encephalartos woodii is alone. Being a cycad is already a bit of a sad, evolutionarily speaking. Cycads, a type of gymnosperm (‘naked seed’ plant) once rule…
How a broken growth chamber led to the discovery of a new regulatory pathway
Serendipitous discoveries are my favourite reoccurring tale in biological research. You may have heard about Alexander Fleming, the 20th century microbiologist who left some bacteria on open pla…
Moss of the desert
aka- ‘Making the moss’t of the rain’ Syntrichia caninervis is a moss. Personally, when I think of mosses, I mostly tend to picture them clinging to the moist side of a tree, or snuggling in amongst…
Appreciating the Sun
According to the ever-wise wikipedia, today- the second Friday of March- is ‘Solar Appreciation Day’. There doesn’t seems to be much information about this one around, beyond the fact that the day…