Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him

@samwalds.bsky.social

Fascinated by what I can "squeeze" out of plant cells under microscopes spiced up with synthetic biology. 🔬 PhDone 🌱 at JIC (UK), now a postdoc at the MPIPZ (Cologne, Germany). Sometimes too sarcastic. 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈 he/him https://linktr.ee/samwalds

2K followers1.8K following262 posts

This has originally developed out of a thought along the lines of: "What can you do if you only manage to get weak fluorescence signals?" A short explaining thread 🧵

This has originally developed out of a thought along the lines of: "What can you do if you only manage to get weak fluorescence signals?" A short explaining thread 🧵

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This has originally developed out of a thought along the lines of: "What can you do if you only manage to get weak fluorescence signals?" A short explaining thread 🧵

View full thread

Finally, we wanted to see if intronisation could also help to reduce the loss of fluorescence over generations, that some FRET biosensors are prone to. For this I've intronised the fluorophores of the ABA biosensor ABACUS2, and compared T2 with their corresponding T3 fluorescence signals.

This has originally developed out of a thought along the lines of: "What can you do if you only manage to get weak fluorescence signals?" A short explaining thread 🧵

View full thread

What is more striking is that we could even recapitulate that effect when comparing independent T1 Arabidopsis plants in such a clear way. (red marks intronised constructs in T1 plants, blue marks intronless constructs in T1 plants)

This has originally developed out of a thought along the lines of: "What can you do if you only manage to get weak fluorescence signals?" A short explaining thread 🧵

And indeed we saw a further increase in fluorescence signal and protein abundance when transiently expressing these constructs in Nicotiana benthamiana. Have a look at the intronised (marked with a red i) bands in comparison to the intronless protein abundances. ✨

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Please consider submitting comments on the implementation for genome edited plants in the EU. Reminder: this is not the place for general statements regarding your personal vie of #NGT. Instead, the Commission is asking for input for the development of workable rules.

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Another reason why cities should develop bike infrastructures: it simply makes economical sense!

Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social

“According to the finance ministry’s calculations, the cost to society of trips by car is close to one euro/km. On the other hand, every km travelled by bike yields societal gains of 60 euro cents thanks to the health benefits of cycling, transport efficiency gains, & lower infrastructure spending.”

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

This coming school year's Lego League theme is biodiversity, which means it's about to be all-hands-on-deck for ecologists. Let's get ready for the flood. Ecologists, if you're willing to answer questions from classrooms or LEGO teams, we need ya. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.comFall 2026 Scientist FormThank you for Volunteering with Skype a Scientist for the Fall 2026 semester! We match all classrooms up once per week. You may get a match immediately and you may not get a match for a few months. ...

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

I just lived through a real-life metaphor of why we need to always critically judge and understand our data: At the check-out at the supermarket, my bill was way too high. Like utterly beyond reason too high. The cashier and I looked confused at each other and my cart. 1/

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Which can happen to any of us. At any point. The important thing though is to be able to critically evaluate the type of data and outputs we have and get. To catch these events. And that needs a lot of fundamental understanding of the science we do. 5/

I just lived through a real-life metaphor of why we need to always critically judge and understand our data: At the check-out at the supermarket, my bill was way too high. Like utterly beyond reason too high. The cashier and I looked confused at each other and my cart. 1/

View full thread

I just lived through a real-life metaphor of why we need to always critically judge and understand our data: At the check-out at the supermarket, my bill was way too high. Like utterly beyond reason too high. The cashier and I looked confused at each other and my cart. 1/

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

This screenshot that came up in my FB memories today is based on a real peer reviewed study! Published in the BMJ, which is an extremely reputable journal! What the AI Overview misses (because it cannot think!) is the study, itself, was satirical: a demonstration of the limits of randomized trials.

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Plasmodesmal closure triggers stress responses! Turns out cells are generally better off with connections to their neighbours. This manuscript represents a decade-long team collaboration, with heroic effort from Estee Tee to lead it over the line! #PlantScience link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comPlasmodesmal closure elicits stress responses - EMBO ReportsPlant cells are connected to their neighbors via plasmodesmata facilitating the exchange of nutrients and signaling molecules. During immune responses, plasmodesmata close, but how this contributes to...

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

A side project that got out of hand—in the best way 🚀 New paper is out: www.nature.com/articles/s41... We sequenced the first Clusia genomes to understand something subtle but fundamental: 👉 CAM is a drought adaptive mechanism in plants - how do different physiotypes of CAM evolve? A 🧵 👇 1/14

nature.comClusia genomes shed light on the evolution and diversity of crassulacean acid metabolism physiotypes - Nature CommunicationsClusia species exhibit diverse photosynthetic physiotypes. The authors present genome assemblies for C. major (weak CAM), C. minor s.l. (facultative CAM), and C. rosea (strong CAM), and speculate that...

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Registrations are open for PADiBa2026!

mariebarberon.bsky.social@mariebarberon.bsky.social

The 7th International Symposium on Plant Apoplastic Diffusion Barriers (PADiBa2026) will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland from August 31th to September 3rd 2026. We now have a website: wp.unil.ch/padiba2026/ Registrations will open on April 1st.

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Another really interesting #SciHis Story by @asimovpress.bsky.social. Goes to show that there are interesting and curious stories and facts in everything - even little things like Agar that seem simple and straightforward. www.asimov.press/p/agar #ScienceHistory #MolecularBiology #Agarose #Seaweed

asimov.pressThe Origins of AgarFirst introduced into laboratories in 1881, agar remains indispensable as a culture medium.

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Open for registration now! 🌱 The new working group on Plant Biotechnology within the German Society for Plant Breeding will held its first workshop in March 2026. I'm looking forward to an amazing meeting!

Leibniz IPK@leibnizipk.bsky.social

The aim of the new Plant Biotechnology group of the @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social is to facilitate the exchange of expertise between research, breeding and biotech companies. An initial workshop will take place on 9 and 10 March at the @leibnizipk.bsky.social. ➡️All information: tinyurl.com/4nn5ufnr

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

FBI frame-up of Indiana University postdoc Youhuang Xiang: Anti-China witch-hunt escalates www.wsws.org/en/articles/... I'd heard whispers of these arrests for carrying plasmids and bio materials across borders before, but someone just shared this detailed news report with me. Please be careful.

wsws.orgFBI frame-up of Indiana University postdoc Youhuang Xiang: Anti-China witch-hunt escalatesThe arrest and prosecution of Chinese researcher Youhuang Xiang, announced December 19 by FBI Director Kash Patel, is the latest episode in an FBI/Department of Justice campaign to criminalize scienti...

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Someone got Cas9-Turbo to work. It's like basically Y1H but with proteomics. It however requires transgenic plant expressing Cas9-Turbo and gRNAs, which is still cumbersome for many plants that are not Arabidopsis. #PlantSciences

Nature Plants@natplants.nature.com

New Brief Communication: "A CRISPR-based sequence proximity binding protein labelling system for scanning upstream regulatory proteins" rdcu.be/eZLUP CRISPR-based proximity labelling system to profile DNA-binding proteins such as PIF4 transcription factor .

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

✨ Job Opportunity ✨ Postdoc or Research Assistant in Fluorescent Biosensor Design at Aarhus University - The project aims to develop a genetically encoded biosensor for the neurotransmitter serotonin with fluorescence lifetime as the read-out. Details: international.au.dk/about/profil...

international.au.dkPostdoc or Research Assistant in Fluorescent Biosensor Design - Vacancy at Aarhus UniversityVacancy at Department of Forensic Medicine - Retskemisk, Aarhus University

Sebastian Samwald (Basti) he/him reposted

Are you an experienced PhD student or postdoc in plant science looking to connect, present your work, and discuss career paths? Join us at the 3rd Early Career Plant Researchers Network Meeting, Halle (Saale), 20–21 April 2026 Deadline: 23 January 2026 plant-ecr-networking.eu