1st EpiSeedLink Annual Meeting in Paris: Video produced by the fellows
Our PhD students have been training as part of the MSCA training program to develop impactful videos for dissemination and public engagement.
As a result, they created this exciting video during the EpiSeedLink Annual Meeting in Paris! ✨ You can watch here
What’s EpiSeedLink all about?
EpiSeedLink is a cutting-edge Research Consortium funded by the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network Programme. It’s a thriving community of passionate scientists from around the world, where academia and industry collaborate, and experienced experts mentor early-stage researchers.
Together, we share knowledge and creativity to drive a common mission: improving crops through epigenetics and priming.
Don't miss the video—see the EpiSeedLink spirit in action!
This video was produced entirely by EpiSeedLink fellows, (cast, script, equipment list, shot list, sounds, recordings, lights, footage, clips selection, music selection, and post production).
A special thanks to Dr. Sara Farrona and Mr. Niall Flaherty from the University of Galway that supported this work and to the College of Science and Engineering (University of Galway) for providing equipment to record this video.
Fellows Networking Through Secondments
The @episeedlink PhD students, as part of their training, carry out secondments at the facilities of other consortium members, fostering strong bonds and collaborations. They serve as the starting point for new partnerships in their future professional careers.
Below a diagram showcases the collaborations and interrelationships among MSCA @episeedlink fellows during their secondments at the beneficiaries' facilities in the first 24 months.
11th of February, International Day of Women and Girsl in Science
Meet the Women Leading Our EpiSeedLink Vision¡
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Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year 2025
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Abiotic Stresses: Plant hormones in environmental signaling
This lecture will illustrate the Plant hormones in environmental signaling landscape, specially focused on the hormonal response to abiotic stress.
It is part of the training of doctoral students from the EpiSeedLink consortium.
Fellows will learn among other topics about:
-
- What are plant hormones?
- How hormones help plants to cope with the environment throughout their life
- How hormones participates in development processes in plants
- Hormonal responses to abiotic stress
The conference is given by Dr. David Alabadí, one of the EpiSeedLink Supervisors, belonging to Instituto de Biologia Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), research center from CSIC (Spain).
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Agrobacterium tumefaciens: a bacteria for genetic transformation plants
The phytopathogenic gram negative bacterial species Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a causal agent of crown-gall disease in plants, which is accompanied by tumor formation on plant roots.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens infects the plant through its Ti plasmid. The Ti plasmid integrates a segment of its DNA, known as T-DNA, into the chromosomal DNA of its host plant cells.
The vir region of Ti plasmid is not transferred to the host cell. This contains seven loci encoding for most of the virulence proteins (Vir proteins) required for T-DNA transport and integration into host genome.
T-DNA regions are delineated by two repeats (⁓25 bp), designated as left and right borders. These regions contain genes which encode for proteins involved in biosynthesis of plant-type hormones and opine.
Immediately upon its discovery, the unique virulence strategy of Agrobacterium attracted attention of plant biotechnologists leading to the adaptation of Agrobacterium as an unprecedented tool for genetic transformation of plants.
Since the T-DNA region is determined only by delineating the left and right borders and not by any other DNA sequence, virtually any type of DNA can be placed between the borders and utilized for plant transformation.
Text by Stefania Paltrinieri, PhD students EpiSeedLink Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Did you know that there are various methods to create transgenic plants?
To insert exogenous DNA into plant cells, there is not only Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (indirect method), as we show you in the last post, but also chemical-physical methods (direct methods):
✅Microinjection
✅Electroporation
✅Permeabilisation of protoplasts
✅ Gene gun
✅Agrobacterium tumefaciens
Text by Martina Curci, PhD students EpiSeedLink Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
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Studying genes and transformation plants
When we want to study the role of a gene, we can alter its expression; for example: silencing or suppressing the gene or improving its expression using a strong and constitutively expressed promoter.
Genetic engineering is a powerful research tool, and it also has the potential to improve the agronomic performance of crops, for these reasons, it has been largely studied and a lot of different techniques have been developed in recent years.
So how do we transform plants?
Transformation is a complex process, it may be transient or stable, depending on the biological question and purpose.
Generally, transformation involves:
- the preparation of explants,
- delivery of genes of interest into plant cells mainly via:
- Agrobacterium or
- biolistic-mediated methods,
- the selection and regeneration of transgenic or gene-edited plants.
Text by Stefania Paltrinieri, PhD Student EpiSeedLink Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
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8th of March, International Women`s Day
EpiSeedLink´s members wish you a happy International Women´s Day
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Interesting Workshop organized by our Supervisors¡
Some of our Supervisors are organizing two interesting Workshops:
1.- The European Workshop on Plant Chromatin 2024.
Dr. Sara Farrona from the University of Galway (Ireland) and Dr. Javier Gallego-Bartolomé from the Instituto de Biologia Molecular y Celular de Plantas_IBMCP (Valencia, Spain) are involved in the organization of this Workshop with plenty of opportunities to show your work. It will be held at Casa de Convalescència, a beautiful 19th-century building part of the Sant Pau Hospital Art Nouveau complex, in Barcelona on May 22th-24th.
Only a few days left to apply! Submit your abstract for #EWPC2024.
Deadline: 8th March. Join us in Barcelona for three days of exciting discussions about epigenetics and chromatin regulation in plants
All the information on European Workshop on Plant Chromatin 2024 – EWPC2024 (uab.cat)
2.- EPIPLANT/ Society for Experimental Biology. Joint Conference
Dr. ALine Probst from the University of Clermont_Auvergne (Clermont Ferrand, France) is organizing with her colleagues a conference which will be held in Clermont Ferrand on July, 12th-14th. You will be able to share your work and discuss it with experts in the matter.
EPIPLANT/SEB 2024 is a joint meeting of the CNRS Groupement de Recherche (GDR) EPIPLANT and the Society For Experimental Biology.
Deadline: 30th April. Join us in Clermont-Ferrand for other three days of exciting discussions about plant epigenetics, chromatin dynamics, environmental responses and transgenerational inheritance
All the information on EpiPlant/SEB2024
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