Assistant Professor in Crop Biotechnology and Epigenetics
Climate Stress Memory in Crops
🌱🍅🍓@dundee.ac.uk @James Hutton Institute
Former Senior PostDoc at @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social and PostDoc at
@cam.ac.uk
#newPI
This is incredibly exciting 🤩
@anthropic.com just reported, Claude helped discover a novel CRISPR-like enzyme system. Enabled by our DIAMOND/DeepClust software 🚀:
🧬 15.8 BILLION proteins
→ 1.94 BILLION clusters
→ searched by AI agents
www.anthropic.com/news/claude-...
How much protein diversity can Life on Earth actually generate?
With DIAMOND DeepClust, we show how billions of proteins across the tree of life can be clustered at low-identity for downstream analytics tasks.
📚Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💻Code: github.com/bbuchfink/di...
🎉Excited to share the latest paper from my lab, where we developed a new framework to investigate DNA methylation at single-molecule resolution using @oxfordnanopore.bsky.social (ONT) long read sequencing. Work spearheaded by a very talented student Young Jun Kim. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n
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.
We're still working on the website, but please save the date if you are interested in Plant Education.
Following on from the successful 2025 event (See nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...), we are planning "Plant Education 2" next April in Cambridge, UK.
www.aab.org.uk/event/plant-...
NEWS - ‘Sunshine’ tomato one step closer to market
The first marketing notice for a precision bred tomato in England has now been approved, moving the biofortified ‘Sunshine’ tomato closer to commercialisation: https://okt.to/v2Amjc
I’m very happy to share the published version of our paper on the role of MET1 in wheat 🌾 🧬
It’s been really exciting to discover more about DNA methylation in wheat and it’s huge polyploid genome
doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
How does a geminivirus replicate its genome using a pick&mix strategy with host proteins? 🦠🦠🌱🧬
Our new preprint identifies plant proteins repurposed by geminiviruses to carry out rolling-circle replication.
Congrats @chaonan123.bsky.social , who spearheaded this work!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Excited to be able to advertise 1x postdoc and 2x technician positions to join my group in Cambridge working on an exciting ARIA funded project to help bring a plant artificial chromosome into existence! Reposts very welcome please 🙏 (1/2)
Now #EpiPlant GDR Director @alineprobst.bsky.social from @igred.fr taking us on a chromatin journey: histone variant H2B.8 plays a major role in the reprogramming of gene expression during the seed-to-seedling transition. More here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I’ve Ben looking forward to this talk by @thanvisrikant.bsky.social, who is speaking about her postdoctoral work with @kbomblies.bsky.social on the effect of #polyploidy on #chromatin architecture!
"… some of the most creative, climate-resilient innovations are emerging … from the regions experiencing the greatest challenges of climate volatility, biodiversity loss, and food insecurity," writes Ismahane Elouafi in a new #ScienceExpertVoices article. https://scim.ag/4vN7skk
Congratulations David! It's absolutely great to see a Plant Scientist leading a college with such a remarkable contribution for the history of Science.
www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/new-mas...
The New Phytologist Foundation is pleased to support the inaugural UK Plant Epigenetics Network Meeting, 'Plant #Epigenetics: From Model to Crop species', taking place in Dundee, UK on 11-12 June.
www.dundee.ac.uk/events/uk-pl...
Congratulations to @caroleduchene.bsky.social and all the authors on this beautiful work exploring the inheritance of endogenous viral insertions in algae. It was a pleasure to contribute to this study and I am sure this is only the beginning of many exciting discoveries! 🌿 @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Still time to register — deadline extended to 17 April!
Join us this summer in Scotland to discuss how we can translate epigenetic insights from model systems into crop plants.
Looking forward to great discussions and new connections!
forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Still time to register — deadline extended to 17 April!
Join us this summer in Scotland to discuss how we can translate epigenetic insights from model systems into crop plants.
Looking forward to great discussions and new connections!
forms.office.com/pages/respon...
We are pleased to announce the launch of the BBSRC-funded UK Plant Epigenetics Network (UK-PEN) with our inaugural meeting (it is free!):
🌱 “Plant Epigenetics: From Model to Crop Species”
📅 11–12 June 2026
University of Dundee (hybrid event)
We look forward to welcoming you!
Still time to register — deadline extended to 17 April!
Join us this summer in Scotland to discuss how we can translate epigenetic insights from model systems into crop plants.
Looking forward to great discussions and new connections!
forms.office.com/pages/respon...
We are pleased to announce the launch of the BBSRC-funded UK Plant Epigenetics Network (UK-PEN) with our inaugural meeting (it is free!):
🌱 “Plant Epigenetics: From Model to Crop Species”
📅 11–12 June 2026
University of Dundee (hybrid event)
We look forward to welcoming you!
Our work on chromatin evolution in brown algae is now published in @natecoevo.nature.com! We show that developmentally complex brown algae evolved without epigenetic silencing pathways long thought universal, underscoring why non-model lineages are important to study. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We are pleased to announce the launch of the BBSRC-funded UK Plant Epigenetics Network (UK-PEN) with our inaugural meeting (it is free!):
🌱 “Plant Epigenetics: From Model to Crop Species”
📅 11–12 June 2026
University of Dundee (hybrid event)
We look forward to welcoming you!
🌱 We’re excited to launch the BBSRC-funded UK Plant Epigenetics Network (UK-PEN) with our inaugural workshop (free!):
“Plant Epigenetics: From Model to Crop Species”
📅 11–12 June 2026
📍 Uni of Dundee (hybrid)
We look forward to welcoming you!
Feel free to repost to help us reach the community
We are pleased to announce the launch of the BBSRC-funded UK Plant Epigenetics Network (UK-PEN) with our inaugural meeting (it is free!):
🌱 “Plant Epigenetics: From Model to Crop Species”
📅 11–12 June 2026
University of Dundee (hybrid event)
We look forward to welcoming you!
How much protein diversity can Life on Earth actually generate?
With DIAMOND DeepClust, we show how billions of proteins across the tree of life can be clustered at low-identity for downstream analytics tasks.
📚Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💻Code: github.com/bbuchfink/di...
🔥Fantastic paper!🔥
TE with a role in vegetative phase change and gametogenesis, mediated by 24-nt siRNAs acting in trans to a wide range of genes. Found by GWAS in A. thaliana 🌱. Congratulations to the authors! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
#epigenetics#plantsciencewww.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
I am extremely grateful to receive a Research Leadership Award from the Leverhulme Trust to study the epigenetic mechanisms underlying environmental stress memory in crops @dundee.ac.uk and @hutton.ac.uk 🍓🍅🌱
I’ll be advertising positions in our group soon - stay tuned!
buff.ly/pI5Bqoo
Excited to share our latest publication on interindividual variation of DNA methylation in human whole blood, spearheaded by the amazing Olivia Grant and co-led with @leo-schalkwyk.bsky.social and Meena Kumari.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.
Need a genome sequence of your favourite plant? We laid out instructions for a complete workflow based on ONT sequencing:
"Cookbook for plant genome sequences"
doi.org/10.1186/s128...#Genomics#LongReads#PlantSciences#Bioinformatics@puckerlab.bsky.social@unibonn.bsky.social
One single protein, one big decision: how brown algae know when to reproduce. New press release on how researchers in the Department of Algae Development and Evolution have discovered a remarkably streamlined strategy for developmental control in brown algae.
Read on here: tinyurl.com/3taptpba
One protein. One pathway. A whole germline fate.
New paper from my postdoc @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social out in PNAS:
Germline fate determination by a single ARGONAUTE protein in Ectocarpus www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
It turns out… a lot.
In Ectocarpus, this single ARGONAUTE integrates small-RNA pathways with germline fate determination, showing how deeply RNA silencing can be wired into developmental decisions.
This paper is also a reminder of why I love comparative biology: sometimes, the most “minimal” systems reveal the clearest logic of how complex regulatory networks really work.
One protein. One pathway. A whole germline fate.
New paper from my postdoc @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social out in PNAS:
Germline fate determination by a single ARGONAUTE protein in Ectocarpus www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Thank you to all the authors who made this work possible, and to Dr Susana Coelho for her role as co-corresponding author and for her contributions to the project.
Back in 2021, a simple question started this project for me:
Why do land plants have many ARGONAUTE genes (Arabidopsis has ~10), while brown algae have just one?
What does that single ARGONAUTE actually do?
I am excited to offer a postdoctoral research position in my lab in Oxford studying the distribution of small RNAs during plant sexual reproduction. shorturl.at/7Goxt
Reposts appreciated!
Obligatory cat video to brighten your day. :-)
Excited to share @robynemm.bsky.social and I will be co-chairing a session on plant epigenetics in development and plasticity at @sebiology.bsky.social Annual meeting in Florence
Registration is now open! Submit your abstracts and enjoy some fantastic chromatin biology in beautiful Italy ☀️ 🧬
Abstract submissions for #SEBconference Florence 2026 are officially open! 🎉
Deadline: 6 March 2026. Submit today and be part of cutting-edge biology in Florence.
More information
www.sebiology.org/resource/seb-conference-florence-2026-abstract-submission-is-now-open.html
Our paper on the newest version of the Registry of candidate cis-Regulatory Elements (cCREs) is out 🧬
Huge thanks to the many collaborators, experimentalists, analysts and software developers who made this work possible — truly a team effort!
A "meme-torial" of the science is coming soon 👀
New paper on genome editing in brown algae by Dr. Claudia Martinho, former member of Susana Coelho's Algal Development and Evolution Department, in collaboration with Masakazu Hoshino, Morgane Raphalen, Viktoriia Bukhanets, Anagha Kerur, @kbogaert.bsky.social, Rémy Luthringer, and Susana Coelho
Genome editing in brown algae! 🧬🪸🌿 Now out in Cell Reports Methods!
Excited to share this highly efficient, transgene-free CRISPR–Cas genome editing protocol for brown algae, requiring no cloning and no specialized equipment.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...#CRISPR#BrownAlgae@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
🧵 Just out in Cell after more than 10 years in the making!
🎓 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Plants and animals evolve radically different body plans.
Do they also operate under fundamentally different molecular evolutionary constraints during organ formation?
@cellpress.bsky.social
Genome editing in brown algae! 🧬🪸🌿 Now out in Cell Reports Methods!
Excited to share this highly efficient, transgene-free CRISPR–Cas genome editing protocol for brown algae, requiring no cloning and no specialized equipment.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...#CRISPR#BrownAlgae@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Importantly, the protocol is transferable across species, including Scytosiphon, and ecologically and economically important kelps such as Laminaria and Undaria.
We’re very happy to share this method with the community and hope it will be useful 🌿
If you try it out and your algae have opinions about it, we’re always happy to chat!
Genome editing in brown algae! 🧬🪸🌿 Now out in Cell Reports Methods!
Excited to share this highly efficient, transgene-free CRISPR–Cas genome editing protocol for brown algae, requiring no cloning and no specialized equipment.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...#CRISPR#BrownAlgae@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Building on previous great efforts, this work focuses on accessibility and scalability:
• transgene-free (Cas–RNPs)
• PEG-mediated delivery
• reproducible across loci (we recommend using multiple crRNAs!)
• no cloning or specialized equipment
As a proof of concept in Ectocarpus, we precisely edited the IMM locus and recapitulated the classic imm mutant phenotype with the early formation of upright filaments, providing a clear and reproducible developmental readout.
Genome editing in brown algae! 🧬🪸🌿 Now out in Cell Reports Methods!
Excited to share this highly efficient, transgene-free CRISPR–Cas genome editing protocol for brown algae, requiring no cloning and no specialized equipment.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...#CRISPR#BrownAlgae@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
A truly wonderful collaborative effort — huge thanks to all co-authors and collaborators for their ideas, experiments, and persistence 💙
Masakazu Hoshino, Morgane Raphalen, Viktoriia Bukhanets, Anagha Kerur, @kbogaert.bsky.social, Rémy Luthringer, and Susana Coelho.