Author: mcfarlane

Talks & Presentations

Science Rendezvous at UofT

Today is Science Rendezvous!  Everyone is welcome at the UofT St. George campus in downtown Toronto to see demonstrations, participate in hands-on activities, and learn about the scientific research going on at UofT. There will be activities for all ages, from primary school children to adults. The Department of Cell & Systems Biology will have a table with lots of hands-on activities, including sticker printing, microscope demos, and activities that Heather contributed about plant cell walls.

Update: the day was a huge success with loads of visitors to campus! Thanks to all of the volunteers and visitors who participated!

Lab Updates

Welcome new students!

The McFarLab welcomes seven summer-term undergraduate students to the lab this week:

Evan Berthelot will continue his previous work as a CSB499 student.

Francesca Medina joins the lab as a new work-study student.

Eskandar Mohammad will continue his CSB498 work as a UTEA scholarship winner.

Gaeun Shin joins the lab as a CSB498 student.

Demitra Tsoukalas joins the lab as a new work-study student.

Tony Xie joins the group as a BCB330 student.

Shengjie Xu joins the lab as a CSB498 student.

New Papers

New paper in Journal of Experimental Botany

New advancements are constantly refining what we know, and what remains unknown, about plant cell wall synthesis. Heather’s new article in the Journal of Experimental Botany “Open questions in plant cell wall synthesis” highlights recent findings and the questions that remain unanswered about cell wall synthesis.  This article is part of the Centenary Review Collection, a collection of Darwin Reviews that have been commissioned as part of the celebrations surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Society of Experimental Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad110

Free access is temporarily provided by the journal here.

New Papers

Editorial on values-driven lab leadership published in JXB

Editorial on values-driven lab leadership published in JXB Following an exciting workshop at ICAR 2021 “Running a Research Group in the Next Generation” co-hosted by Heather and Jacqueline Monaghan from Queen’s University and featuring Siobhan Brady, Liz Haswell, and Sonali Roy, we have compiled the reflections and resources from this workshop into a short article for Journal of Experimental Botany with additional insights from Benjamin Schwessinger.

This article is aimed at early career researchers and anyone else considering their leadership. We elaborate on ideas emerging from the workshop that we hope will allow current and future group leaders to reflect upon and adjust to the rapidly evolving nature of the academic scientific enterprise.

https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erac407

Update: Our article has been highlighted on Plantae, the blog from the American Society of Plant Biologists.