CEPLAS - Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences

Excursion to the Gulbenkian Institute in Portugal (Scroll down for English) 🇩🇪 Zusammen mit den Doktorand*innen des Programms für Integrative Biologie und Biomedizin (IBB) lernten die CEPLAS Studierenden der Qualifikationsphase mehr über verschiedene Aspekte der Pflanzenbiologie am Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia in Lissabon. Der einwöchige Kurs wird von Mitgliedern des Gulbenkian-Instituts und von CEPLAS gemeinsam durchgeführt. Diesmal waren Alga Zuccaro, Rüdiger Simon und Andreas Weber an der Lehre beteiligt. 🇬🇧 CEPLAS students of the qualification phase attended a one-week course at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia Institute in Lisbon together with the PhD students of the Integrative Biology and Biomedicine (IBB) program to learn about different aspects of plant biology. The course was jointly taught by members of the Gulbenkian Institut and CEPLAS. This time, Alga Zuccaro, Rüdiger Simon and Andreas Weber were involved in teaching.

📣 We're delighted to announce the second round of the Peer Power! mentoring programme organised by CEPLAS - Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences , CECAD Cologne , Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing. 🔗 This unique programme brings together eight of our group leaders for six collaborative sessions, led by facilitator Alexander Dr. Schiller, where they share their knowledge and perspectives on key topics in academia. 🍃🍂 In the previous session, participants enjoyed a productive Walk & Talk through the scenic Stadtwald in Cologne. 😀 We can't wait to see what new insights and connections will be made this time around. We wish all participants enlightening and impactful discussions!

🌻 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿’𝘀 “𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀” 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁-𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗶𝘇𝘇𝗮! 🍕 We recently wrapped up our #CultivatingConversations lecture series at #LifeHubMonheim with an engaging session led by Dieter Schaefer. He delivered a talk on ”All models are wrong but some are useful: Insights in the environmental modelling of pesticides for regulatory purposes”, which sparked lively discussions on the complexities of modeling and measurements in scientific research, with a particularly challenging question: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲, “𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴”?🤔 Dieter's insightful response highlighted the importance of a deep mechanistic understanding of the system being studied—through well-planned studies, measurements, and modeling—to estimate the plausibility of the results. A crucial takeaway for all! The Q&A was so engaging, we had to pause it when the pizzas arrived 🍕—but the conversation didn’t stop! Everyone gathered in the seminar room, where we continued to explore the topic over slices, making it a truly memorable finale. A big thank you to our dear colleague Dieter Schaefer for participating, and to Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf and CEPLAS - Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences for being our collaborating partners. This marks the last lecture in our series for this year, but we look forward to more inspiring discussions and innovations in 2025! 💫 #LectureSeries #CEPLAS #Pesticides #RegulatoryModelling #Discussions

Episode 50: Pflanzenforschung: Durch Computermodelle dem Klimawandel trotzen (Scroll down for English) 🇩🇪 In der aktuellen Folge spricht Larissa Vassilian mit den CEPLAS-Mitgliedern Oliver Ebenhöh-Janssens an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf und Nadine Töpfer an der Universität zu Köln über mathematische Modelle und deren Einfluss auf die Pflanzenforschung. Sie geben Einblicke in ihre Arbeit mit Computermodellen und erläutern, wie sie verschiedene Szenarien durchspielen und neue Hypothesen zum Pflanzenstoffwechsel entwickeln. Hört Euch hier den Podcast an: https://lnkd.in/eVdFz-dv 🇬🇧 In this podcast, Larissa Vassilian talks to the CEPLAS members Oliver Ebenhöh-Janssens an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf and Nadine Töpfer at the Universität zu Köln about mathematical models and how they can influence plant research. They provide insights into their work with computer models and explain how they run through various scenarios and develop new hypotheses on plant metabolism. Listen to it here: https://lnkd.in/eMWJe8-Y

Today a podcast was published in which Nadine Töpfer and myself talk about mathematical modelling in the plant sciences. https://lnkd.in/efwazvza

Postdoc Appreciation Week #5 During the #PostdocAppreciationWeek we would like to draw attention to and share our appreciation towards the contribution of postdocs to the research within CEPLAS. Check out their motivation to work in plant sciences! Today it’s Laura Armbruster’s turn, Postdoc at Universität zu Köln

Postdoc Appreciation Week #4 During the #PostdocAppreciationWeek we would like to draw attention to and share our appreciation towards the contribution of postdocs to the research within CEPLAS. Check out their motivation to work in plant sciences! Today it’s Simon Maria Zumkeller‘s turn, Postdoc at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Postdoc Appreciation Week #3 During the #PostdocAppreciationWeek we would like to draw attention to and share our appreciation towards the contribution of postdocs to the research within CEPLAS. Check out their motivation to work in plant sciences! Today it’s Anne Hofmann’s turn, Postdoc at Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Postdoc Appreciation Week #2 During the #PostdocAppreciationWeek we would like to draw attention to and share our appreciation towards the contribution of postdocs to the research within CEPLAS. Check out their motivation to work in plant sciences! Today it's Ahan Dalal's turn, postdoc Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf and AvH-fellow.

Postdoc Appreciation Week #1 During the #PostdocAppreciationWeek we would like to draw attention to and share our appreciation towards the contribution of postdocs to the research within CEPLAS. Check out their motivation to work in plant sciences! Today it's Suhyun Jin's turn, postdoc MPIPZ - Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research