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A blond women is standing next to a birch tree with yellow leaves wearing a brown coat and holding a booklet in her hands.

Thinner snow, colder roots – boreal trees show unique cold responses

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Last Updated: 16 October 2025
A blond women is standing next to a birch tree with yellow leaves wearing a brown coat and holding a booklet in her handsPhD student Tuuli Aro has studied how the roots of boreal trees, such as birch, respond to cold (photo: Anne Honsel).

Climate change likely leads to thinner snow cover during winter in northern Europe, leaving tree roots more exposed to cold. PhD student Tuuli Aro found that boreal tree species respond differently to this kind of stress and highlights how genomic tools can help breed for more frost-tolerant trees.

Read more: Thinner snow, colder roots – boreal trees show unique cold responses

A women wearing a white lab coat is standing in front of a large glas wall on which the name and logo of the institute is written. She has fold her arms and smiles to the camera.

Chloroplasts keep her curiosity alive

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Last Updated: 21 October 2025
A women wearing a white lab coat is standing in front of a large glas wall on which the name and logo of the institute is written. She has fold her arms and smiles to the camera.Tamara Hernández-Verdeja is now working on establishing her research group at the Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas UPM-INIA in Madrid (photo: Oxel Urra).

Tamara Hernández-Verdeja shifted her research focus to chloroplasts when joining Åsa Strand’s group at UPSC and chloroplasts are still keeping her curiosity alive. End of last year, she received a Ramón y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, enabling her to move back to Spain and establish her own research line. In this interview, we have asked her about her career, her motivation to stay in academia and her favourite memories from her time at UPSC.

Read more: Chloroplasts keep her curiosity alive

Two men at a huge microscope, one is sitting in front and one is standing next to him, both are looking into the camera

New discovery challenges old assumptions about how plant cells stick together

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Last Updated: 07 October 2025
Two men at a huge microscope, one is sitting in front and one is standing next to him, both are looking into the cameraPhD student Özer Erguvan (left) at his favourite microscope, together with his supervisor Stéphane Verger (right) (photo: Anne Honsel).

PhD student Özer Erguvan discovered two key sites in plant cell walls that help cells stick together - findings that challenge textbook knowledge. He also found that sugars play a role in this process. In this interview, he shares insights from his PhD journey.

Read more: New discovery challenges old assumptions about how plant cells stick together

A women with red coloured curly hair is looking straigt into the camera and smiling. She is wearing a whit top and stands in front of pink flowering cherry trees.

Looking for the perfect tree partner – Laura competes in the Researcher's Grand Prix

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Last Updated: 30 September 2025
A women with red coloured curly hair is looking straigt into the camera and smiling. She is wearing a whit top and stands in front of pink flowering cherry trees.PhD student Laura García Romañach is participating in the Researcher's Grand Prix.

On October 10, Laura García Romañach, a PhD student at SLU, will take to the stage at SciFest to compete in the Researcher's Grand Prix. Using dating apps as a metaphor, she will explain the science behind tree breeding – and why her research is crucial in the face of climate change.

Read more: Looking for the perfect tree partner – Laura competes in the Researcher's Grand Prix

Three man and one women wearing blue labcoats are standing in front of aspen trees in a greenhouse. They are all smiling into the camera.

Aspen trees integrate light and temperature to time bud set

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Last Updated: 08 September 2025
Three man and one women wearing blue labcoats are standing in front of aspen trees in a greenhouse. They are all smiling into the camera.Ove Nilsson's group has identified a "temperature sensor" that helps trees integrate temperature and day length when deciding to enter dormancy. Four of the six authors of the study are still active in the group (from left to right): Keh Chien Lee, Laura García Romañach, Bo Zhang, Ove Nilsson (photo: Anne Honsel).

Even in summer, sudden cold snaps are common in northern regions such as Umeå. To survive, trees must know when to keep growing and when to stop and prepare for winter. Now, researchers at UPSC have discovered how aspen trees sense temperature and combine it with daylight to make that decision.

Read more: Aspen trees integrate light and temperature to time bud set

Figure illustrating the annual growth cycle in a juvenile aspen tree

Scientists map aspen tree genes across seasons, creating a detailed genetic roadmap

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Last Updated: 21 October 2025
Figure illustrating the annual growth cycle in a juvenile aspen treeFrom bud burst to bud set: The different stages of the annual growth cycle in a juvenile aspen tree. Illustration: Domenique André

Aspen trees follow a precise annual rhythm, shaped by the changing seasons. Researchers at UPSC have mapped this natural calendar at the genetic level, comparing trees grown outdoors and in the lab. Their study offers a detailed look into the molecular choreography behind the trees’ seasonal life.

Read more: Scientists map aspen tree genes across seasons, creating a detailed genetic roadmap

A women with a mask is standing behind some trees in front of a wooden wall

Artistic research turns tree science into a sensory experience

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Last Updated: 29 August 2025

In December last year, Luis Berríos-Negrón, UmArts Research Fellow in Art and Architecture, staged a performance at the UPSC Tree Phenotyping Platform, reimagining it as a ‘tree nursery’. To challenge conventional views of forests and propose trees as sentient beings worthy of care, he transformed the scientific setting into a multisensory experience using sound art, song and live action. In this interview, he talks about the roots of his research and what drew him to the UPSC platform.

Read more: Artistic research turns tree science into a sensory experience

Eleven pale seedlings grown next to each other in a row with their yellowish tip bend downwards.

The protein that helps seedlings straighten

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Last Updated: 27 August 2025
Eleven pale seedlings grown next to each other in a row with their yellowish tip bend downwards. To investigate how the apical hook forms and opens, researchers grow thale cress seedlings in darkness. Photo: Qian Ma

Seedlings bend their tip as they grow through soil, then straighten when they reach light. Scientists from Umeå have, after years of challenging research, identified a protein that promotes this straightening by regulating cell growth through the plant hormone auxin.

Read more: The protein that helps seedlings straighten

A short-haired men in a white labcoat is pipetting something into a large, black machine

New research facility allows scientists to watch molecules in action

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Last Updated: 20 August 2025
A short-haired men in a white labcoat is pipetting something into a large, black machineRubén Casanova Sáez is loading a sample into the microfluidics unit of the C-trap instrument. Photo: Mattias Pettersson, Umeå University

The C-Trap Facility at Umeå Plant Science Centre is the result of a joint effort of different departments and faculties at Umeå University. Now fully operational, it opens up exciting new possibilities for research at the single molecule scale. At the heart of the facility is the C-trap instrument, which combines laser-based optical tweezers with advanced microfluidics and confocal microscopy, enabling scientists to manipulate and observe dynamic molecular processes in real time.

Read more: New research facility allows scientists to watch molecules in action

Two men with shirts are standing next to each smiling into the camera; both have short hair and glasses. In the background, parts of a green tree are visible.

Unlocking nature’s blueprint – scientists identified the function of a so far uncharacterised protein complex

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Last Updated: 19 August 2025
Two men with shirts are standing next to each smiling into the camera; both have short hair and glasses. In the background, parts of a green tree are visible.The main authors of the study, Totte Niittylä (left) and Wei Wang (right), began working with OPENER while searching for unknown genes essential for early seed development in Arabidopsis. Photo: Rebecca Forsberg

Scientists have uncovered the functions of many genes and proteins across different organisms, but much is still unknown. Now, researchers at Umeå Plant Science Centre have identified the function of a protein complex involved in establishing protein production in plants.

Read more: Unlocking nature’s blueprint – scientists identified the function of a so far uncharacterised...

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Coming Events

    October

    • Oct 22
      UPSC Wednesday Seminar 2025Wed. 22 Oct, 2025 (15:00 - 16:00)
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    • Oct 29
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Anne Honsel
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Umeå Plant Science Centre
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