Leonard Blaschek studies how trees build wood and how this shapes one of our most important renewable materials. Photo: Malin Grönborg
Wood is one of humanity's oldest building materials. But before it becomes timber, it is a living tissue. That is what fascinates Leonard Blaschek. As a new group leader at the Umeå Plant Science Centre, he wants to understand how trees build wood and why evolution shaped it the way it is.
“Trees seem so static from our perspective,” says Leonard Blaschek. “But that's really just because we exist on very different timescales. What looks unmoving to us is actually incredibly dynamic.”
For Leonard, trees have always been more than objects of scientific curiosity. Whenever he has free time, he and his family head into the forest.
“It's a good place for the soul,” he says.
That lifelong fascination eventually led him into plant science, although not quite in the way he originally planned.
“I actually thought I might become an ecologist, but I realised that the scientific approach didn't completely click with me,” he says. With a smile, he adds, “I also wasn't really a fan of grinding rat tails to extract DNA. Leaves are just nicer.”
The lecture that stuck with him
The question that drive Leonard's research began with a university lecture given by the researcher who would later become his PhD supervisor. There, he first encountered a remarkable fact: the water-conducting cells of a tree - the xylem vessels - only begin performing their main function after they die.
"The function that the living organism requires actually depends on the single cell dying."
The idea stayed with him. It sparked a fascination with the cell walls that make this possible and the intricate processes that build them.
"It gave me a new appreciation for cell walls," he says. "The timescales involved are also so interesting. It really goes from microseconds to centuries."
Today, those questions remain at the heart of his research.
Wood is more than a building material
Answering these questions means exploring wood long before it becomes timber. Leonard studies wood not simply as a material, but as part of a living organism.
Wood begins as living cells carefully building their cell walls. Those walls later become the tissue that supports the tree, transports water and ultimately provides one of our most important renewable materials.
"I'm trying to understand how trees build their cell walls, why evolution ended up with these particular structures, and how that connects to the way we use wood as a raw material."
As wood is expected to play an increasingly important role in a sustainable society, answering these questions is becoming more relevant than ever.
"If we want to modify wood, we're really modifying the biology of living tree cells," Leonard explains. "We need to know how those changes affect both the material and the tree's ability to grow and remain resilient."
Yet for Leonard, the motivation starts with curiosity.
"I primarily want to understand why plants build their cell walls the way they do."
The UPSC phenotyping platform will be an important resource for Leonard Blaschek's research on how trees build wood. Photo: Malin Grönborg
Finding the right place
To answer the questions that drive his research, Leonard knew he needed the right scientific environment. After completing his PhD at Stockholm University and postdoctoral research at the University of Copenhagen as an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow, he wanted a place where researchers with different expertise could tackle the same biological questions from multiple angles.
Leonard first visited UPSC when he came to Umeå in 2019 for a scientific conference. The science impressed him, but so did the collaborative research culture.
"There seemed to be a real intentionality about how UPSC had been built. People had complementary expertise, and it actually worked."
That collaborative environment was exactly what Leonard had been looking for.
Before joining UPSC, much of Leonard's work had focused on carefully controlled laboratory experiments. At UPSC, he saw the opportunity to study those questions using cell biology, genomics, field experiments and research on forest trees.
"This is the first time I'm in an environment where many colleagues are asking different questions about wood formation," he says.
Initially, his group will focus on poplar before expanding to spruce, a species that requires researchers to think decades ahead because of its slow growth.
Building for the long term
For years, Leonard hoped that one day he would be able to establish his own research group at UPSC.
"I've been working towards this very exact desk for about five years," he says.
Now that he has arrived, Leonard is excited by something he has rarely had before: the opportunity to think long term. Rather than focusing on the next publication, he wants to ask questions that will shape his research for years to come.
"I feel like I have the opportunity to actually build something."
For Leonard, building extends beyond the trees themselves. It also means creating an environment where people can grow.
Having experienced many different mentoring styles throughout his career, Leonard has spent a great deal of time thinking about the kind of research culture he wants to create.
"My role is not so much to shape people as it is to support them in growing."
He believes different people thrive under different kinds of guidance, and helping young researchers develop may ultimately become one of his greatest contributions.
"Emotionally speaking, it's actually more rewarding to help others succeed than it is for me to succeed myself."
After years of commuting between Malmö and Copenhagen, Leonard now cycles through the forest to work each morning. His young son has quickly developed the same enthusiasm for nature.
"My whole family loves it here. When you ask my son what he wants to do at the weekend," Leonard says with a smile, "he just says, 'Go to the forest.'"
For Leonard, Umeå offers the opportunity to build both a research group and a long-term scientific programme - in a place where forests are part of everyday life.
For more information, please contact:
Leonard Blaschek
Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC)
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Email:
https://www.upsc.se/leonard_blaschek