TSL celebrates double boost for young researchers Two
researchers from The Sainsbury Laboratory have been awarded
grants from the European Research Council to help them establish
and grow their own research groups. Dr Silke Robatzek and Dr
Cyril Zipfel have both been awarded €1.5 million over 5 years to
investigate plant defence against disease. The awards support
young investigators to develop independent careers. Dr
Robatzek’s project will look at stomata, the tiny holes in
leaves that plants use to ‘breathe.’ Stomata let in carbon
dioxide and release oxygen and water vapour. But this is far
from a passive process. Guard cells open and close the holes in
response to different environmental cues, such as light, and to
control water loss. Guard cells also have the ability to detect
harmful microbes that exploit these gaps in the plants defences
to invade the tissues inside. Stomata can close in response to a
pathogen attack, but at the expense of the exchange of gases
needed for photosynthesis and other respo