Oliver recently had an opportunity to drop in on Professor Martha Hawes and her lab staff at the Univeristy of Arizona in Tuscon. It was almost 15 years to the day since Oliver had first met Martha, but the interest in border cells she had kindle in him then has not faded. The agenda for this visit was simple; learn techniques, share ideas and make plans on to what to do next.

Herring in front of Marley, UofA

Gilberto shows me how it’s done in Tuscon

David is keen to share his knowledge, if not his seat.

After lengthy discussions, seed germination and hours at the microscope it was clear that 6 days was not long enough. However,  Oliver has come home with some new ideas and some avenues to explore to compliment the work continuing in Tuscon. What remained apparent was border cells are awesome and that we’ve only scratched the surface of the importance of the exogenous DNA nets that are associated with them.

Maize and Cotton Phy 444, the mother of 30 000 border cells

Cotton root tip squash, showing border cells and exDNA

Hand sectioned cotton root tip. There’s that exDNA again

Here’s hoping it will not be another 15 years before we catch up again.

Thank you to the CRDC and UNE for making the trip possible and to Martha, Gilberto and David for being such excellent hosts.