About the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group
In the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group (MPEG) led by Dr Sandy Hetherington we study the key innovations that enabled plants to colonise and radiate over the Earth’s surface.
Our current focus is to investigate the origin and evolution of the phloem, the food transport tissue in plants.
To investigate the evolution of the phloem and other key land plant innovations we combine evidence from fossils, studies of development from living species and comparative omics approaches.
We are very well placed here in the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences to carry out this research; with the great growth, omics and imaging facilities in the School of Biological Sciences and the brilliant collections of the two project partners, the living collections in the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and fossil collections in the National Museums of Scotland.
Follow us on Twitter
Keep up to date with the progress of the group on Twitter @MPEG_Edinburgh
Latest News
- January 2022: Welcome to our new postdoc Rafael!
- January 2022: New review paper about the periderm led by Laura Ragni out in Annual Review of Plant Biology
- November 2021: Congratulations to Holly-Anne who was awarded the Botanical Society of Scotland student thesis prize!
- October 2021: Welcome to our new PhD students Laura, Tea and Sannie
- August 2021: New description of Asteroxylon mackiei from the Rhynie chert published in eLife
Information about our work beyond the lab including outreach, blog posts and the group in the news