About the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group
In the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group (MPEG) led by Dr Sandy Hetherington our mission is therefore to take an interdisciplinary ‘Molecular Palaeobotany’ approach, combining studies of fossil plants with investigation of developmental and genetic networks in living species to characterise the origin and evolution of key land plant innovations.
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 2023: Welcome to our new honours project student Kuo Xu!
- October 2022: Sandy's work on root evolution was featured on the BBC Future
- April 2022: Tea and Sandy's book review "An expedition to a tropical Arctic" out in Current Biolog
Information about our work beyond the lab including outreach, blog posts and the group in the news