Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge

06/06/2026

Shape Makers: How plants take shape

Just as bricks build a house, cells build a plant.

At this year's Festival of Plants at Cambridge University Botanic Garden we are inviting visitors to investigate how plants control cell size and numbers to create the huge diversity of shapes found in the leaves and flowers we see every day.

Visit us to:
Hunt for different shaped leaves
Dissect a flower
Build your own LEGO leaf.

Thank you to our amazing scientists!

05/06/2026

🌿🔬 Join us this Saturday at the Festival of Plants! 🔬🌿
Come and explore our science stand: Shape Makers: How Plants Take Shape 🌱

📆 Saturday 6 June 2026
Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Did you know that, just like bricks build a house, cells build a plant? 🤯 Discover how plants carefully control the size and number of their cells to create the incredible variety of shapes we see in leaves and flowers every day.

🌼 What you can do at our stand:

🌿 Go on a leaf shape hunt
🌸 Dissect a flower and explore its structure
🧱 Build your own LEGO leaf
🔍 Learn how plants “design” themselves

It’s a fun, hands-on way for curious minds of all ages to uncover the hidden science behind the beauty of plants. 🌺
We can’t wait to see you there! 🌷✨

01/06/2026

Free lunchtime public talk 1pm this Thursday (4 June)

The search for life beyond the solar system

Speaker: Professor Nikku Madhusudhan (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge)

When: 1pm on Thursday 4 June 2026

Venue: Sainsbury Laboratory, 47 Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LR

Is there life beyond Earth? Join Professor Nikku Madhusudhan (Institute of Astronomy) as he explores the new frontiers of Hycean worlds and the search for life beyond the solar system.

From detecting distant worlds to finding the building blocks of habitability, this free lunchtime public talk will take you on a journey to the edges of our cosmic neighbourhood.

More details on our website slcu.cam.ac.uk

23/05/2026

Don't miss this - fascinating science from a passionate scientist

What if one of the oldest crops on Earth could help improve both mental health and the future of sustainable farming? 🌱

Join Dr Nadia Mohd-Radzman at our May Science on Sundays talk entitled: Broad ’n Mind: Broad beans for improved mental and planetary health.

📅 Sunday 24 May 2026
🕝 2.30pm
📍 Cambridge University Botanic Garden
🎟 Free with normal Garden admission
👨‍👩‍👧 Suitable for ages 12+

This 30 minute talk will explore the surprising power of broad beans (fava beans), from nutrition and mental wellbeing, to helping to promote sustainable agriculture.

Part of the Science on Sundays series bringing the latest discoveries in plant science to visitors in fun, accessible talks.

31/10/2025

🎃 Pumpkin under the microscope reveals spectral secrets behind glowing flesh 👻

Ever wondered what a pumpkin looks like under the microscope?

This Halloween we took a closer look at what makes pumpkins so brilliantly orange and it turns out there’s more to this spooky squash than meets the eye!

Raymond Wightman teamed up with Daniel Sparrow to put this variety of pumpkin popular with carvers through the imaging arsenal at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge.

🔪 A 1cm square slice was cut from a classic carving pumpkin that is famous for its spooky orange glow. Using a Keyence digital microscope, they captured intricate details of a 2mm square of the pumpkin’s outer skin.

🔬 A piece of the interior flesh was then placed under the Raman microscope, where a near-infrared laser revealed strong beta-carotene peaks in the spectrum, which is the pigment responsible for that rich orange colour.

❄️ 🔬 Another fragment was flash-frozen in slush nitrogen, cryofractured, coated with gold/palladium and imaged in the cryo-SEM (cryo-scanning electron microscope). This technique exposed the beautifully packed oval cells that make up the pumpkin’s edible flesh.

Thanks to Daniel and Raymond for the seasonal inspiration.

Happy Halloween from the SLCU Microscopy Core Facility team! 🎃🔬🕸️

06/10/2025

🌱✨ Get hands-on with plant science at Big Biology Day in 10am-4pm this Saturday 11 October 2025! ✨🌱

Join us for a day packed with fun, interactive plant science activities! Discover the hidden wonders of the plant world:

🔹 Make your own seed necklace
🔹 Test your skills with seed matching games
🔹 Explore plants with hexagon-shaped cells. What does that mean for their strength?
🔹 Reveal hidden UV patterns on petals just like bees see them! 🐝🌸

We’re thrilled to be joined by the Science and Plants for Schools team, who’ll be showcasing exciting career paths in plant science and sharing top resources for teachers.

Plus, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden team will be diving into the fascinating world of pollen!

📅 Saturday 11 October 2025 10am-4pm
📍 Cambridge
🎟️ FREE entry – no booking required!

Organised by Cambridge biologists, Big Biology Day brings together over 40 organisations for a celebration of all things biology. Don’t miss it!

🔬🌿🧬

05/09/2025

13/06/2025

13/06/2025

🌿Join us for our next Science on Sundays talk:
Patterns and Form: Lessons from Plants
by Dr Neha Bhatia from Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge.

⏰ This Sunday 15th June at 2.30pm
📍Botanic Garden Classroom in the Schools’ Garden.

Nature has provided us with many beautiful patterns and forms to admire, from the patterns on butterfly wings and stripes on a zebra to the striking arrangements of leaves and flowers in plants.

A fundamental question in biology is how living forms and patterns are generated and how they evolve in nature. Plants offer an attractive system in which to study this question. Dr Bhatia will discuss the variety of techniques used to understand the genetically controlled mechanisms of pattern formation and the development of plant form.

🌱This series of free, informal, monthly science talks brings the latest discoveries in plant science to our visitors in a 30 minute nutshell.

No need to book - just come along. Free with normal Garden admission. Suitable for adults and children aged 12+.

Find out more on our website: https://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/science-on-sundays-june-15/