From January 26 to January 30, the HeatDDR training course entitled “Plant DNA Damage Response – Basic Knowledge and Imaging Techniques”, organized by Aleš Pečinka and held in Olomouc, brought together early-stage researchers for an intensive and highly interdisciplinary educational event. The workshop focused on advancing fundamental and applied knowledge of the plant DNA Damage Response (DDR), with a strong emphasis on the state-of-the-art imaging, automation, and quantitative analysis.
The training school was attended by nine HeatDDR Ph.D. students and three guest Ph.D. students, creating a collaborative learning environment that encouraged scientific discussion, hands-on experience, and cross-institutional exchange. The program combined introductory lectures with practical laboratory sessions, allowing participants to directly apply theoretical concepts to real experimental workflows.
A central component of the workshop was a series of four in-depth experimental modules, supervised by experts from VIB Ghent, Zeiss, the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Labdeers, and the Institute of Experimental Botany. These sessions provided participants with exposure to a wide range of modern methodologies currently shaping plant molecular biology research:
- Detection of DNA double-strand breaks using comet assays, enabling quantitative assessment of DNA damage at the single-cell level
- Laser-induced DNA damage and live imaging approaches, used to investigate spatial and temporal aspects of DDR signaling
- Immunostaining of γ-H2A.X, including a comparative evaluation of different antibodies and, where applicable, plant species
- Robotics-assisted measurement of seed parameters using Boxeed by Labdeers, demonstrating how automation and high-throughput phenotyping can enhance reproducibility and data quality in plant research
Boxeed, developed by Labdeers, brings the new trend for plant growing and automation, precision, and scalable data acquisition in plant science. Participants had the opportunity to analyze their own seed samples with Boxeed, and to discuss experimental design, data interpretation, and practical challenges associated with automated phenotyping workflows.
Overall, the HeatDDR training school successfully combined fundamental plant biology, advanced imaging, and automated experimental approaches, offering participants valuable practical skills and insight into current technological trends. The event underscored the importance of collaboration between academic institutions and industry partners such as Labdeers, whose Boxeed platform supports innovation and helps train the next generation of plant scientists.
Supported by EU funds MSCA DN
