Dr. Facundo Romani will speak on “Macroevolution of plants and the transition of plants to the land environment”

Plants are vital for life on Earth, providing food, oxygen, and shaping ecosystems. Their origins of land plants trace back over 500 million years, when plants first transitioned from water to a terrestrial environment, a critical step in Earth’s evolution. While we understand how flowering plants grow, less is known about non-flowering plants. The liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, is more related to the early land plants than to flowering plants. This tiny plant can be found everywhere, including in between the bricks of the alleys in Cambridge. Its study is helping scientists study plant development and understand their evolution and how plants adapt to the environment. In my lab we use genetics in Marchantia to address fundamental questions on how plant cells grows and differentiate to shape the body of plants and how this could be used for biotechnological applications.

Facundo Romani is a plant biologist at the Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge. He did his PhD from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina and is a Leverhulme Early-Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge 2021. 

Mr. Gordon Chesterman will speak on “Printing Banknotes… and hindering the forger”

This talk will focus on printing banknotes and the many varied features to try and hinder the forger. Banknotes still sit at the pinnacle of all printed products, each note passes through several presses, using steel plates still engraved by human hand. Despite most transactions now cashless, banknotes still have a role and, since we encounter them less often, forgeries are easier to pass-off, hence the need for even more sophisticated printed notes.

Gordon Chesterman, a newly-minted Emeritus Fellow, joined the University long before most of our current students were born. He has been Director of the Careers Service and, pictured here, the University’s Senior Proctor, and he also served as a College tutor. His first job was with the De La Rue Company, printing banknotes for over 80 countries world-wide after attending the London College of Printing. 

Tea, coffee, and nibbles will be served from 5:45 pm onwards.