CROSS-POLLINATIONS // Public seminar 2. Transparency, visibility and accessibility of botanical science

Wednesday 5 April 2023

This second edition of the lecture series deals with issues of transparency, visibility and accessibility in scientific research. What are the merits and challenges of making scientific research on plant life transparent, visible and accessible to the general public? Dr. Francesca Quattrocchio, one of the lead researchers of the Plant Development and Genetics research group, will give a talk about how the results from petunia research have been applied in practice. Hans Mulder (Allard Pierson collection specialist) will talk about 17th century naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian.

Date: 5 April 2023
Time: 17:00 -19:00
Location: BG 3
Room: VOX-POP

Programme

17:00 – 17:45 dr. Francesca Quattrocchio: “The achievements of petunia-based research”
18:00 – 18:30 Hans Mulder: "Maria Sibylla Merian: the first ecologist?"
18:30 – 19.00 Q&A

Speakers

Francesca Quattrocchio

Francesca Quatrrocchio is of Italian origin. She arrived in the Netherlands with an European fellowship for Molecular Biology, did her PhD at the VU where she started studying how genes are regulated in their expression using flower pigmentation in petunia as model. Since the doctorate, her research focused on processes that determine the storage of important molecules (pigments, scent, sugars, proteins) in plant cells. Currently she is an assistant professor at the department of Plant Development and Genetics of the UvA, she exploits the petunia mutants collection to find out which genes control the formation of storage compartments inside cells. The achievements of this research have always interested local and foreign companies in the plant ornamental, agricultural and food sector.

Hans Mulder

Hans Mulder (1961) is the curator for natural history Allard Pierson, the collections of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and keeper of Artis Library. He teaches and publishes on natural history and the history of the book. Mulder co-edited the facsimile of M.S. Merian, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Lannoo, 2016) and wrote De ontdekking van de natuur (TerraLannoo, 2021) for which he received the Jan Wolkersprijs for best nature book in the Netherlands.

Important Information

What? Public Seminar 2: Transparency, visibility and accessibility of botanical science
When? 5 April 2023, 17:00-19:00
Where? VOX-POP, Binnengasthuistraat 9
Costs? Free!

Can't get enough of Cross-Pollinations? Discover the full public programme here!

About CROSS-POLLINATIONS: Art and the Petunia Collection

The lecture series is part of the public programme of the exhibition CROSS-POLLINATIONS: Art and the Petunia Collection. CROSS-POLLINATIONS is on display from Thursday 30 March until Thursday 13 April at VOX-POP, the creative space of the humanities faculty. The exhibition draws on artistic research to explore the porous boundaries between the humanities and natural sciences, between discourse and matter, and between plant and human worlds. CROSS-POLLINATIONS is part of a collaboration between the faculties of the Humanities and the Natural Sciences encompassing a digital platform and physical exhibition. The exhibition at VOX-POP can be visited between 10.00 and 17.00 on workdays.

BG 3

Room VOX-POP
Binnengasthuisstraat 9
1012 ZA Amsterdam