2:00pm-3:30pm on Saturday 29 March
Times shown are in GMT (UTC +0) up to the 26th March. For events on or after 27th March times are in BST (UTC +1).
Jean Thomas Lecture Theatre, Department of Biochemistry Sanger Building 80 Tennis Court Road, CB2 1GA
Join us to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s pioneering book on Insectivorous Plants.
Dr Francis Neary (former Darwin Correspondence Project editor) will take a look back at how Darwin’s work on the common sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) and the Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula) was 15 years in the making and combined innovative botanical, chemical and physiological studies of how plants caught and digested their prey.
It was one of the experimental projects that Darwin most enjoyed after writing Origin of Species and it spawned many scientific studies and captured the public imagination. This will be followed by two talks that look at the latest developments in the field.
Charlotte Andrew from the Department of Zoology will speak about her PhD research on the devious ways in which Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants) attract and capture their prey and her fieldwork in Borneo.
Professor Ross Waller (Department of Biochemistry) will talk on the predatory behaviour of the group of eukaryotic algae, dinoflagellates and link it to the parasitism of the malaria parasite. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion at the end.
The event will be introduced and chaired by Professor Paul Dupree (Department of Biochemistry).
