Nicholas Desnoyer Makes Science Communication Bloom

10/14/2026

People love flowers. They have them in their homes and visit gardens to admire their colors and scents. For Nicholas Desnoyer, a postdoctoral researcher at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK, this universal appeal is a powerful tool to spark curiosity about the development of living organisms. His science communication project, OpenFlower, creates novel designer flowers and plant development films for education and art. The project has earned him the Society for Developmental Biology Trainee Science Communication Award, which recognizes outstanding outreach efforts by student and postdoctoral members of the developmental biology community.

Arabidopsis thaliana seed germination time-lapse by Desnoyer.

For Desnoyer, the idea of capitalizing on nature’s beauty as a teaching tool germinated during his doctoral studies in plant biology at the University of Zürich. As part of that research, he conducted live imaging of plant fertilization and flowering, becoming, as he describes, a “micro cinematographer” with privileged access to scientific knowledge and tools, including state-of-the-art microscopes. He realized that these biological phenomena were too captivating to remain confined to the laboratory.

At the same time, Desnoyer was teaching an undergraduate course on floral genetics using Arabidopsis thaliana in which he combined mutations to produce a large, pink, multi-petaled flower. Compared to the original white one, the flower looked entirely new, so much so that even researchers familiar with Arabidopsis could not easily recognize it. This mutant flower captured Desnoyer’s imagination, leading him to delve into the literature on flower phenotypes. The result was a flower design handbook featuring workflows for breeding and genetically modifying plants, along with pictures of the novel phenotypes these pipelines produce.

Normal Arabidopsis thaliana and Desnoyer’s genetically engineered flowers.

Inspired by the outreach potential of both live imaging and engineered flowers, Desnoyer began sharing his plant development videos and flower engineering handbooks on Twitter and on his website. He soon realized that the two could evolve into a larger science communication project. On the same day he defended his thesis, he held a public art exhibition in Zurich, where he showcased the movies and the mutant flowers he had engineered in the lab. Visitors were fascinated by observing plant development in such detail and by seeing flowers that existed only in that room. Their interest inspired Desnoyer to create OpenFlower.

Desnoyer’s public art exhibition.

OpenFlower is an emerging nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom that creates novel designer flowers for educational and artistic purposes. It presents a collection of these flowers, along with the genetic engineering methods used to create them. A manual explains how to genetically “paint” flowers and “sculpt” them by modifying the position and shape of their organs. These designer flowers allow learners to observe and manipulate development while introducing key biotechnology concepts. OpenFlower seeks to provide these and other resources for use in university courses, workshops, and outreach events.

Educators have begun using these resources in the classroom. Margaret Frank, an instructor at Cornell University, uses Desnoyer’s movies to help students connect theory with real biological processes. “OpenFlower”, she says, “inspires emerging researchers to look deeper into the underlying cellular dynamics of development”.

The project has also resonated with the public. People often share photos with Desnoyer of flowers they encounter in the outside world, noticing patterns and details they might previously have overlooked. For Desnoyer, this shift in perception is the most meaningful outcome.

Despite its success, continuing the project after Desnoyer finished graduate school proved challenging. As Desnoyer puts it, OpenFlower “completely leans into beauty being an application of biology”—not usually a priority in academia. And from a practical standpoint, by focusing on public engagement, OpenFlower sits outside typical academic projects where publishing new discoveries is a key measure of success.

Desnoyer found the supportive home he was seeking in the laboratory of Sophien Kamoun at The Sainsbury Laboratory, where he is currently developing the interactive flowers. He dreams about creating an OpenFlower design studio, a space that anyone can visit. He imagines it as a place where, “You can walk in off the streets of London and put on a lab coat, and walk through this lab, and there's a greenhouse, there's a plant working station … and it breaks the barrier that most people have toward getting into a lab and getting their hands dirty.”

For Desnoyer, the way science is communicated strongly shapes how people perceive it. He emphasizes creativity and hands-on engagement over passive learning. Direct real-life experiences like those offered by OpenFlower show the public that an understanding of the natural world is within reach, not just to scientists but to anyone who takes the time to look carefully at the beauty that surrounds them.

Last Updated 10/14/2026