Good news, farmers and gardeners: we may be one step closer to finding a solution to growing larger crops and improving a plant’s resilience to changing climates. The secret lies in microtubules—tiny protein structures found within plant cells. Understanding how these structures behave is of interest to many researchers, one of them being UBC Mathematics PhD candidate Tim Tian.
As of 2025, scientists have identified more than 380,000 plant species worldwide. Despite knowing a good deal about them and how they grow—how their cells divide, how light influences their growth, and how molecular proteins make growth possible—there is still much we have yet to discover about how all the parts of plants work together to make living, responsive organisms.
Here’s what we do know: within the cells of many living things are small protein structures called microtubules. In plant cells, microtubules are thin, flexible rods that line the inner surface of the cell. They are constantly growing, shrinking, and reorienting along the inside of the cell membrane. The positioning of microtubules influences how cellulose fibres are laid down along the cell wall, dictating how and where the cells expand. This ultimately determines how a plant grows. Microtubules also aid in cell division and help plant cells adapt to external stresses such as cold temperatures or touch. Tim’s research lies in applying mathematical tools such as computational modeling to offer more realistic models of how these cells and microtubules behave.
Collaborating with Dr. Geoffrey O. Wasteneys, a professor in the department of Botany at UBC, and working under the supervision of Dr. Eric Cytrynbaum and Dr. Colin Macdonald from the UBC Mathematics department, Tim is looking to gain a better understanding of how microtubules organize themselves within plant cells. While previous models exist, they assumed that microtubules grow along straight (geodesic) paths. Using mathematical modelling to simulate more realistic microtubule behaviours, Tim aimed to take into account how bending energy, geometry, and random interactions within cells affect microtubule orientation. What he found was that microtubules should have a tendency to grow in certain directions—ones that minimize the amount of bending that they endure. These tendencies within individual microtubules add up, influencing the overall organization of many microtubules within a cell so that they organize in the same direction. These results were published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this past summer.
“It’s an exciting time in this field!” Tim explains. “There are many ideas floating around and many models being proposed to explain microtubule organization. One challenge is figuring out how all these ideas fit together.” Understanding how plants grow, sense light, and respond to stresses can not only help inform the agricultural sector by helping farmers grow larger, more resilient crops but can also aid bioengineers in developing new platforms for drug discovery.
Tim’s work is just getting started! Having organized a workshop at the Lorentz Center in Leiden, Netherlands, in the summer of 2025, he is now preparing to meet with colleagues at the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) in May 2026 to share ideas and continue exploring microtubule behaviours on more complex surfaces.
