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News

A field of corn
December 5, 2024
Plant and agricultural sciences must make rapid and significant changes to ensure global food security in the face of climate change, according to a Michigan State University-led international group of plant researchers.
Grey curly lines connected to red, orange and green curly lines.
December 4, 2024
New research from the Walker lab is looking at ways to help plants adapt by introducing engineered enzymes that will make the plants more heat tolerant.
Birch trees in the fall
November 28, 2024
Some trees seem able to adjust to climate extremes without altering an important process for their growth, according to new research from Michigan State University.
Hope Dzik holds a water sample from Wisconsin River at Upham Woods
November 20, 2024
Thomashow lab undergrad Hope Dzik participated in Freshwater@UW this summer.
Looking into a greenhouse, researchers in lab coats and masks work with paper birch trees in pots. The trees are about three feet in height.
November 18, 2024
Researchers from the Walker lab are looking at how paper birch trees are acclimatizing to changing environments through how they manage a vital plant process called photorespiration.
Gregg Howe and Leah Johnson
November 12, 2024
This October, two students in the Molecular Plant Sciences graduate program were awarded the inaugural MPS Outstanding Paper Award.
Earth as seen from space
November 4, 2024
MSU experts can comment on policies and issues impacting the environment that will be influenced by the Nov. 5 election.
A computer rendering. A round ball made of smaller dots colored yellow, purple, and green floats in the upper right corner. Another made of yellow, white and red dots floats in the bottom left. Green ovals float inbetween the balls.
November 1, 2024
Using molecular dynamics, researchers disprove a long-held view on the permeability of carboxysome shells, revealing a new path for both carbon dioxide and research in photosynthesis.
MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz delivers remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Plant and Environmental Sciences Building on Oct. 25
October 25, 2024
A state-of-the-art Plant and Environmental Sciences Building is officially under construction, accelerating climate-critical discoveries and advancing Michigan State University’s excellence in food security.
A person presents outside, another raises their hand. They are wearing a backpack that states
October 10, 2024
For the second year, the PRL Community Building and Outreach Committeeparticipated in the MSU Detroit Early Honors Experience.
Leaves and dirt
October 3, 2024
Gregg Howe is one of many MSU researchers involved in MSU's Global Center
Two people stand in front of a scientific poster
October 3, 2024
This summer, the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory kicked off its Summer Research Experience, a program designed to bring students to Michigan State University’s campus and participate in plant research.
The proposed outside of the new MSU Plant and Environmental Sciences Building. Please note the building rendering is not yet finalized.
September 6, 2024
On Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees voted to authorize construction of a new Plant and Environmental Sciences Building
Six confocal images of tobacco, three showing expression of VAP27-1 and VAP27-3, three showing chloroplasts, and three showing those images merged.
September 5, 2024
Researchers have discovered what bridges two important pieces of cellular machinery in plants
Berkley Walker (right) shows Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz (left) around the lab.
August 26, 2024
Researchers Berkley Walker and Hiroshi Maeda were awarded $1.9 million to study how plants make critical choices during photosynthesis
A computer rendering of bacterial microcompartment shell proteins. There are five round shells and a flat sheet.
August 19, 2024
The organelle can arrange itself in a sheet or a shell — but that doesn’t change how it operates
An illustration of the complex, diversly structured and multilayered organization of Aspergillus fungal cell wall. The inset shows the antifungal drug caspofungin inhibiting the biosynthesis of β-1,3-glucan.
August 7, 2024
Researchers have found how fungi rebuild, reinforce their cell walls after exposure to antifungals, opening opportunities to improve current therapies
A close up of a hand holding a tube with seeds floating in water inside.
July 30, 2024
Researchers in the Brandizzi lab have discovered two proteins that work in tandem to control an important response to cell stress
A person presents in front of a scientific poster
July 25, 2024
Five PRL undergraduate students participated in the 2024 2024 Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experiences.
Maxwell Harman
July 22, 2024
The fellowship provides opportunities for international exchange programs in drug discovery, agriculture and medicine.
The back of a shirt. It reads Gutterball, and has bowling pins and a bowling ball depicted
July 16, 2024
Gutter Ball returned on June 12, with Tony Schilmiller claiming his fourth championship.
: The Artemis I launch stage is illuminated against a black sky at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s white Orion spacecraft is fixed to the top of the tall, cylindrical orange and white Space Launch System rocket. Bright yellow plumes are gushing from the bottom of the rocket as it begins its launch.
July 12, 2024
NASA awarded its Silver Achievement Medal to a multi-institution team that includes researchers from the College of Natural Science
A large green poplar leaf speckled with water droplets
July 8, 2024
Spartan researchers have developed a way to get poplar trees to produce valuable molecules usually derived from shark livers
A colorful molecular model. Green and purple ribbons depicting the heterodimeric cisprenyltransferase complex floating above gray, red and blue dots depicting a cell membrane
July 1, 2024
Award will support the Vermaas lab’s work in drug discovery through molecular dynamics research in plants. 
A compter generated graphic showing 6 blue cylindars coming off of a lighter blue center. A red piece in the center is circled.
June 20, 2024
This analysis and review suggests that the different families of the OCP use similar structural determinants for non-photochemical quenching.
Maxwell Harman
June 11, 2024
Maxwell Harman shares his insights on his acceptance to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
The printed program from the 2024 Classes Without Quizzes event was designed to look like a blue book for college exams. A closed copy of the program sits on a table showing that the cover reads “Classes Without Quizzes 2024” and has a spot to write a student’s name, subject, class, section, instructor and date. Behind it, a copy of the program is opened to a page featuring presenter Federica Brandizzi and shows how some of her work is helping prepare plants that astronauts can grow on space flights.
May 17, 2024
Alumni and friends of the college gathered to peer into the future of sustainability with Spartan student and faculty experts
Anton Lang
May 16, 2024
Joshua Kaste and Xinyu Fu have been awarded the 2024 Anton Lang Memorial Award. The lecture was given by Robert Last.
A group of 11 people
May 7, 2024
A group of graduate and undergraduate students participated in the 2024 EnergyTech University Prize, making it to the regionals portion of the competition. The contest is organized by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions and challenges students to create and present a business plan in the energy sector.
Ryan Mosley
April 23, 2024
Tags:
staff
For the past fifteen years, Ryan Mosley has been providing IT support for both the Plant Research Laboratory and the Department of Plant Biology. Now, after accepting a new position on the Research Cyberinfrastructure team at MSU, he will be working with researchers all over campus.
A scientific instrument clamps onto a leaf and a screen shows readouts
April 18, 2024
Researchers from across the Michigan State University plant science community, including from eight PRL labs, participated in this year’s Science Festival on campus.
Xiaotong Jiang and Bailey Kleven
April 16, 2024
Graduate students Xiaotong Jiang and Bailey Kleven are the 2024 recipients of the Keegstra and Thomashow Travel Awards.
A computer graphic of the hemes in a crystal
April 10, 2024
Using molecular dynamics, researchers from the Kramer and Vermaas labs showed how electrons move through a crystal, jumping from heme to heme. The researchers found that the rate at which the electrons jump from one heme to another highly depended on the temperature of the crystal.
Cheryl Kerfeld
April 5, 2024
Cheryl Kerfeld was a panelist at an event in Washington, DC commemorating US innovation at the nanoscale.
Several blue droplets ringed by red circles fluoresce against a black background in a microscope image. A scale bar shows the droplets range between about 10 and 20 micrometers in diameter.
April 1, 2024
Spartan researchers join a nationwide team to create a new way to design cell-sized microfactories that could help make medicines, biofuels and more.
Max Harman
March 28, 2024
Max Harman, graduate student in the PRL Walker lab, was awarded a 2024 Michigan Soybean Association Scholarship.