News

The MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory Community Building and Outreach Committee participated in the inaugural MSU Detroit Early Honors Experience, a collaboration between Detroit Public Schools Community District and several departments at MSU. The day PRL participated in was focused on teaching Detroit high schoolers plant science concepts and research techniques out in the field.

In plants, the jasmonate signaling pathway helps plants control their defense responses to environmental stresses. Like the human body, plants respond differently to individual threats. Just as people wouldn’t get a fever due to a sprained ankle, plants deal with harmful elements in particular ways. A study from the Howe lab looks at how plants respond to environmental threats in the correct way.

MSU researchers reveal a biological pathway that could be targeted to breed more resilient crops.

Mentored by MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory members, four undergraduate students participated in laboratory research this summer, as a part of the Plant Genomics @ Michigan State University Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Binod Basyal is a postdoctoral research associate at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab within the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. He tells us about his research, his background and the importance of optimism in solving complex problems.

Two PRL graduate students have been accepted to the Plant Biotechnology for Health and Sustainability Graduate Training Program. This two-year program provides training and career opportunities for students who are interested in research areas related to plant biotechnology.

Research from the Brandizzi lab, led by postdoc Naveen Sharma, helps to better characterize the role of carbonic anhydrases in Arabidopsis thaliana, focusing on βCA1 and βCA5.

Berkley Walker is an Assistant Professor in Plant Biology at Michigan State University, USA. He leads a research lab which focuses on understanding how photosynthesis interacts with plant metabolism, with the aim of developing more efficient and nutritious crops.

Allen Trevizo, a recent Michigan State University grad from both the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Genomics & Molecular Genetics undergraduate programs, started his career path with dental school in mind, a far cry from where he is today.

Environmental factors like temperature play a large role in how well a plant will grow and if it reaches its full potential. Using computer simulations, two lab groups at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory teamed up to investigate how isoprene levels and temperature affect the thylakoid membrane of plants at the nanoscale.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) a $12 million Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences competitive renewal grant to continue research in photosynthetic energy capture, conversion and storage. The three-year grant (2023-2026) will allow PRL scientists to continue in their mission to understand how photosynthetic organisms function and thrive in natural environments, and enable the development of new technologies that improve human lives.

This scientific connection led to a unique collaboration between Quinn and Benning, who teamed up and received a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the role that betaine lipids from a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with algae play in coral bleaching. 

Postdoctoral researcher from the Kramer lab, Liana Acevedo-Siaca, discusses her career thus far and her research interests in a conversation with the Society of Experimental Biology.

Yongsig Kim, a senior research associate in the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory in Michigan State University’s College of Natural Science, is leading MSU’s $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems program in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture that is responsible for reimagining what CEA will look like in a low-carbon world with lower carbon dioxide emissions and growing new vegetation that leaves a low-carbon footprint.

After excelling as a postdoctoral researcher, Keni Cota-Ruiz embarks on an exciting new chapter as he accepts a new position as an assistant professor of biology at Utica University. At Utica, he will be teaching undergraduate courses and labs as well as continuing research he began at the PRL, looking at how the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana responds to an environment where it is exposed to an excess of salt.

A persisting falsehood resurfaced on Facebook this week, with users sharing a video suggesting that the federal agency found that a few of the popular house plants would be enough to save a human trapped inside without airflow. Assistant Professor Berkley Walker helps to dispel this myth.

Postdoctoral Researcher Amit K. Singh from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory Ducat lab was awarded the 2023 Postdoctoral Excellence in Research Award from the MSU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation for his research in green biotechnology.

Undergraduate researchers from six MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory groups participated in the 2023 University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum, three taking home first-place awards for their poster presentations.

Graduate student Hannah Parks and postdoctoral researcher María Santos Merino have been awarded the 2023 Anton Lang Memorial Awards at a ceremony which took place on Monday, April 24, 2023. This year’s lecture was given by University Distinguished Professor Thomas D. Sharkey from Michigan State University.

The interview is with Joanne Thomson about her role and contributions to the recent NASA experiment provided by the Brandizzi lab.

Three groups from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory participated in the 2023 MSU Science Festival. The Community Building and Outreach Committee, the Vermaas lab and the Sharkey lab volunteered to bring PRL science to the public at the university’s annual festival.

Michigan State University’s renowned plant researchers are collaborating on solutions to grow more abundant, nutritious and resilient plants that will feed a growing population.

Cyanobacteria, photosynthetic microorganisms which have widespread uses in the production of pigments, antioxidants and supplements and potential ones in biofuels and plastics, have a new way to communicate with one another to control their population, researchers from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory Ducat lab show.

PRL faculty member Federica Brandizzi discusses agricultural innovation. The world’s population is growing, and climate change is continuing to impact the crops we need to feed that growing population.

The moon holds answers, and a Michigan State University plant biologist is bringing those answers within reach. Patience, creativity and a cheerful fearlessness are turning insights buried in plant seeds into pathways to the very survival of the human race.

Found in acidic volcanic hot springs, the extremophilic alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae contains a unique process that allows them to survive in extreme environments. Researchers, led by graduate student Anne Steensma from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, are looking at this process and its potential to change how we understand the ways photosynthetic organisms adapt to environmental challenges like high temperatures. 

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, or GLBRC, another five years of funding to develop sustainable alternatives to gasoline, diesel and other hydrocarbon fuels as well as products currently made from petroleum. The center will receive $27.5 million for 2023 research.

Michigan State University has again been named a top producer of Fulbright U.S. Scholars — establishing MSU as the only research institution in the nation to achieve this status in the last nine consecutive years. With nine scholars, including the PRL's Gregg Howe, MSU is also notably among the top five-highest-producing institutions this year.

By explaining a photosynthetic peculiarity in switchgrass, MSU researchers from the Walker lab may have unlocked even more of the plant’s potential.

Researchers from the Vermaas lab created a more efficient tool to solve the problem of ring piercings in molecular simulations. This work is published in Biomolecules.

Complicated sets of biological data can be challenging to extrapolate meaningful information from. Wanting to find a better way to look at this data led Berkley Walker, assistant professor at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, to team up with statistician and Assistant Professor Chih-Li Sung from the Department of Statistics and Probability.

A new study from researchers at Michigan State University underscores that we still have much to learn regarding how plants will function — and how nutritious they will be — as more carbon enters our atmosphere.

For research, plants are frequently grown under stable lighting, which does not reflect natural conditions. In a series of experiments with changing light conditions, simulating the natural interplay of light and shadow, researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam-Golm and the College of Natural Science at MSU reveal the importance of two key proteins for the dynamic control of photosynthesis.

Donghee Hoh is the 2022 recipient of the Kende Award, which acknowledges the best doctoral dissertation in plant sciences at Michigan State University over the last two years.