MSU DOE Plant Research Laboratory

Exciting new review from PRL researchers Yosia Mugume, Ph.D., John Froehlich and Christoph Benning 👉️ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tpj.70969

Membranes in the chloroplast and endoplasmic reticulum produce glycerolipids: critical building blocks for cell membranes, including the thylakoid membrane where photosynthesis plays out. Their review examines how this complex metabolic system shifts under maintenance and stress conditions.

Classes might be out for summer, but many of our undergraduate researchers ended their semesters on a high note! Congrats to Abdolla (Vermaas Lab), Breana (Benning Lab), Cheyanne & Elisa (Kerfeld Lab) for their outstanding presentations — which won them awards in the Plant Science and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology categories!

From physicists to science fiction writers, visionaries have long looked to space for new ways to harness the sun's energy and power our growing world. Scientists in the MSU-DOE PRL are instead looking down to Earth's plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, and to the 3.9 billion-year-old process that's sustained its life: photosynthesis.

A $13.6 million grant from the DOE BES program .S. Department of Energy Office of Science is propelling the —where researchers are using cross-cutting science to improve photosynthesis—toward this solar-powered future.

Read more: https://buff.ly/BpdZxpo

Join Verena Krichbaumer of Oxford Brookes University for her seminar titled "On the intEResting structures and functions of the plant ER: from Organella Structures to Biotech" on Monday, April 13th, 2026 @ 4:00 PM in the Plant Biology Labs, room 247.
https://events.natsci.msu.edu/ -details/ef8a3026-6855-49bb-942a-f0857ed00d31

Join Jana U'ren from Washington State University for her seminar titled "Impact of symbiotic interactions on the diversification of metaboluic gene clusters in xylarialean fungi" on Monday, April 6th, 2026 at 4:00 PM at the Plant Biology Laboratories, room 247.
https://events.natsci.msu.edu/ -details/433d9ffb-caa5-429c-91a4-61faae84754c

Join us for our next Tuesday Noon Seminar series with Amanda Koenig and Hiruni Weerasooriya! Their topics:

"The Role of Peroxin Proteins in Actomyosin-Mediated Peroxisome Motility"
- Amanda Koenig, Hu Lab

"The Role of the Dual-Targeted Gamma-glutamyl cyclotransferase-like protein in Green Algae and Land Plants"
- Hiruni Weerasooriya, Hu Lab

For more information about what to expect from their respective presentations, follow this link! https://events.natsci.msu.edu/ -details/1d85b3db-60aa-46db-ac29-5d51fa5a7f85

Join Camilo Parada Rojas from Cornell University for his seminar titled "Applying genomics to improve disease management strategies. From plant immune receptor diversity to pathogen genomic surveillance" on Monday, March 30th, 2026 at 4:00 PM in the Plant Biology Labs, room 247.
https://events.natsci.msu.edu/ -details/50f133c3-ed4d-4f9a-a764-cf0450715081

Join Scott Jackson of the University of Georgies for his seminar titled "Crop Design- Integrating Genomics, Breeding, and Synthetic Biology" on Monday, March 23rd, 2026 at 4:00 PM in the Plant Biology Labs, room 247. https://events.natsci.msu.edu/ -details/7b911f85-781d-4313-a160-07b904481906

Ever stared down a pile of laundry that feels insurmountable?
Plant cells can relate: when unfolded proteins pile up in the Endoplasmic Reticulum, chronic stress can lead to programmed cell death.

Learn more about ER stress can cascade into PCD in a new review from Brandizzi Lab researchers Joanne Thomson in the journal Trends in Plant Science
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360138526000245

Join Jenn Brophy of Stanford University for her seminar titled "Synthetic Genetic Circuit Tools for Understanding and Engineering Plant Resilience" on Monday, March 16th @ 4:00 PM in the Plant Biology Laboratories, room 247.
https://events.natsci.msu.edu/index.aspx -details/4bf5d95a-0dbc-41f2-9e3a-c52ff16fbcdb