MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory

Classes might be out for summer, but our undergraduate researchers ended their spring semesters on a high note! Congrats to Breana (Benning Lab), Abdolla (Vermaas Lab), Cheyanne & Elisa (Kerfeld Lab) for acing their award-winning presentations in Plant Science & Biochemistry!

What's the future of plant science? Maybe the question is what plant science can do for our future: @MSUDOEPlantLab director Federica Brandizzi met with WI and MI House & Senate staffers to discuss how programs like @GLBioenergy help drive U.S. leadership in the global bioeconomy

@doescience @ENERGY @michiganstateu Read the full story: prl.natsci.msu.edu/news-and-event…

A new $13.6 million grant from @doescience will advance photosynthesis research in the @MSUDOEPlantLab over the next 3 years, shedding light on applications across human health, biotechnology & agriculture — extending a 60-year partnership between @energy and @MichiganstateU

Congratulations, Christoph! Dr. Benning served as director of the MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab from 2015 until 2025. A renowned biologist and respected mentor, his preeminent work revolves around lipid metabolism and the maintenance of the photosynthetic membrane in plants & algae.

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. #event-details/ef8a3026-6855-49bb-942a-f0857ed00d31" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…

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. #event-details/433d9ffb-caa5-429c-91a4-61faae84754c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…

Join us for our next Tuesday Noon Seminar series with Amanda Koenig and Hiruni Weerasooriya and tune in to their respective topics! Click this link to learn more about what to expect from their presentations. #event-details/1d85b3db-60aa-46db-ac29-5d51fa5a7f85" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…

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. #event-details/50f133c3-ed4d-4f9a-a764-cf0450715081" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…

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. #event-details/7b911f85-781d-4313-a160-07b904481906" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…

Ever stared down a pile of laundry that feels insurmountable? Plant cells can relate: when unfolded proteins pile up in the ER, chronic stress can lead to programmed cell death. Learn more in a new review from the @msubrandizzilab in @TrendsPlantSci: buff.ly/n5myZ8r

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. #event-details/4bf5d95a-0dbc-41f2-9e3a-c52ff16fbcdb" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/index.aspx#eve…

Photorespiration is a dynamic metabolic process, contributing to energy balance, stress resilience, and nutrient flux. Read more in the article titled "Understanding plant resilience by putting photosynthesis and photorespiration in the metabolic context" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41784799/

Join Mariana Silva Artur of Wageningen University & Research for her seminar titled "Dry and Durable: How Seed Maturation Bridges Evolution and Resilience" on Monday, March 9th, 2026 at 4:00 PM in the Plant Biology Labs, room 247.

Join Rory Craig of the University of Melbourne for his seminar titled "Auxenochlorella as a New Algal Model for Plant Biology and Bioengineering" on Monday, February 23rd, 2026 at 4:00 PM in the Plant Biology Labs, room 247.

When importing nuclear-encoded precursor proteins into chloroplasts, chaperones are essential. Check out this article titled "Functional Interaction Between Toc75 POTRA1 Domain and Tic22‐III in the Intermembrane Space During Chloroplast Protein Import" pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12…

Protein structure serves as a critical bridge between sequence and functional annotation. Check out this new article published by The Plant Cell titled "Structure-Guided Discovery of Protein Functions in Plants". academic.oup.com/plcell/advance…

The emission of isoprene from plants, first discovered in the 1950s, was relatively unknown in the science community until the 1990s. Check out this article titled "Revisiting plant isoprene emission: From atmospheric chemistry to plant stress resilience" sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Join us for our Tuesday Noon Seminar series with Anne Steensma for her seminar titled "Extremophile Algae for Biotechnology and More" on Tuesday, February 17th at 12:00 PM at the Plant Biology Labs, room 168. #event-details/20d93cb3-c5ec-4e66-bb8f-1eaf50254b59" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…

Join us on Monday, February 16th at 4:00 PM for our MPS Graduate Student Seminar with Hannah Cushman and Michael Ozolins! Click the link below for more information and details regarding their respective topics. We hope to see you there! #event-details/3f828627-a04a-4d41-ae33-632b3c922222" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">events.natsci.msu.edu/#event-details…