Making the most of sunshine

Very exciting to have Carmen join the team this week as a Senior postdoc.

She’ll be working with Elizabete on work related to improved photosynthesis in wheat. This is part of the BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Delivering Sustainable Wheat, this project aims to decipher the mechanistic regulation of Rubisco synthesis and degradation and how this process impacts photosynthetic efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat.

A big Lancaster and RIPE welcome to JA Siqueira who is the latest addition to the Lancs Photosynthesis and RIPE teams.

This month JA started a postdoc with Elizabete and Doug working on Rubisco regulation, with a focus on cowpea and soybean within the RIPE project.

New paper out from Tamara and Marjorie in the Lundgren Lab, looking at the potential of GOLDEN2-LIKE transcription factors to aid in the engineering of improved crops.

Now online at Plants People Planet.

Well done Tamara and Marj!

There are currently 2 opportunities to the group of Sam Taylor for either a PhD or MRes project.

The PhD project is a fully funded place looking at wheat crop canopies, photosynthesis, physiology, and modelling.
Details, eligibility and application process are described here.

Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Sam about the project and their fit to it.
Please also carefully check you are eligible for this funded place, importantly, please be aware that “UK home” students can include people without UK citizenship, but you need to meet some rules for residency status.

Review of applications will start 25th August, with the successful candidate ideally able to start October 2023.

The MRes place is looking at the potential of solar-tracking photovoltaics to help plants within agrivoltaics systems.
Please check the details described here. This is a tuition-only place, and doesn’t come with a stipend.

We are super excited and very thankful to the Wolfson Foundation for the recently announced round of funding which includes new support for expanding our plant research facilities in the Lancaster Environment Centre.

This will enable us to expand and improve our capabilities to investigate plant response to change spanning from the whole plant level to physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of crops and wild species. This project is led primarily by Marj, supported by Sam, and with Elizabete, Steve, Ian, and Doug also involved.

Big welcome to Jacqueline who has joined us starting from today!
She’s here for a 7 month research visit from Brazil to continue her postdoc work looking at plant responses to silica nanoparticles.

A slightly delayed but nonetheless warm welcome to Armida and Caty who join the team to work on the RIPE project.

Armida joins as a postdoc and Caty is joining as a biochemistry technician.

They’ll both be contributing to our work on rubisco regulation in cowpea and soybean to contribute to delivering improved varieties to farmers, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa.

Update: applications are now closed.

A new role in the team is now advertised as part of work on photosynthesis, Rubisco and wheat with Elizabete.

This Plant Physiologist postdoc role is part of the BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Delivering Sustainable Wheat, this project aims to decipher the mechanistic regulation of Rubisco synthesis and degradation and how this process impacts photosynthetic efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat. The wider project goal is to contribute to optimising the wheat canopy function and interactions between source and sink. Initially for 3 years, there is the potential to extend this position.

Applications close 14 June, with interviews to take place shortly after.
This position is available to start as soon as possible for the successful candidate.

Informal enquiries are welcome, but applications must be made via the jobs portal at the link below.
Full details, instructions on what we are looking for, and how to apply, can be found here: https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=0491-23

If you or someone you know are looking to do a MRes in plant science, and have an interest in photosynthesis, and the potential of agricvoltaics to contribute to cleaner energy production on farms, then this position could be just right.

Sam & Elizabete have a MRes position advertised which aims to better understand the potential benefits of solar-tracking PV, this project will test how patterns of shade proposed for plant stress management affect crop performance, in particular coordination of photosynthesis with water use and/or photoprotection.

For full details on funding and eligibility check here: https://tinyurl.com/2s3r8s62

Potential students are strongly encouraged to check the link above and get in touch with Sam if they are interested.

Fay has recently joined us to begin a PhD on the heat tolerance of photosynthesis in cowpea.
She’ll be working with Elizabete and Sam.

Welcome to Lancaster Fay!