Making the most of sunshine

Within the Lancaster Environment Centre a PhD project is available on carboxysome engineering, which is aiming to build upon our previous work towards assembling a cyanobacterial carboxysome in plant chloroplasts. This is the central part of attempts to build a cyanobacterial CCM within plants to boost photosynthetic efficiency.  This project will involve in vitro and in planta analysis of existing transgenics lines, generation of new lines and work to optimise the synthesis and assembly of carboxysomes within plants. This project is co-supervised by Marj Lundgren and is based entirely in Lancaster, though with possibilities to visit national and international collaborators for some aspects of the work. This project would suit a student interested in plant synthetic biology and who has or would like to develop skills in molecular biology, biochemistry, and plant engineering.

Full details including the application process can be found at this link, please note that due to funding this project is only available to students who qualify as UK ‘home’ students: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/graduate-school/phd/phd-opportunities/#building-a-plantbased-carboxysome-to-improve-photosynthesis-371066-1

Informal enquiries from students are welcome, but applications must be submitted using the instructions linked above.

We are currently recruiting several team members including a Specialist Biochemistry Technician, which is a different type of role and can be a better fit for how some people want to contribute to the research.

Rhiannon, one of our RIPE team members and Specialist Molecular Biology Technician shares some thoughts about why this role really suits her:

‘I have been working in the Photosynthesis Team at Lancaster University for over 6 years and my current role is Specialist Molecular Biology Technician. I feel extremely lucky to be part of this diverse team of friendly and supportive scientists. This role enables me to focus on the methods and techniques, in order to plan and complete experiments in an efficient and safe manner. My strengths lie in designing and carrying out high quality, reproducible experiments and supporting post-docs and PhD students by maintaining a well-run and organised lab, and helping with the technical aspects of their research. I like to contribute to publications through writing a methods section, producing a figure or providing feedback on a draft manuscript or conference presentation, but there is less pressure in this role to lead on these outputs, which suits me really well! It’s important to me that the research I do is worthwhile and being part of the RIPE project enables me to contribute to something that aims to improve the lives of the world’s hungriest people.’

Updated 20/03/23: DTP applications for this year are now closed, but the LEC project below is open until March 31st. Details below

We have 2 PhD positions open to application, based wholly or partly at Lancaster!

These are both led by Doug, with different collaborators and program specifics. Some details are below but please carefully read the linked pages for scheme details as they are quite different.

As part of the BBSRC NorthWestBio DTP a project is available on understanding more about the possibilities for biotechnology using bacterial microcompartments as inspiration. This project is co-supervised by Leighton Pritchard (Strathclyde) who is a computational biologist and Mark McLaughlin (Belfast, chemistry). The project is Lancaster based but will involve some time spent at Strathclyde. The student will get to experience an interdisciplinary project by combining in vitro molecular biology and biochemical analyses with in silico approaches to expand our understanding of the potential to use modified BMCs for biotechnology. It would suit a candidate with interests in molecular biology, biochemistry, protein engineering, and computational approaches.

Full details including the application process and eligibility for the DTP can be found here: https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvls/graduateschool/northwestbio/projects/bioscience/engineeringbacterialmicrocompartmentsforbiotechnology/

Within the Lancaster Environment Centre another PhD project is available on carboxysome engineering, which is aiming to build upon our previous work towards assembling a cyanobacterial carboxysome in plant chloroplasts. This is the central part of attempts to build a cyanobacterial CCM within plants to boost photosynthetic efficiency.  This project will involve in vitro and in planta analysis of existing transgenics lines, generation of new lines and work to optimise the synthesis and assembly of carboxysomes within plants. This project is co-supervised by Marj Lundgren and is based entirely in Lancaster, though with possibilities to visit national and international collaborators for some aspects of the work. This project would suit a student interested in plant synthetic biology and who has or would like to develop skills in molecular biology, biochemistry, and plant engineering.

Full details including the application process can be found at this link, please note that due to funding this project is only available to students who qualify as UK ‘home’ students: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/graduate-school/phd/phd-opportunities/#building-a-plantbased-carboxysome-to-improve-photosynthesis-371066-1

Informal enquiries from students are welcome, but for each project, applications must be submitted using the instructions linked above.

[Updated: Applications now closed]

Applications are now open for two postdoctoral researchers in plant molecular physiology and one specialist biochemistry technician within the team.

These new positions are to work on the recently funded phase 3 of the RIPE project. We aim to contribute to end hunger worldwide by improving the complex process of photosynthesis to increase crop production. At Lancaster, we focus on improving the regulation of Rubisco and the thermal tolerance of carbon assimilation in the legume crops cowpea and soybean.

These three new positions will join an existing RIPE team consisting of PIs, research technicians and postgraduate students. The team works collaboratively to deliver the project milestones, advance knowledge on Rubisco and its regulation, and contribute to making cowpea and soybean more productive and climate resilient.

To learn more on these 3 positions please follow the links below the Lancaster University Jobs page.
Please note that for each position we are open to applications of varying experience.
Detailed instructions for preparing an application are available via the links.
Informal email enquiries to either Elizabete Carmo-Silva or Doug Orr are welcome, however applications will not be accepted via email.

Senior/Specialist Biochemistry Technician:  https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=0059-23

Senior/ Research Associate in Plant Molecular Physiology (Rubisco regulation): https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=0060-23

Senior/ Research Associate in Plant Molecular Physiology (Thermal tolerance):  https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=0061-23

In the lead up to the break we bid farewell (e boa viagem) to several short- and long-term team members who are off to new adventures and/or leaving us after a visit.

Louis bids farewell after several years in various roles and projects with the team to head back to his native Wales for a new adventure pursuing one of his hobbies professionally. Louis was an integral member of the team since he first joined as a dissertation student, and will be sorely missed. Thank you for all your contributions and best of luck in the next phase Louis!

Nathalia recently returned to Brazil to complete her masters after a successful visit with us working on molecular analyses mostly with Rhiannon and Dawn.  Best wishes for the rest of your Masters Nathalia and hope the writing goes well! Obrigado!

Nandhara is also heading back to Brazil in the coming days after completing some really interesting experiments with the team looking at cowpea and soybean nutrition. Fingers crossed for success back in Brazil with the remaining analyses, and best wishes for the rest of your Masters work! Obrigado!

We now have an open PhD position with Elizabete and Doug to investigate the role of sugar phosphates and their specific phosphatases on photosynthetic regulation in cowpea and soybean. This project and studentship is open to UK & international candidates, details at this link. This work is associated with the broader international RIPE consortium which has just had it’s next phase renewed through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation subsidiary Gates Ag One to accelerate the transfer of improved crops to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

[update Feb 2023: thank you to those who applied, we received lots of excellent applications, and a candidate has now been selected. Applicants should have by now received an email.]

With the academic year starting our two summer interns in the lab have finished up for now  to begin their 3rd year studies.

Ben made big contributions to several experiments with cowpea as part of the RIPE project working with Elizabete, including a lot of sampling with Rhiannon!

Callista worked as an EPSRC Summer Vacation Student with Doug on CCM engineering, and did a lot of characterisation of transgenic plants as we advance this engineering work.

A big thank you to both Callista and Ben for all their efforts and contributions to the team and the work over the last few months, and best of luck with your studies this year!

Just out in Journal of Experimental Botany is our review article on Rubisco inhibition by sugar phosphate derivatives, the phosphatases that degrade them, is now online in early form. This review is part of an upcoming special issue on Rubisco regulation in JXB so keep a look out for a great bunch of papers on this growing topic.

Well done to Doug, Alice and Elizabete from the team, and our RIPE collaborators Chris Baker and Kris Niyogi at UC Berkeley.

Congratulations to a team led by Albert Liu from the Shih lab at UC Berkley, including contribution from Lancaster researcher Doug, who have just published in Science Advances on retracing the evolutionary path of Rubisco structural assemblies, including some really interesting mutations which alter assembly of the holoenzyme. Well done to all involved!

You can see the paper here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adc9440

A (slightly delayed) post from me (Doug) to share that I was recently at the Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms 10 (CCM10) conference at Princeton, USA.

This was my first time at this meeting and it was great to see many familiar faces for the first time in a while including colleagues from as far back as 14 years ago, and to catch up with current collaborators Maureen and Vishal from Cornell.

It was also exciting and extremely useful to meet and discuss our CCM plant engineering work with so many carboxysome experts whose work is critical to informing what we are attempting in plants.

Thanks again to Martin Jonikas, admin superstar Ellen Brindle-Clark, and the organising team for such a great meeting. It went smoothly and the format made it very easy to engage with and have lots of useful chats in between sessions.

Thanks also for the invitation to share our latest work, and be part of a great line-up of speakers.

Already looking forward to CCM11 in York 2025!