Author: Douglas Orr (Page 2 of 8)

Super exciting times with the news that Carmen’s MSCA Fellowship has been selected for funding by the European Commission!

Her project will study epidermis and mesophyll development coordination in Arabidopsis, and be hosted in Elizabete’s group.

Massive congratulations to Carmen for all the hard work that went into it, and looking forward to seeing the cool results in the coming years!

A slightly delayed welcome to 4 new Masters students starting across the group for this academic year.
An extra busy time in the labs which is great to see.

Matthew has joined Marj’s group working on C2 photosynthesis engineering alongside Tamara.
Anna is working on CCM engineering with Doug and Álvaro.
Nat is looking at characterising Rubisco inhibition with Doug and Connor.
And Jess is contributing to microcompartment studies with Doug and Julia.

Welcome everyone!

Big congrats to Ana, Joana, and Elizabete on today’s publication of a New Phytologist Tansley review on Rubisco regulation.
You can also check out a news item about the topic here.

Well done!

NWBio applications for 2024 entry are now closed.

Exciting news as we have 3 new PhD project opportunities advertised via the North West Bio DTP program.

There are projects with Elizabete, Marj, and Sam. These projects are intended to be Lancaster-based, but with strong links to partner institutions and the opportunity to spend at least some of the time working with co-supervisors based at these partner institutions.

Elizabete’s project is around Rubisco activase and thermal tolerance using biochemical, structural, and computational approaches, full details here: ENGINEERING PLANT RUBISCO ACTIVASE FOR THERMAL TOLERANCE

Marj’s project is contributing to ongoing work looking at engineering C2 photosynthesis into C3 plants using a synthetic biology approach. Full details here: RECREATING COMPONENTS OF C2 PHOTOSYNTHESIS IN ARABIDOPSIS

Sam’s project is looking at Barley and how it might cope with stress under future high CO2 conditions, using a range of techniques including physiology, you can find more details here: TOMORROW NEVER DIES: WILL A HIGH CO2 WORLD MEAN LESS STRESS FOR BARLEY?

For full details including eligibility and the application process please see the website for the North West Bio DTP.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the project supervisors before applying.
Applications close on 9th February 2024.

Looking for an exciting PhD opportunity in photosynthesis?

Just advertised in a project working with Marj on C2 photosynthesis and grasses.

This is via the Envision Doctoral Training Programme led by Lancaster.
Full details in including eligibility and how to apply can be found here: https://www.envision-dtp.org/2023/why-is-c2-photosynthesis-so-rare-in-grasses/

Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Marj ahead of the deadline if they want to learn more.

It’s a busy start to the academic year for the Lancs Photosynthesis and Lancs Plant Engineering teams, with 4 new PhD students starting this week!

Connor starts with us looking at inhibition of Rubisco with Elizabete and Doug as part of the RIPE project.

Julia is joining Doug’s group as part of the North West Bio DTP to work on microcompartment engineering (jointly with Strathclyde).

Haixia joins as a China Scholarship Council funded student working with Sam and Elizabete on photosynthesis under heat and drought.

And Alvaro will be working on building carboxysomes in plants with Doug and Marj on a LEC scholarship.

Welcome everyone to the PhD journey!

As the new arrivals settle in we’ll share more info on the exciting work they’re doing.

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.