Author: Douglas Orr (Page 4 of 8)

[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!

Joining the team for a research visit is Nandhara Mendes from Universidade Estadual São Paulo (UNESP) in Brazil.

Nandhara is a Masters student in Plant Production and will be contributing to our work on improving the productivity and sustainability of cowpea.

Welcome Nandhara!

A warm (24 degrees today!) Lancaster welcome to our two summer interns Callista and Ben starting today with the team!

Callista is an EPSRC Summer Vacation Student who will work with Doug on CCM engineering related research.

Ben will be working with Elizabete on cowpea as part of the RIPE project.

Looking forward to a busy summer in the lab!

Recently  a number of members of the team contributed to a review article in Annual Review of Plant Biology.

Much of our recent and ongoing work is on how photosynthesis responds to fluctuating flight, and the article is very appropriately titled!

The article Into the Shadows and Back into Sunlight: Photosynthesis in Fluctuating Light is available online here.

It was led by Steve with important contributions from Sam and Elizabete, as well as a number of our colleagues in the wider RIPE project community.
Well done all.