{"id":1261,"date":"2025-11-05T15:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/?page_id=1261"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:16:11","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rubisco & Bioengineering<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Our team studies Rubisco and plant engineering. Rubisco is the enzyme that catalyses the assimilation of atmospheric CO2<\/sub>\u00a0into chemical energy in photosynthesis. It is an essential enzyme for all life on earth but is also characterised by inefficiencies. Our research aims to understand these inefficiencies and exploit them towards more resilient and sustainable crop production.\u00a0Beyond photosynthesis,\u00a0we are also interested in engineering\u00a0plants\u00a0as\u00a0biofactories\u00a0for\u00a0applications\u00a0in diverse industries.\u00a0Some of our efforts to improve photosynthesis\u00a0and plant metabolism\u00a0are informed by\u00a0nature\u2019s innovations, and\u00a0in\u00a0some\u00a0cases\u00a0incorporate\u00a0engineering and synthetic biology.<\/p>\n

Our Research<\/h1>\n

Rubisco is central to many of the projects in the team. Elizabete is an expert in Rubisco regulation, particularly by Rubisco’s ‘chiropractor’, Rubisco activase (Rca). This molecular chaperone activates Rubisco when it becomes inhibited through binding of sugar-phosphates, and is a major limiter of photosynthetic potential in fluctuating light and at high temperatures. In addition to Rubisco itself and its regulation by inhibitors, Doug’s group is working on synthetic biology approaches to improving photosynthesis like carboxysomes and installing a cyanobacterial CCM into C3 plants and applying similar approaches to using plants as biofactories.<\/p>\n

We also work closely with other Plant Biology labs including the lab of Marjorie Lundgren, you can learn about them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our science is highly collaborative, and we work with colleagues across the globe:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our\u00a0story<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

The photosynthesis team at Lancaster started\u00a0in September 2015\u00a0with the relocation of\u00a0two Rubisco experts\u2014Martin\u00a0Parry and Elizabete Carmo-Silva\u2014from\u00a0Rothamsted Research\u00a0to the Lancaster Environment Centre\u00a0(LEC,\u00a0see the story\u202f<\/span>here<\/span><\/a>). In 2016,\u00a0Steve Long, FRS,\u00a0initiated\u00a0a joint appointment\u00a0at LEC\u00a0while\u00a0maintaining\u00a0his\u00a0position at the University of Illinois (story\u202f<\/span>here<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0In 2018,\u00a0Marjorie Lundgren joined as a Leverhulme Trust Early Career fellow\u00a0investigating\u00a0C2 photosynthesis. Elizabete has since been promoted to Professor and Marjorie is now a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. In 2022,\u00a0Martin Parry became\u00a0Emeritus\u00a0Professor,\u00a0and\u00a0Doug Orr and Sam Taylor\u00a0started their academic positions\u00a0and\u00a0two\u00a0new teams\u00a0broadly focused on plant engineering and physiology,\u00a0respectively<\/span>, and continued th<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0growth of\u00a0<\/span>p<\/span>hotosynthesis<\/span> in Lancaster<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Steve Long sadly passed away in\u00a0<\/span>2025<\/span><\/a>, and Sam Taylor moved on to pastures new in 2026. In 2025, our website \u2018Making the most of sunshine\u2019 saw a revamp to reflect the values of the teams led by Elizabete (Rubisco regulation) and Doug (Rubisco and Bioengineering).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lancaster Environment Centre (<\/span>LEC<\/span><\/a>)\u00a0brings together\u00a0expertise\u00a0in a wide range of disciplines to co-design and co-deliver solutions\u00a0for\u00a0local and global environmental challenges.\u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>Plant Biology<\/span><\/a>\u00a0research group\u00a0aims to\u00a0improve fundamental\u00a0understanding of plant biology\u00a0and provide\u00a0nature-inspired\u00a0solutions\u00a0for\u00a0real-world problems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Work across both groups has or continues to be generously supported by:<\/h2>\n

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Rubisco & Bioengineering\u00a0 Our team studies Rubisco and plant engineering. Rubisco is the enzyme that catalyses the assimilation of atmospheric CO2\u00a0into chemical energy in photosynthesis. It is an essential enzyme for all life on earth but is also characterised by inefficiencies. Our research aims to understand these inefficiencies and exploit them towards more resilient and sustainable crop production.\u00a0Beyond photosynthesis,\u00a0we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1947,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1261","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9L9PV-kl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1947"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1720,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1261\/revisions\/1720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lancsphotosynthesis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}