Welcome to the Niyogi lab!
Fighting climate change with photosynthesis
The lab’s long-term research goals are to understand how photosynthetic energy conversion works, how it is regulated, and how it might be improved to help meet the world’s needs for food, fuel, and carbon sequestration to fight climate change.
Current lab members use a wide array of experimental organisms and interdisciplinary approaches to (1) investigate fundamental questions about the regulation of photosynthesis, (2) elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying the operation of the oceanic biological carbon pump, and (3) apply this fundamental knowledge to increase photosynthetic efficiency and carbon sequestration by plants and algae.
We maintain a friendly and interactive lab that values scientific excellence, diversity, creativity, open access, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
News
- Armen is staying in the lab as a Ph.D. student!First-year PMB graduate student and former Niyogi lab tech Armen Kelikian has decided to stay in the lab for his thesis research. Woot!
- A proposed function for the red body of Nannochloropsis in the formation of the recalcitrant cell wall polymer, algaenanFormer Ph.D. student Chris Gee’s manuscript on the super-interesting cell biology of algaenan is up on bioRxiv.
- NTRC regulates CP12 to activate Calvin–Benson cycle during cold acclimationFormer postdocs José García-Cerdán and Rachel Dent contributed to this PNAS paper showing a function of NTRC in regulation of CP12.
- Iron rescues glucose-mediated photosynthesis repression during lipid accumulation in the green alga Chromochloris zofingiensisFormer Ph.D. student Tim Jeffers’ manuscript is up on bioRxiv, providing new insights into the Chromochloris switch and identifying hundreds of proteins likely involved in photosynthesis or TAG accumulation.
- Modulation of xanthophyll cycle impacts biomass productivity in the marine microalga NannochloropsisFormer postdoc Dagmar Lyska and current Research Scientist Setsuko Wakao contributed to this PNAS paper, which shows that speeding up NPQ relaxation via ZEP overexpression can improve productivity in an alga.
- Paralog editing tunes rice stomatal density to maintain photosynthesis and improve drought tolerancePostdoc Dhruv Patel-Tupper contributed to this paper in Plant Physiology, showing that editing of EPFL10, a STOMAGEN paralog, can decrease water loss in rice without a negative impact on CO2 assimilation.
- Welcome to our newest Ph.D. student!First-year MCB graduate student Erin NewRingeisen has joined the Niyogi lab after completing rotations. Welcome to the lab!
- Congratulations to Ethan Boynton who received the “Teaching Effectiveness Award for GSIs” from the Grad Division!Ethan is a 4th year Microbiology Ph.D. student, working on the biosynthesis of algaenan, a recalcitrant algal cell wall biopolymer. The Teaching Effectiveness Award for GSIs recognizes his teaching ideas and problem-solving skills associated with hybrid online/in-person learning during his semester as a GSI for Bio1A in Fall 2021.
- Congratulations, Anna, on winning best graduate student poster at WPC2023!Anna Leipertz presented her research on “Interrogating the potential of non-coding sequence mutagenesis to modulate endogenous gene expression” at Western Photosynthesis Conference 2023.
- Rubredoxin 1 promotes the proper folding of D1 and is not required for heme b559 assembly in Chlamydomonas photosystem IICongratulations to former Ph.D. student Robbie Calderon on his JBC paper providing new insights into the function of RBD1!