Latest News

During undergraduate years, gaining hands-on lab experience and signing your name to a scientific publication can give your resume a well-deserved push, and even help open doors to a new career path or Ph.D. program.

Jianping Hu, professor at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) and the Department of Plant Biology, received a $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the motility of cellular energy organelles, peroxisomes and mitochondria in particular, along the cytoskeleton in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Gregg Howe, an MSU College of Natural Science researcher internationally known for his work on plant resilience and how plants respond to insect attacks, will be heading to the University of Tsukuba in Japan as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for the 2022-2023 academic year. Howe and his collaborators will apply cutting-edge genetic technologies to the development of crop plants that will contribute to sustainable agriculture and food security.

Erich Grotewold, Jiming Jiang, Beronda Montgomery and Berkley Walker are among those recognized with 2022 ASPB awards.

Graduate student Philip Engelgau and postdoc Peipei Wang have been awarded the 2022 Anton Lang Memorial Award at a ceremony which took place on Monday, April 25, 2022. This year’s lecture was given by Professor Emeritus Govindjee from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Spartan research in the lab of Cheryl Kerfeld could lead to efficient, low-cost chemical reactions for valuable products with help from teensy compartments made by bacteria.

Three MPS graduate students – Duncan Boren, Jenny Schuster and Josh Temple – were chosen for the 2022 cohort of the NRT-IMPACTS fellowship program.

Spartan researchers from David Kramer's lab discover how a plant biochemical could lead to novel approaches for growing crops that are more resilient to fluctuating temperatures.

MPS graduate student Philip Engelgau was interviewed about his research for The Sci-Files, a science podcast from Impact 89FM.

Fourteen Spartans and community members have been named recipients of the 2022 International Awards, presented by International Studies and Programs. Since 1990, the awards program has celebrated individuals whose contributions fulfill the university’s mission to advance knowledge and transform lives across the globe.

MPS faculty member Tom Sharkey reveals processes that keep a plant’s energy balance in check during changing conditions, which could lead to more efficient crops.

Michigan State University plant biochemist Thomas D. Sharkey was recently named a Pioneer Member of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), a recognition given to leaders in the society, especially those who have been involved in training graduate students, postdocs and visiting professors.

MPS graduate student Serena Lotreck was interviewed about her research for The Sci-Files, a science podcast from Impact 89FM.

Professor Jianping Hu has been appointed as the new director of the Molecular Plant Sciences (MPS) Graduate Program at Michigan State University. 

A new study from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) shows how some algae can protect themselves when the oxygen they produce impairs their photosynthetic activity. The discovery also answers a long-standing question about how algae survive when CO2 levels are low.

We are deeply saddened that Danny Schnell, Professor and Chair of the Department of Plant Biology in the College of Natural Sciences, passed away on December 15, 2021 after a valiant fight with cancer from complications of his  treatment.

The Molecular Plant Sciences Monday seminar series is kicking off the 2021-2022 school year with presentations by plant scientists from institutions all over the world.

My name is Kara Headley, and I am the new communications manager for the DOE-MSU Plant Research Laboratory (PSL) and the Molecular Plant Sciences program (MPS). I am very much looking forward to diving into this role and this community.

The NRT program at Michigan State University, funded by the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship program, trains doctoral students in applying computational data science approaches to solving problems in plant biology. 

Sudden death syndrome is a devastating disease that afflicts soybean crops, causing annual losses in U.S. soybean yields in excess of $274 million dollars. New Michigan State University research shows that the trick to surviving the disease might be a matter of timing when to mount a defense response.

A new study from Michigan State University identifies a missing link which controls plant immunity and plants' ability to maintain their cytoskeleton – the frame that both gives plant cells their shape and that serves as a highway for materials to move inside these cells.

The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship is one of the country’s most prestigious and competitive awards for graduate students. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees in fields within NSF’s mission.