Latest News
August 26, 2024
MPS faculty member Polly Hsu received $3.7 million in funding to expand genetic research that has applications for heartier crops and healthier lives
August 7, 2024
Researchers have found how fungi rebuild, reinforce their cell walls after exposure to antifungals, opening opportunities to improve current therapies
July 26, 2024
With new funding, graduate student Lexi Heger’s research takes an unexpected turn
July 22, 2024
The fellowship provides opportunities for international exchange programs in drug discovery, agriculture and medicine.
July 8, 2024
Spartan researchers have developed a way to get poplar trees to produce valuable molecules usually derived from shark livers
July 1, 2024
The nearly $1.8 million award will support work in drug discovery through molecular dynamics research in plants
June 11, 2024
Maxwell Harman shares his insights on his acceptance to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
May 9, 2024
Björn Hamberger, MPS faculty member, is the winner of the 2024 nnovation of the Year award from the Innovation Center.
May 7, 2024
A group of graduate and undergraduate students participated in the 2024 EnergyTech University Prize, making it to the regionals portion of the competition. The contest is organized by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions and challenges students to create and present a business plan in the energy sector.
April 19, 2024
The College of Natural Science has three newly minted Red Cedar Distinguished Professors, including MPS faculty member Shinhan Shiu.
April 18, 2024
Researchers from across the Michigan State University plant science community, including several MPS students, participated in this year’s Science Festival on campus.
April 16, 2024
Graduate students Xiaotong Jiang and Bailey Kleven are the 2024 recipients of the Keegstra and Thomashow Travel Awards.
April 10, 2024
Using molecular dynamics, researchers from David Kramer and Josh Vermaas's labs, both MPS faculty members, showed how electrons move through a crystal, jumping from heme to heme.
April 5, 2024
MPS faculty member Cheryl Kerfeld was a panelist at an event in Washington, DC commemorating US innovation at the nanoscale.
April 1, 2024
Spartan researchers, including MPS faculty member Cheryl Kerfeld, join a nationwide team to create a new way to design cell-sized microfactories that could help make medicines, biofuels and more.
March 28, 2024
Max Harman, MPS graduate student, was awarded a 2024 Michigan Soybean Association Scholarship.
March 25, 2024
In a recent study in Plant Physiology, researchers from MPS faculty member Christoph Benning's lab revealed a misconception that had been growing in plant science about one of the fundamental puzzle pieces of photosynthesis.
February 28, 2024
The program is a partnership among MSU, the Plant Coalition and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. This includes work from MPS faculty members Courtney Hollender and Robert VanBuren.
February 21, 2024
In a breakthrough for the snack food industry, a team of scientists led by Professor and MPS faculty member Jiming Jiang and Professor David Douches has discovered a key mechanism behind the darkening and potential health concerns associated with cold-stored potatoes.
February 7, 2024
From Danny Ducat's lab, a recent publication in Metabolic Engineering looks at how cyanobacteria balance cellular energy between “source and sink,” which may have downstream applications in bioproduction.
January 30, 2024
Lucas Reist, a graduate student in the Cell & Molecular Biology and Molecular Plant Science, or MPS, programs attended the 2023 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists, or ABRCMS, in Phoenix, Arizona.
December 13, 2023
MPS alum Leah Johnson is the 2023 recipient of the Kende Award, which acknowledges the best doctoral dissertation in plant sciences at Michigan State University over the last two years.
November 30, 2023
For a small field like computational biology, joining an international workshop is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from, collaborate with and talk to professionals and students from around the world. This is how MPS student Duncan Boren of the Vermaas Lab felt when he learned about the CompBioAsia program.
November 30, 2023
This fall, Molecular Plant Sciences graduate student Cathy Mercado alongside other MSU students attended the 50th National Diversity in STEM Conference in Portland, Oregon. The conference is hosted annually by SACNAS, or the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science.
November 8, 2023
Food security is an important area of study to Walker lab MPS graduate student Luke Gregory. That’s why when he found an internship for Bayer on LinkedIn, he knew it was the one for him. Bayer’s vision “Health for all, hunger for none,” interested Luke.
November 6, 2023
Four MSU plant biologists, including MPS faculty member David Lowry, excavated and genetically tested 144 year old seeds, discovering a hybrid plant was accidentally included among the seeds in the bottle.
November 2, 2023
New research from MPS faculty member Thomas Sharkey shows how plants have adapted to deal with losing daylight.
October 24, 2023
Berkley Walker didn’t plan on becoming a scientist; he wanted to be an entrepreneur. And he got started early on that goal: In high school in Portland, Ore., he started a granola bar company, which helped pay for his bachelor’s degree in microbiology.
September 14, 2023
In plants, the jasmonate signaling pathway helps plants control their defense responses to environmental stresses. Like the human body, plants respond differently to individual threats. Just as people wouldn’t get a fever due to a sprained ankle, plants deal with harmful elements in particular ways. A study from the Howe lab looks at how plants respond to environmental threats in the correct way.
August 31, 2023
MPS graduate student MacKenzie Jacobs writes about her experience in Switzerland in summer 2023, attending Polyploid Summer School at the University of Fribourg.
August 10, 2023
Five Molecular Plant Sciences graduate students have been accepted to the Plant Biotechnology for Health and Sustainability Graduate Training Program. This two-year program provides training and career opportunities for students who are interested in research areas related to plant biotechnology.
August 8, 2023
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology features MPS graduate stuent Angel McKay Whiteman as a Graduate Student Spotlight.
July 17, 2023
MPS faculty member David Lowry participates in a collaboration between plant and education researchers at MSU working to transform the relationship students have with science.
June 28, 2023
Two MPS faulty members, Josh Vermaas and Tom Sharkey, teamed up to investigate how isoprene levels and temperature affect the thylakoid membrane of plants at the nanoscale.
June 14, 2023
This scientific connection led to a unique collaboration between Robert Quinn and MPS faculty member Christoph Benning, who teamed up and received a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the role that betaine lipids from a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with algae play in coral bleaching.
June 1, 2023
Kadeem J. Gilbert, W.K. Kellogg Biological Station faculty member and assistant professor in the Michigan State University College of Natural Science’s Department of Plant Biology, has received a prestigious award that recognizes outstanding young plant scientists.