News and Updates

Chlorophyll to zeaxanthin energy transfer in nonphotochemical quenching: An exciton annihilation-free transient absorption study

Previous transient absorption spectroscopy experiments to elucidate the biophysical mechanism(s) of NPQ were complicated by the occurrence of exciton-exciton annihilation. Former Ph.D. student Dhruv Patel-Tupper and Fleming lab Ph.D. students Tsung-Yen Lee and Lam Lam co-led this study published in PNAS in which they were able to obtain annihilation-free signals showing that excitation energy transfer

Raquel is staying in the lab as a Ph.D. student!

We are thrilled that first-year PMB graduate student and former Niyogi lab tech Raquel Ponce has decided to stay in the lab for her thesis research!

Iron rescues algal photosynthesis during high lipid production

Former Ph.D. student Tim Jeffers’ work on photosynthesis and lipid accumulation in Chromochloris was recently featured on the website of the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL), a key collaborator on the paper. Congratulations Tim!

Iron rescues glucose-mediated photosynthesis repression during lipid accumulation in the green alga Chromochloris zofingiensis

Former Ph.D. student Tim Jeffers’ paper was just published in Nature Communications. This exciting work uses proteomics to provide new insights into the Chromochloris switch and identifies hundreds of proteins likely involved in photosynthesis or TAG accumulation.

Implicating the red body of Nannochloropsis in forming the recalcitrant cell wall polymer algaenan

Former Ph.D. student Chris Gee led this interdisciplinary, collaborative study published in Nature Communications, bringing together a suite of imaging and analytical approaches that suggest a role of the eustigmatophyte red body in storing and delivering precursors for algaenan polymerization on daughter cells.

Multiplexed CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis of rice PSBS1 non-coding sequences for transgene-free overexpression

Former Ph.D. student Dhruv Patel-Tupper led this study published in Science Advances showing that unbiased promoter editing can be used to generate overexpression alleles in a crop plant. This is the first step towards non-transgenic VPZ crops with higher photosynthetic efficiency and yield!

Congratulations to Karina, Erin, Tonio, and Efren on passing their qualifying exams!

Second-year Ph.D. students in the Niyogi lab have all successfully passed a major milestone and are now officially Ph.D. candidates. Woohoo!

Congratulations to Niyogi lab tech cohort who will be moving on to grad school in the fall!

Cailyn, Anna, and Raquel have accepted admissions offers to Ph.D. programs at UC San Diego, UW, and UC Berkeley. Congratulations!

A hemoprotein with a zinc-mirror heme site ties heme availability to carbon metabolism in cyanobacteria

Research Scientist Masakazu Iwai contributed to this Nature Communications paper on the Synechocystis Dri1 protein, which contains a domain related to iron (DRI, formerly DUF2470). This protein is a homolog of the PGR7/GBP protein that was first described by former Ph.D. student Hou-Sung Jung back in 2010.

Structural diversity in eukaryotic photosynthetic light harvesting

This Annual Review of Plant Biology article by Research Scientist Masakazu Iwai and former graduate student Dhruv Patel-Tupper is now available online.

Macroscale structural changes of thylakoid architecture during high light acclimation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Congratulations to former lab undergrad and research technician Mimi Broderson on her Photosynthesis Research paper using imaging and membrane fractionation to investigate thylakoid unstacking in high light! The paper is part of a special issue dedicated to the memory of our dear colleague and friend, Ken Sauer.

Chlorophyll to zeaxanthin energy transfer in nonphotochemical quenching: An exciton annihilation-free transient absorption study

Previous transient absorption spectroscopy experiments to elucidate the biophysical mechanism(s) of NPQ were complicated by the occurrence of exciton-exciton annihilation. Former Ph.D. student Dhruv Patel-Tupper and Fleming lab Ph.D. students Tsung-Yen Lee and Lam Lam co-led this study published in PNAS in which they were able to obtain annihilation-free signals showing that excitation energy transfer

Raquel is staying in the lab as a Ph.D. student!

We are thrilled that first-year PMB graduate student and former Niyogi lab tech Raquel Ponce has decided to stay in the lab for her thesis research!

Iron rescues algal photosynthesis during high lipid production

Former Ph.D. student Tim Jeffers’ work on photosynthesis and lipid accumulation in Chromochloris was recently featured on the website of the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL), a key collaborator on the paper. Congratulations Tim!

Iron rescues glucose-mediated photosynthesis repression during lipid accumulation in the green alga Chromochloris zofingiensis

Former Ph.D. student Tim Jeffers’ paper was just published in Nature Communications. This exciting work uses proteomics to provide new insights into the Chromochloris switch and identifies hundreds of proteins likely involved in photosynthesis or TAG accumulation.

Implicating the red body of Nannochloropsis in forming the recalcitrant cell wall polymer algaenan

Former Ph.D. student Chris Gee led this interdisciplinary, collaborative study published in Nature Communications, bringing together a suite of imaging and analytical approaches that suggest a role of the eustigmatophyte red body in storing and delivering precursors for algaenan polymerization on daughter cells.

Multiplexed CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis of rice PSBS1 non-coding sequences for transgene-free overexpression

Former Ph.D. student Dhruv Patel-Tupper led this study published in Science Advances showing that unbiased promoter editing can be used to generate overexpression alleles in a crop plant. This is the first step towards non-transgenic VPZ crops with higher photosynthetic efficiency and yield!

Congratulations to Karina, Erin, Tonio, and Efren on passing their qualifying exams!

Second-year Ph.D. students in the Niyogi lab have all successfully passed a major milestone and are now officially Ph.D. candidates. Woohoo!

Congratulations to Niyogi lab tech cohort who will be moving on to grad school in the fall!

Cailyn, Anna, and Raquel have accepted admissions offers to Ph.D. programs at UC San Diego, UW, and UC Berkeley. Congratulations!

A hemoprotein with a zinc-mirror heme site ties heme availability to carbon metabolism in cyanobacteria

Research Scientist Masakazu Iwai contributed to this Nature Communications paper on the Synechocystis Dri1 protein, which contains a domain related to iron (DRI, formerly DUF2470). This protein is a homolog of the PGR7/GBP protein that was first described by former Ph.D. student Hou-Sung Jung back in 2010.

Structural diversity in eukaryotic photosynthetic light harvesting

This Annual Review of Plant Biology article by Research Scientist Masakazu Iwai and former graduate student Dhruv Patel-Tupper is now available online.

Macroscale structural changes of thylakoid architecture during high light acclimation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Congratulations to former lab undergrad and research technician Mimi Broderson on her Photosynthesis Research paper using imaging and membrane fractionation to investigate thylakoid unstacking in high light! The paper is part of a special issue dedicated to the memory of our dear colleague and friend, Ken Sauer.

Congratulations, Thien, on receiving your Ph.D.!

Congratulations to our graduate student Thien Crisanto for completing her Ph.D.! Her dissertation focused on understanding how and where the LHCX1 protein functions in NPQ in a model photosynthetic stramenopile, Nannochloropsis oceanica.

Metabolomic, photoprotective, and photosynthetic acclimatory responses to post-flowering drought in sorghum

Former postdoc Chris Baker led this field study of drought-stressed sorghum at UC’s Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in the Central Valley. It was a great team effort! Chris’ Plant Direct paper shows how photosynthesis and photoprotection respond in a drought-tolerant crop.

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Journalist Name. 2021. “Article Name Here.” Publication Name, January 1, 2023. Article Link.

Journalist Name. 2021. “Article Name Here.” Publication Name, January 1, 2023. Article Link.

Journalist Name. 2021. “Article Name Here.” Publication Name, January 1, 2023. Article Link.