CV

Irakli Loladze is a Mathematical Biologist. He obtained his MA and PhD degrees in mathematics at Arizona State University. He then worked as a postdoc at Princeton University, where in 2002 he postulated that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (CO2) decrease the concentrations of minerals essential for human nutrition, including iron and zinc, in plants globally. After years of compiling data, in 2014 he published a meta-analysis revealing a pervasive and systemic downshift in mineral levels in plants worldwide. His research came to influence US policy and was highlighted by New Scientist, Nature, Science, and in a two--times award-winning article in Politico. This year, Loladze and collaborators showed that rising CO2 levels result in lower levels of plant carotenoids critical for human eye and brain health. 

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ; Mathematical Modeling in Biology, Ecology & Environmental Sciences; '01-'03, Postdoctoral

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; Mathematical Biology & Applied Mathematics; '96 M.A; '01 Ph.D.

Tbilisi State University, Georgia; Applied Mathematics & Computer Science; '93 Diploma with Honors

APPOINTMENTS

Arizona State University, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, '19 - present, adjunct faculty, USA

Bryan College of Health Sciences, Bryan Medical Center, '15 - present, associate professor, USA

University of Maryland - University College, '14 - '15 present, collegiate associate professor, Japan

Catholic University of Daegu, '11-'14, assistant professor, South Korea 

University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Mathematics, '04-'09, assistant professor, USA

Ohio State University, Mathematical Biology Institute (MBI), '06, visiting researcher, USA

Princeton University, Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), '03, lecturer, USA

Princeton University, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, '01-'03, research associate, USA

Arizona State University, Departments of Mathematics and Biology, '94-'01, ta & ra, USA 

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

The double-whammy of stoichiometric imbalance: C, H, O, and minerals in global food nutrition (2023) Loladze, I. (accepted)

Wang, W., Ji, D., Peng, S., Loladze, I., Harrison, M.T., Davies, W.J., Smith, P., Xia, L., Wang, B., Liu, K. and Zhu, K. (2023). Eco-physiology and environmental impacts of newly developed rice genotypes for improved yield and nitrogen use efficiency coordinately. Science of the Total Environment, 896, 165294.

Bhuiyan, M. S. I., Rahman, A., Loladze, I., Das, S., & Kim, P. J. (2023). Subsurface fertilization boosts crop yields and lowers greenhouse gas emissions: A global meta-analysis. Science of The Total Environment, 876, 162712.

Isanta‐Navarro, J., Prater, C., Peoples, L. M., Loladze, I., Phan, T., Jeyasingh, P. D., Church, M. J., Kuang Y. & Elser, J. J. (2022). Revisiting the growth rate hypothesis: Towards a holistic stoichiometric understanding of growth. Ecology letters, 25(10), 2324-2339.

T Phan, C He, I Loladze, C Prater, J Elser, Y Kuang (2022) Dynamics and growth rate implications of ribosomes and mRNAs interaction in E. coli, Heliyon, e09820 (open-access)

Ebi, K. L., Leigh Anderson, C., Hess, J. J., Kim, S.-H., Loladze, I., Neumann, R. B., Singh, D., Ziska, L., & Wood, R. (2021). Nutritional quality of crops in a high CO2 world: an agenda for research and technology development. Environmental Research Letters: ERL https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa

Zhang, X., Xu, D., Han, W., Wang, Y., Fan, X., Loladze, I., Gao, G., Zhang, Y., Tong, S., & Ye, N. (2021). Elevated CO2 affects kelp nutrient quality: A case study of Saccharina japonica from CO2 -enriched coastal mesocosm systems. Journal of Phycology, 57(1), 379–391.

Loladze, I., Nolan, J. , Ziska, L.W.,  Knobbe, A. (2019) Rising atmospheric CO2 lowers concentrations of plant carotenoids essential to human health: Meta-analysis. Molecular nutrition & food research, 1801047 DOI:10.1002/mnfr.201801047 PDF

Loladze, I. (2019) Iterative chemostat: A modelling framework linking biosynthesis to nutrient cycling on ecological and evolutionary time scales. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 16(2): 990-1004. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2019046, PDF

Ebi, K. L., & Loladze, I. (2019). Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate change will affect our food's quality and quantity. The Lancet Planetary Health, 3(7), e283-e284. Chicago, Open-Access (PDF)

Loladze, I., Nolan, J. M., Ziska, L., & Knobbe, A. (2018). Rising atmospheric CO2 tends to lower carotenoid levels in plants: Can the global decline in dietary carotenoids affect human vision and memory? J of Alzheimer's Disease (Vol. 64, pp. 1042–1042). Ios Press Nieuwe Hemweg 6B, 1013 Bg Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Zhu, C., Kobayashi, K., Loladze, I., Zhu, J., Jiang, Q., Xu, X., Ebi, K.L., … Ziska, L. H. (2018). Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels this century will alter the protein , micronutrients , and vitamin content of rice grains with potential health consequences for the poorest rice-dependent countries. Science Advances, 4(5), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaq1012 (PDF), media coverage: Scientific American, National Post, Washington Post, and other media outlets) 

Loladze, I. (2014) "Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO2 depletes minerals at the base of human nutrition" eLife doi:10.7554/eLife.02245 (F1000 Primary rating: Exceptional: Körner C: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Loladze I, elife 2014 3:e02245]. In F1000Prime, 31 Jul 2014; doi: 10.3410/f.718432028.793497713,

media coverage: Fountain Ink, Politico, The Great Nutrient Collapse; TV Interview; related: TEDx talk)

Ziska, Lewis; Crimmins, Allison; Auclair, Allan; DeGrasse, Stacey; Garofalo, Jada F; Khan, Ali S; Loladze, Irakli; Pérez de León, Adalberto A; Showler, Allan; Thurston, Jeanette; Walls, Isabel (2016) Ch. 7: Food Safety, Nutrition, and Distribution. The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program. doi:10.7930/J0ZP4417. (PDF)

Ziska LH, Pettis JS, Edwards J, Hancock JE, Tomecek, MB, Clark A, Dukes JS, Loladze I, Polley HW (2016) Rising atmospheric CO2 is reducing the protein concentration of a floral pollen source essential for   North American bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Deng Q, Hui D, Luo Y, Elser J, Wang YP, Loladze I, Zhang Q, Dennis S (2015) Down‐regulation of tissue N:P ratios in terrestrial plants by elevated CO2. Ecology, 96:3354-62.

Loladze, I. and Elser J.J.  (2011) The origins of the Redfield nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio are in a homoeostatic protein-to-rRNA ratio, Ecology Letters, 14, 244-250  (Editor’s Choice, Science) (PDF)

Loladze, I., Kuang, Y., Elser, J.J. & Fagan, W.F. (2004) Competition and Stoichiometry: Coexistence of two predators on one prey. Theoretical Population Biology 65: 1-15

Loladze, I. (2002) Rising CO2 and human nutrition: toward globally imbalanced plant stoichiometry? Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 17, 457-461 (highlighted in Nature, covered by New Scientist)

Loladze, I., Kuang, Y. Elser, J.J. (2000) Stoichiometry in producer-grazer systems: linking energy flow with element cycling, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 62, 1137-1162

DATASETS & CODE 

Elevated CO2 impacts on vitamins, minerals, and protein (nitrogen) in rice grains on Figshare 

 Loladze I (2014) Data from: Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO2 depletes minerals  at the base of human nutrition. Dryad Digital Repository. DOI:10.5061/dryad.6356f

 Loladze, I (2014) Dataset and code for rising CO2 effects on plant quality. Figshare.    http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1057763

  Loladze (2014) R-script for non-parametric power estimation via bootstrapping. GitHub.   https://github.com/loladze/co2

  Loladze, I (2013) Protein:rRNA, nitrogen-phosphorus (N:P) and growth rate of microorganisms. Figshare.   http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.156346 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.156346

 SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Loadze, I (2019) Invited Keynote Speaker, Asian Development Bank, Rural Development and Food Security Forum, Manila, Philippines 

Loladze I, (2018) Rising CO2 and carotenoids, Cambridge University, Brain & Ocular Nutrition Conference (invited speaker)

Loladze I (2018) TEDx  Bratislava (invited speaker) What does rising CO2 do to nutrients in our food?

Loladze I (2018) New York Institute of Technology, Energy Conference (invited speaker)

Loladze I (2018) California State University, Northridge (invited talk)

Loladze, I. (2012) Growth rate, protein & RNA synthesis, and the global biogeochemical cycles. China-Japan-Korea International Conference on Mathematical Biology, Busan, South Korea (invited speaker).

Loladze, I. (2010) Elevated CO2 diminishes the levels of macro- and micro-elements in crops and wild plants, The First Global Conference on Biofortification, Washington, DC (PDF) (invited speaker)

Loladze, I. and Levin, S.A. (2009) Dynamical, evolutionary and molecular origins of Redfield ratio N:P=16, 1st PRIMA Congress, Sydney, Australia

Loladze, I. and Levin, S.A. (2009) Molecular origins of Redfield ratio and converges to N: P~ 16 due to evolution and upwelling, The q-Bio Conference on Cellular Information Processing, Santa Fe, NM (PDF)

Loladze, I. (2008) Dynamical systems in Biology and Medicine, The 7th AIMS Conference on Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations, American Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Arlington, Texas (invited speaker)

Loladze, I, Zea, E, Cassman, K., McFadden, C. (2007) Elevated CO2 effects of plant stoichiometry and "hidden hunger" disorder, Society of Integrative Organismal Biology (SIMB), Phoenix, Arizona

Loladze, I, Levin, S.A., Elser, J.J. (2006) Stoichiometric Model that Links Cellular Machinery with Global Nutrient Ratios, Annual meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB) and SIAM, Raleigh, NC

Loladze, I. (2006) Stoichiometry of wild plants and crops in the high CO2 world, Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI), Columbus, Ohio

Loladze, I and Levin, S.A. (2005) Patterns in Oceans and Cells: Linking Global Redfield Ratios to Cellular Machinery, Institute of Advanced Studies/Park City Mathematics Institute, UT

Loladze I., Levin, S.A., Kuang, Y., Elser, J.J., Deng, B., Fagan, W.F. (2004) Competition and Biological Stoichiometry: Linking rRNA:protein ratio in cells to species competition in food webs via N:P ratios. Joint AMS & MAA Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona

Loladze I., Kuang, Y., Elser, J.J., Fagan, W.F. (2002) Stoichiometric models of competition and predator-prey interactions. Biodiversity Symposium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Loladze, I. (2002) Biological Systems from the Perspective of Chemical Elements: Elemental Dynamics across Scales, International Conference on Complex Systems, Nashua, NH

Loladze, I., Kuang, Y., Elser J.J. (2001) The role of chemical heterogeneity in population dynamics: A stoichiometric approach, Sixth SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, Utah

Loladze, I., Kuang, Y., Elser, J.J. (2000) How herbivore and producer can become competitors. Annual meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB), Salt Lake City, Utah

FUNDED GRANTS/AWARDS

Teaching Award, Recognition for Contributions to Students, The Teaching Council of the UNL Award  ('06, '07, '08)

Co-PI: UMB RUTE: (Theoretical Ecology), NSF  0531920, $905,000; 2006 - 2011

Co-PI: Strategic Research Cluster Grants, “Amazonian Fishes -- Innovation in Biodiversity    Research, Training and Public Education”, UNL, 2007-08, $76,500

PI: Nebraska EPSCoR First Award Grant, 2005, $49,903 

PI: Faculty Seed-Money Grant, UNL Research Council, 2005, $19,941 

Co-PI: Mathematical Methods for Biology and Medicine, Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence, UNL, 2005, $24,400