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News for 2002-2003

Minnesota Legislature approves $17.7 million for Plant Growth Facilities

$17.7 million for Plant Growth Facilities was included in the capital bonding bill approved by the 2002 Minnesota Legislature and Governor Ventura at the end of May. Other projects include HEAPR ($35 million), Duluth Lab Science ($33 million), Nicholson Hall ($24 million), Bede Hall, Crookston ($7.7 million), and Classroom Improvements, system wide ($2 million). The total value of the approved projects for the University, including the University's debt obligation and private contributions, is $119.4 million. Dean Elde thanks all faculty, staff, alumni, and students who contributed to the grass roots support effort by writing letters and making phone calls. Special thanks go to Ruth Shaw, professor of ecology, and Dave Biesboer, professor of plant biology, who led planning for the project and advocated for funding.

Congratuations to Cynthia Weinig!

New faculty member receives Young Investigator Award Cynthia Weinig, new faculty member in the Department of Plant Biology, has received a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation's Plant Genomics Research Project (PGRP) for $1.7 million over four years. Weinig uses Arabidopsis to study evolution of plant fitness to the environment. She and collaborator Julin Maloof at UC Davis, who will share the award, are interested in understanding how selection acts on crowding responses in agricultural settings. More specifically, plants can modify their phenotype (for instance shape or form) in response to crowding and the onset of competition for sunlight. There is now strong evidence that flexible developmental responses to crowding, such as stem elongation, confer a fitness advantage to individual plants in natural settings.

Plant Biology professor awarded David and Lucille Packard Fellowship

George Weiblen has been selected for a David and Lucille Packard Fellowship. This highly competitive program allows the nation's most promising young scientists and engineers to pursue research with few funding restrictions and limited paperwork. The Packard Foundation invites presidents of 50 universities to nominate two young professors for the awards. Nominations are reviewed by a panel of distinguished scientists who recommend 20 fellows to receive individual grants of $625,000 over five years. The foundation was created by David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, and his wife, Lucille Salter Packard, in 1964. Weiblen studies plant systematics, molecular phylogenetics, coevolution, and plant/pollinator interactions. He co-authored a study recently published in Nature that revised the estimated number of arthropod species worldwide from 31 million to between four and six million. Claudia Schmidt-Dannert, BMBB, received a Packard Fellowship last year.

News for 2004

Peter Tiffin and collaborators Peter Reich and Ruth Shaw have received an NSF award for a project entitled, "Natural Selection and Evolutionary Constraints in an Elevated CO₂ Environment". The $237,450 grant commenced July 15, 2004, continuing work begun under an IREE seed grant on the potential for plants’ evolutionary responses to ongoing global climate change

Fumi Katagiri recently received funding from the USDA-NRI for a project entitled “Efficient Discovery of Plant Regulatory Genes by Exploitation of Natural Variation”. The project, which was funded for three years for a total award of $400,000, has long-term implications for crop improvement. Dr. Katagiri says that, “Naturally occurring genetic variation is a great genetic resource for crop improvement. This project is to develop a new, time- and cost-efficient strategy for isolation of useful genes that are defined by such natural variation.” Funding for this work commenced July 1, 2004.

Kate VandenBosch's lab has recently obtained support from the Department of Energy for their project “Nodulation Genes of Medicago truncatula” Governing Early Responses to Rhizobia. The grant was funded for three years for $360,000, and has a start date of September 1st. The project investigates symbiotic nitrogen fixation, a biological means of obtaining nutrients that is exploited by plants in the legume family. This project uses Medicago as a model system to identify plant genes involved this process. One specific goal is to clone a gene, NSP1, which is required for infection by beneficial bacteria.

Drs. Steve Gantt, Kate VandenBosch, Carroll Vance, Ernie Retzel, Debby Samac (all from the U of Minnesota) and Maria Harrison (Boyce Thompson Institute) have received funding ($2.1 million) for a four-year study entitled “Use of Interfering RNAs to Identify Gene Function in Medicago truncatula.” This award from the NSF Plant Genome will commence in October of 2004. The investigators and their team will silence the expression of about 1,500 individual genes in transgenic roots and examine the roots for altered development and symbiotic associations.

David Marks' work on cell fate determination will again be funded by NSF. The project, entitled “Use of a contradictory glabra3 mutant to study Arabidopsis trichome development” has been funded for three years for a total award of $405,000. Congratulations to David for obtaining this competitive renewal.

Two of our new faculty have obtained Grant-in-Aid awards from the Graduate School. Anton Sanderfoot will receive an award of $21,991 for his proposal “Intracellular localization of SNARE proteins in Chlamydomonas.” Nathan Springer will receive an award of $30,301 for his proposal “Identification of cis-acting elements regulation imprinted gene expression.”

Peter Tiffin has received and REU supplement to an existing NSF grant, entitled “Evolutionary history of defense genes in the genus Zea and family Poaceae: insight from DNA sequence data.” The supplement of $5,875 will fund the participation of an undergraduate student on the project.

Carolyn Silflow has obtained a 4-year, $730,000 award for a project entitled Segregation and Positioning of Basal Bodies. This project is a “gene discovery” project to identify and elucidate the function of genes involved in positioning of basal bodies in Chlamydomonas. Some of the genes may have homologs in other organisms with centrioles. The project began on April 1, 2004.

George Weiblen received $16,000 from International Programs at NSF for scientific exchange between the US and the Czech Republic. This is a supplement to an NSF grant from the Ecology program titled Beta-diversity of caterpillars (Lepidoptera) in tropical rainforests: testing predictions of host specificity. The project involves the study of ecological associations between phytophagous insects and tropical trees in Papua New Guinea by US and Czech biologists. With matching funds from the Czech Academy of Science, the co-PIs and four graduate students will meet in each country to (1) improve the taxonomic identities of insect herbivores collected in Papua New Guinea, (2) establish contacts with Smithsonian Institution taxonomists, and (3) receive laboratory training in molecular systematics in the Weiblen lab.

David McLaughlin received a second REU amendment to his NSF award, Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life. This addition provides over $6,000 to fund undergraduate participation on his collaborative project investigating the phylogeny of fungi. The project, with funds to Dr. McLaughlin's group this year totaling about $275,000, runs through 2006.

Two Plant Biology faculty members, together with collaborators, have received University IREE seed grant money for development of research projects addressing renewable energy goals. Sue Gibson, together with ,David Somers in Agronomy and Plant Genetics, was awarded $31,660 for their proposal “Using Genomics Tools to Manipulate Carbon partitioning to Increase Crop Yields of Biofules and Biobased Products.” The long-term goal of the research is to develop crops that allocate a larger percentage of their photosynthate to economically important compounds. The work will utilize T-DNA insertion mutants of Arabidopsis to test the role of target genes in sugar response pathways. The investigators plan to evaluate the long-term potential of this line of research to enhance seed oil yields for biodiesel and biobased feedstocks.

The second IREE award was received by Peter Tiffin, together with his collaborators Peter Reich (Forest Products) and Ruth Shaw (Ecology, Evolution and Behavior). This team will receive $25,000 to address the “Genetic Basis of Biomass Accumulation in the Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana grown in ambient and elevated CO₂ environments.” The project will use quantitative genetics approaches to identify genetic constraints on biomass accumulation. In the long term, the work is expected to help attain high biomass-yielding crops in the face of a changing CO2 environment.

David Marks has also recently received notification that NSF will fund his proposal entitled “Use of a Contradictory Glabra3 mutant to study Arabidopsis Trichome Development.” The $405,000 award will fund a three-year project that commences May 1, 2004. This grant enables Dr. Marks to continue his long term in the determination of cell fate in plants.

The Department of Plant Biology also congratulates Professor David Biesboer, this year's recipient of the Dagley-Kirkwood award from the College of Biological Sciences. Awarded for excellence in teaching, this honor recognizes Bies' classroom teaching over the years, including General Botany and Developmental Plant Anatomy. The nomination also cited his important contributions to the first year of Nature of Life, the new orientation program for freshman in CBS. In last year's NOL, as it is called, Dave played both an organizational role, as director of the Lake Itasca Biological Station, and a teaching role. As instructor for “Bog Biology”, Professor Biesboer introduced more than 70 incoming freshman to north country field botany. He has already headed back to Itasca for this year's summer session, and to prepare for the second season of NOL this July. Thanks to Bies, a new crop of students will return to campus with an interest in plants.

Congratulations to Joe Foley, CBS undergraduate in Professor Carolyn Silflow lab for being a recipient of the 2004 ASPB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

The achievements of two members of the Plant Biological Sciences faculty have been recognized by a prestigious University of Minnesota award. Both Mike Sadowsky (Soil, Water and Climate) and Nevin Young (Plant Pathology) are among the five recipients of this year's Distinguished McKnight University Professorships, which recognize the University’s highest achieving mid-career faculty. Dr. Young is also jointly appointed in Plant Biology. Please join me in congratulating both of our valued colleagues. Note that a reception to honor the awardees will be held in the Cargill Atrium and Seminar room at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 26th.

News for 2005

Tiffin lab obtains NSF funding to evaluate factors that limit the range of the wildflower Clarkia xantiana

Peter Tiffin's lab has received a new NSF award for a project entitled “Collaborative Research: Ecological and Evolutionary-Genetic Limits to Range Expansion”. Peter writes that “Understanding the forces that limit range expansion have important implications for understanding species' responses to habitat disturbances, including ongoing global climate change.
Although several theoretical models have identified forces that may limit species ranges, there are few empirical data available to evaluate the predictions from these models.” To address this need, Peter and Dave Moeller, a post-doc in the Tiffin lab, will collaborate with researchers at Cornell University and Grinnell College to investigate the ecological and evolutionary forces that determine the range and limit range expansion in Clarkia xantiana. The primary contribution of the U of MN team to this work will be to use molecular population genetic analyses to understand the roles migration and population bottlenecks may play in limiting adaptation to the ecological conditions experienced on the range. In addition, Peter and Dave will participate in field experiments designed to characterize patterns of selection and test for local adaptation. The four-year project is funded for $261,480, and commended August 1, 2005.

Dr. Pete Snustad has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is being honored for genetic dissection of bacteriophage T4-induced nuclear disruption and host DNA degradation and for molecular analysis of the tubulin gene families of Arabidopsis thaliana. Dr. Snustad, who has been a faculty member at the University for 37 years, is co-author with Mike Simmons of ‘Principles of Genetics’, a textbook used by universities worldwide. An induction ceremony will be held during the AAAS annual meeting, which will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, in February 2006.

500 attend grand opening of Cargill Building

Nearly 500 people attended the opening of the Cargill Building Microbial and Plant Genomics on Monday, May 5. Speakers included Governor Tim Pawlenty, University President Robert Bruininks, Cargill CEO Warren Staley, Claire Fraser, director of The Institute for Genomics Research During the ceremony, as well as Ron Phillips, director of the Center for Microbial and Plant Genomics, and deans Bob Elde and Chuck Muscoplat. The Center for Microbial and Plant Genomics will be housed there. This building will be home to more than 22 principal investigators and 175 supporting researchers.

Assistant Professor awarded million dollar grant

Plant Biologists Represent COAFES at the State Fair

News for 2006

Jennifer Powers, who has recently received notice that she will receive a New Investigator Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). The 3 year project, entitled ‘A regional-scale analysis of regenerating tropical dry forests in Costa Rica: measurements and models of the linkages among biodiversity, ecosystem function and carbon storage’, will commence this fall. Jennifer is currently a Research Associate in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, who will begin as an Assistant Professor at the U in Fall semester, 2006. She will be jointly appointed in the Departments of EEB, Soil, Water and Climate, and Plant Biology. As the nature of her appointment suggests, Jennifer's research interests encompass plants' and microbes' responses to environmental change, and their roles in nutrient cycling, on a landscape scale.

Raka Mitra was recently awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to study plant defenses against pathogen attack. She is a native of the Twin Cities, and was an undergraduate student at M.I.T, majoring in Biology. Raka received her PhD in Biology from Stanford University. As a graduate student in Dr. Sharon Long’s laboratory, Raka studied the symbiosis between legumes and Rhizobia, using plant gene expression to dissect specific stages of symbiotic development. Additionally, she developed a microarray-based method to facilitate rapid gene cloning, identifying a plant calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase required for the establishment of the symbiosis. Currently, Raka is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jane Glazebrook’s laboratory, where she is developing a research program aimed at elucidating plant defenses against root-invading pathogens, with the goal of securing an academic position in the future.

Imke Schmitt is Newest Addition to the Plant Biology Faculty

Dr. Imke Schmitt has accepted the joint appointment with the Depatment of Plant Biology and the Bell Museum of Natural History, with a start date planned for fall semester, 2007. Her research interests include evolution of secondary metabolite-producing genes in lichens; systematics and phylogeny of fungi in the Ascomycota; and chemistry and chemotaxonomy of lichens.  Imke has spent the last two and a half years as a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.  Her previous training was in Germany, where she obtained her advanced degrees at the University of Essen. Her Ph.D. dissertation was entitled  “Molecular Phylogeny of the Pertusariales (lichenized Ascomycota)”.  Dr. Schmitt will return to Germany to complete a fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemienshaft (DFG), with which she is studying the secondary chemistry of lichens, with an emphasis on polyketide synthesis genes. The Department looks forward to Dr. Schmitt's return in the fall of 2007, and wishes her the best of success in research for the coming year.

In the meantime, Clifford Wetmore will continue in the Lichen Herbarium.

Tom Soulen received the 2006 President's Award for Outstanding Service from the University of Minnesota. Recipients of this award have gone well beyond their regular duties and have demonstrated an unusual commitment to the University community. Tom, a professor emeritus of plant biology, retired several years ago. He is being recognized for his work as a faculty member and his volunteer outreach efforts to strengthen science education at K-12 schools.

Assistant Professor George Weiblen has just been awarded one of this year's 11 McKnight Land-Grant Professorships. This award was established to recognize and rewrd the University of Minnesota's most promising junior faculty. Dr. Weiblen joined the Plant Biology faculty in 2001.

University of Minnesota awarded $2.65 million by National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation has awarded $2.65 million to the University of Minnesota - along with Duke, Oregon State, and Clark universities - to study genetic relationships among fungi. The four-year grant is part of NSF's Assembling the Tree of Life program. David McLaughlin, professor of plant biology and curator of fungi, Bell Museum of Natural History, is principal investigator for the University's $510,000 share of the grant.

“In assembling the family tree of fungi, our team will look at multiple genes and structural characteristics across a broad spectrum of fungi and put them in a database,” McLaughlin says. “Here at the University of Minnesota, we’re studying subcellular characters. Many ultrastructural characters, such as those associated with nuclear division, have proven to be useful phylogenetic indicators. Our role will be to compile the existing data into a web accessible database as well as to gather new information, especially where there are major gaps in the data, he added.”

The study could point researchers to species of fungi that, by virtue of their relatedness to medically or commercially important species, may produce new drugs or other useful products.McLaughlin says the evolutionary line leading to fungi split from lines leading to plants and animals more than 1.5 billion years ago. In 1995, researchers determined that fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants, McLaughlin says. Only 5-10 percent of an estimated 1.5 million fungi species are known.

News for 2007

David McLaughlin is Recipient of the Distinguished Mycologist Award from the Mycological Society of America

David McLaughlin, Professor of Plant Biology and Curator of Fungi at the Bell Museum of Natural History, has recently been named Distinguished Mycologist by the Mycological Society of America. This award, which is the MSA‘s highest award, recognizes an individual who has established an outstanding career in mycological research and in service to the Society. David has served as Editor of Mycologia and in many leadership roles at the Society. Most recently, David was MSA President in 2005-2006. Dr. McLaughlin's research career was also highly praised. He has carried out research on the development, systematics, ecology, floristics and co-evolutionary biology of fungi. Most recently, his interests in fungal evolution and development have been supported by NSF funding for the Fungal Tree of Life (AFTOL) consortium. David has mentored 19 graduate students and three post-docs. His mycological colleagues have commented that the award is richly deserved.
We here in Plant Biology proudly congratulate Dr. McLaughlin on this important achievement.

Olszewski Lab Receives New NSF Award for Study of Signal Transduction

Congratulations to Neil Olszewski and his associates for their competitive renewal of their NSF grant. The project entitled “Determining the Function of O-GlcNAc Protein Modification in Signal Transduction” has been funded through July of 2008. The award for the current year is $150,000. Olszewski‘s team is studying the function of post-translational modification of nuclear and cytosolic proteins with O-linked N-acetylglucosamine. One goal of the project is to determine the effects of this modification on the activity of proteins that participate in gibberellin signaling. A second goal is to identify the O-GlcNAc modified proteins of arabidopsis.