This National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences Program (CFDA 47.074) Project Grant will provide $240,000 in funding to support a postdoctoral research fellowship focused on investigating the molecular mechanisms governing the remarkable adaptability of aquatic plants. The research aims to elucidate the genetic underpinnings of heterophylly (the ability to produce different leaf forms) and facultative CAM photosynthesis in the model plant Littorella uniflora. The project will employ...
The National Science Foundation awarded a $216,000 Project Grant to support a POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN BIOLOGY from August 1, 2021 through July 31, 2024. The grant was awarded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to study the evolution and characterization of C4 and C3-C4 plant phenotypes. The goal of the Biological Sciences program is to promote advancement in the biological sciences and strengthen the national scientific enterprise through increasing scientific knowledge and...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant award of $432,000 provides funding from September 1, 2022 through August 31, 2025 under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) to investigate genome fractionation in land plants through comparative genomics research. Dr. Sylvia Kinosian will conduct this research as a postdoctoral fellow hosted by Dr. Michael Barker at the University of Arizona. The research will leverage newly available fern and lycophyte genome sequences...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $276,000 supports a postdoctoral fellowship in biology for fiscal years 2022 through 2024 under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074). The fellowship will fund research and training investigating the spatiotemporal coordination of cell and chloroplast division in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Using gene editing, live cell microscopy, and other techniques, the fellow will test hypotheses about cytoskeletal structures...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research at Michigan State University to investigate the metabolic pathways that plants use to produce diverse aromatic compounds from carbon fixed during photosynthesis. The $823,311 award, effective June 1, 2024 through May 31, 2027, aims to quantify carbon fluxes through the Calvin-Benson cycle and parallel shikimate and non-shikimate biosynthetic pathways that lead to aromatic...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $300,000 in funding to Western University of Health Sciences to conduct collaborative research on the variability and regulation of the plant polyadenylation complex. The research aims to better understand how this complex mediates gene expression and plant responses to environmental and developmental cues, with the goal of improving our knowledge of crop plant growth,...
The National Science Foundation awarded a $179,150 Project Grant to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) for the period of June 15, 2022 through May 31, 2024. The award will support the development of new computational tools and methods to translate single-cell RNA sequencing data into an ultra-high resolution 3D spatial map of gene expression in plant roots. Specifically, the grantee will leverage existing fluorescent...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $240,000 to support a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship investigating the rules of life governing interactions between plant genomes, environment, and phenotypes. The project will test the assumption that plant leaf airspaces are saturated with water vapor, which is used in important Earth systems models. If these airspaces are found to be unsaturated, it would overturn decades...
The National Science Foundation awarded a $199,918 Project Grant to the University of Michigan under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) for the period of June 15, 2022 through May 31, 2024. The award will support the development of new computational tools and methods to map single-cell RNA sequencing data onto 3D spatial models of plant roots at ultra-high resolution. Researchers will leverage existing fluorescent reporter gene lines in Arabidopsis to perform...
This Project Grant award, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), supports a postdoctoral research fellowship to investigate the ecological implications of whole genome duplication in plants. The $240,000 award, effective from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2027, will enable the fellow to develop new phylogenetic comparative methods to understand how whole-genome duplication impacts climatic niche dynamics. The research will leverage existing...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $432,000 will fund research and training activities under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) from March 1, 2023 through February 28, 2026.
The award supports an NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for Dr. Ian S. Gilman at Michigan State University, under the supervision of Dr. Robert VanBuren. The fellowship project, "Exploring Cell-Type Regulatory Dynamics of CAM and C4 Photosynthesis in Portulaca," aims to identify genetic regulatory elements controlling the temporal and spatial coordination of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) and C4 photosynthesis in Portulaca plants. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and ATAC sequencing, the research seeks to construct gene regulatory networks distinguishing cis-regulatory elements governing the two carbon concentrating mechanisms. Comparing networks between species may reveal shared and unique regulatory dynamics underlying the evolution of multiple carbon fixation pathways in Portulaca. Data and analyses will be made publicly available online.