MSU Plant Biology Department
Innovative research programs encompassing all levels of biological organization, from molecules to ecosystems.
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Activities and News
  • Congratulations Associate Professor C. Robin Buell for being one of only two MSU faculty members recognized in December 2008 for their groundbreaking research by being named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
  • A notable eureka moment for her involving analyzing the centromeres within rice chromosomes, a region critical for division of DNA in cells.
  • "It was the finding of active genes in the centromere, which until that study was considered a dead space.  That to me was pretty neat" said Robin.
  • Congratulations to MSU Distinguished Faculty Award Winner,   Professor Sheng-Yang He.   Since Joining the faculty of Michigan State University in 1995, Shen-Yan He has become an internationally recognized leader in research on plant-pathogen interactions.  Dr. He has made numerous seminal contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens infect plants and by which plants resist pathogens.  Dr. He and his colleagues were the first to demonstrate that bacteria have a specialized bacterial appendage, called the harp pilus, that they have used to inject essential virulence determinants into plant cells.  Much of his work has been published in the most prestigious scientific journals, including Science, Nature, and Cell.  Dr. He's prominence in the field of plant pathology has been recognized by numerous invitations to speak at universities and international conferences and by his election to the board of directors of the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions.
  • Dr. He excels as a teacher and mentor of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral research associates.  Dr. He teaches challenging graduate courses in two departments and consistently receives excellent reviews from his students.
  • For his outstanding contributions in molecular plant pathology, his dedication and enthusiasm to training young scientists, and his national and international service to his discipline, Sheng-Yang He truly deserves the Michigan State University Distinguished Faculty Award.
Recent Publications

Zhang X and Hu J (2008). FISSION 1A and FISSION 1B proteins mediate the fission of peroxisomes and mitochondria in Arabidopsis. Molecular Plant 1, 1036-1047.

Zhang X and Hu J (2009). Two small protein families, DYNAMIN-RELATED PROTEIN 3 and FISSION 1, are required for peroxisome fission in Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 57, 146-159. 

Allen, Douglas K., Ohlrogge John B., Shachar-Hill Yair (2008). The role of light in soybean seed filling metabolism. Plant Journal. DOI 10.1111/j. 1365-313X.2008.03771.x  

Allen W James and Shachar-Hill Yair (2008). Sulfer Transfer through an Arbuscular Mycorrhiza. Plant Physiol. 149:549-560. 

Litchman E., Klausmeier C., and Yoshiyama K. (2009). Contrasting size evolution in marine and freshwater diatoms. PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.0810891106


Field Bessey Award Winners!!!!!!

 
Todd Robinson


Oranldo Alvarez-Fuentes


Claire Lorts




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© 2007 Plant Biology Department, Michigan State University Board of Trustees.