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C-SPIRIT News: September 2025
Friday, September 26, 2025
As September comes to a close, we’re excited to share the latest highlights from across the C-SPIRIT network. This issue features our newest blogpost on C-SPIRIT’s role in building a sustainable bioeconomy, an institutional spotlight on the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (RDA) in the Republic of Korea, and new publications from our members. You’ll also find upcoming plant science events and a few of our recent social media posts!
C-SPIRIT's Role in the Bioeconomy: Blogpost Out Now!
This month’s blogpost, "Growing the Future: C-SPIRIT’s Role in Building a Sustainable Bioeconomy", looks at the urgent pressures on farming from climate change and food insecurity and explains how C-SPIRIT’s research pipeline offers a new path forward. The piece connects global challenges to C-SPIRIT’s role in advancing discovery, data resources, and practical applications. Here’s a preview:
"... nearly one third of the world’s soils are degraded (FAO, n.d.), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that shifts in temperature and precipitation patterns are already disrupting agricultural systems (IPCC, 2021).
These overlapping challenges show why new approaches are needed. Traditional solutions, such as higher fertilizer inputs, new irrigation, or incremental breeding for desirable traits, are proving insufficient in the face of compounding stresses and environmental limits (Zandalinas et al., 2022). The bioeconomy offers another path: harnessing the potential of plants, microbes, and data to make agriculture more resilient and sustainable.
C-SPIRIT, the Center for Sustainable Plant Innovation and Resilience through International Teamwork, is designed to deliver the discoveries and applications that a resilient bioeconomy requires..."
Institutional Feature: National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea
This month in the C-SPIRIT Institutional Feature Series, we are spotlighting the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (NAS) within the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea. C-SPIRIT members Sang-Ho Kang, Senior Researcher at NAS, and Postdoctoral Researchers Alebel Mekuriaw Abebe and Yoram Choi contribute across three of the center’s core research aims.
Their work in Aim 1: Metabolite Discovery focuses on identifying bioactive compounds produced by plants and microbes under stress. In Aim 3: Gene and Pathway Discovery, the team applies genomic and computational approaches to uncover biosynthetic pathways and gene-metabolite relationships. Through Aim 4: Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds, they help recreate and optimize promising molecules for laboratory testing and practical agricultural use. We are fortunate to have the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences as part of C-SPIRIT, advancing discoveries that connect molecular insight with real-world crop resilience!
Publication from University of Tsukuba & RIKEN CSRS C-SPIRIT Members!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT members Daisuke Todaka, Motoaki Seki (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science), and Kenji Miura (University of Tsukuba) as well as their colleagues on their new article titled “Application of 4-CPA or ethanol enhances plant growth and fruit quality of phyA mutant under heat stress.” Published in Scientific Reports, the study shows that applying 4-CPA, a synthetic auxin-like regulator, or ethanol to tomato phyA mutants restored tolerance to heat stress during the reproductive stage. The treatments promoted growth, flower formation, and fruit set, while upregulating heat-responsive and hormone-related genes, reducing cellular damage, and enhancing fruit quality.
Publication from C-SPIRIT Member Karine Prado at Michigan State University!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT member Karine Prado from Michigan State University and her colleagues on their new article titled “Environmental factors have a greater influence on photosynthetic capacity in C4 plants than biochemical subtypes or growth forms.” Published in New Phytologist, the study compiles 1,696 CO₂ response curves from C4 species to examine variation in photosynthetic capacity. The authors show that growth temperature and measurement conditions, rather than biochemical subtypes or growth form, are the strongest determinants of photosynthetic performance, with model C4 crops displaying especially high capacity under field conditions.
Plant Epigenetics and Epigenome Engineering – October 13-16, 2025
The Plant Epigenetics and Epigenome Engineering conference brings together international scientists from all career stages and research settings that develop and apply novel approaches to understand the role and regulation of the plant epigenome. The meeting will feature recent discoveries illuminating the contribution of non-histone chromatin proteins and regulators, histones, and DNA modification on gene regulation, genome organization, development, and environmental and species interactions, with particular emphasis on innovative epigenome technologies that help uncover fundamental epigenetic mechanisms in diverse plant species. A workshop by early career researcher talks followed by a panel discussion will focus on utilizing epigenome manipulation to enhance desirable traits in plants and foster interactions and collaborative investigations.
Details:
- Dates: Monday, October 13th - Thursday, October 16th
- Location: Hilton Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO, United States
- Registration Deadline: N/A
21st SMB Plant Biology Congress & 4th ASPB Mexico Section Meeting – October 20-24, 2025
The 21st PSMB Plant Biology Congress & 4th ASPB Mexico Section Meeting will include Keynote and Plenary lectures from prestigious academic leaders in plant biology that will address the state of the art in scientific topics including plant metabolism, plant development, abiotic stress, plant biotic interactions, evolutionary plant biology and plant genetics and genomics. This meeting strengthens the ties between Mexican and US researchers and their interaction with peers, particularly young investigators and students. We especially encourage the participation of young scientists, motivated students, and postdocs to submit their abstracts to be considered for talks.
C-SPIRIT Director Seung Yon (Sue) Rhee from Michigan State University will be a speaker at this event, giving a talk titled "Drug discovery for agriculture: Center for Sustainable Plant Innovation and Resilience through International Teamwork (C-SPIRIT)".
Details:
- Dates: Monday, October 20th - Friday, October 24th
- Location: Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
- Registration Deadline: N/A
Plant proteins: functions, regulation, production and utility – October 21-23, 2025
The Biochemical Society meeting Plant proteins: functions, regulation, production and utility will bring together scientists to explore advances in how plant proteins contribute to growth, metabolism, differentiation, and defense. Key themes include post‑translational modifications, protein‑protein interactions (including biomolecular condensates), and the production and functionalization of proteins in plant systems. Participants from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies will share insights and work together to identify future directions in plant protein biology.
Details:
- Dates: Tuesday, October 21st - Thursday, October 23rd
- Location: University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Registration Deadline: N/A
Let us know about your upcoming talks!
Want to see your presentation/talk listed here? Feel free to email us at C-SPIRIT.Admin@msu.edu if you would like us to advertise your talk!
September 11th, 2025 | via BlueSky C-SPIRIT was at the NSF Global Centers Community Building Meeting this week! 🌱 Director Sue Rhee pitched our mission to boost soil health, crop resilience, & food security, and we connected folks from the ASAP Global Center. 🌍 |
September 18th, 2025 | via LinkedIn 🌿 Upcoming C-SPIRIT Team Member Talk: Dr. Olivia Wilkins, Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, will present new research on rice leaf stress responses at the upcoming RiboClub Annual Meeting. |
September 22nd, 2025 | via LinkedIn At the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Dr. Seki and his team are studying how ethanol helps crops like cherry tomatoes withstand drought and high temperatures. 🌿 |
September 24th, 2025 | via BlueSky Pennycress drought trials are off and running! 🌱 On 9/19, C-SPIRIT members Danielle Hoffmann and Briana Hashim, with the help of Paige Smith and Katherine Egeler, planted 96 rows of pennycress MSU. Part of C-SPIRIT’s mission to grow climate-resilient crops! 🌍 #plantscience |
This work is funded by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) grant OISE-2434687; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant ALLRP 597259-24; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant 2007-2024-1003; the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), grant RS-2024-00441423; the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) ASPIRE program, grant JPMJAP24A3; and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grant BB/Z517082/1.
