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Planting Our Roots: The First C-SPIRIT Community Newsletter
Friday, May 30th, 2025
We are thrilled to launch our C-SPIRIT Monthly Newsletter, where we share recent news, community highlights, and upcoming events! Sent out on the last Friday of each month, our newsletter is meant to connect our global center across institutions and help people engage with the C-SPIRIT community. Read on to learn the latest C-SPIRIT scoop!
Aim 1 Feature: Blogpost Out Now!
Curious about Aim 1 and how it supports the C-SPIRIT mission? Check out our new blogpost titled Where It All Starts: Inside C-SPIRIT’s Bioactive Molecule Discovery Pipeline featuring Dr. Ola Skirycz, Aim 1 lead and plant biochemist at Michigan State University. Here's a preview:
"To uncover promising bioactive compounds, Skirycz and her colleagues are pursuing two complementary strategies. The first is untargeted metabolomics, which involves measuring and analyzing chemical signatures in plant tissues—especially under stress—to detect potentially important metabolites. The goal is to find compounds that are produced when a plant is under pressure, and that may play a role in how it adapts. But detection is only part of the challenge. 'Measurement is one thing,' Skirycz says. 'But what’s really hard is chemical identification.'
With current tools, only a small fraction of detected signals can be matched to known molecules. 'We can maybe identify five percent of everything we measure,' Skirycz explains. 'But we know there is this vast unknown dark matter. People ignore it not because they want to, but because they have no means to tap into it.'"
Institutional Feature: Nagoya University
To help the C-SPIRIT community learn about each institution involved with our global center, we will be spotlighting each one, highlighting aims the institution is involved in as well as associated members. First up, Nagoya University!
Five outstanding researchers from the Kinoshita Lab at Nagoya University are making critical contributions across our network. Their work spans metabolite and gene discovery, with a focus on stress-responsive compounds and biosynthetic pathways. From leveraging unique microbial sources to deploying AI in genomics, Nagoya University’s team is helping us expand the molecular toolkit for resilient agriculture.
Publication from C-SPIRIT Member Gaurav Moghe!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT Gaurav Moghe (recently promoted to Associate Professor within the Plant Biology Section and School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University) and his colleagues on the publication of their review called "Analysis of plant metabolomics data using identification-free approaches". Published in Applications in Plant Sciences, the article explains how the plant metabolite identification bottleneck can be bypassed by using tools such as molecular networking, discriminant analysis, and more.
Publication from the Hiroshi Lab!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT members Toon Suzuki and Hiroshi Ezura from the University of Tsukuba on their new publication in ACS Agricultural Science & Technology titled "Characterization of the Fruit Quality and Yield of a Genome-Edited High-GABA Tomato Cultivar (Solanum lycopersicum) Cultivated under Salt Stress Conditions"! Their study investigates the genome-edited high-GABA tomato known as "Sicilian Rouge High GABA’" and its performance under salt stress.
Publication from the Skirycz Lab!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT Members Maria Camalle, Hannah Reish, Tony Schilmiller, and Aleksandra Skirycz from Michigan State University and their colleagues on their publication featured in Plant Physiology! Titled "Characterization of the cyclic dipeptide cyclo(His-Pro) in Arabidopsis", their study reveals that cyclo(His-Pro), a small molecule previously studied in mammals for its role in stress signaling, is also produced by plants when they experience environmental stress.
Publication from the Kinoshita Lab!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT members Shogo Kuwayama, Kohei Fuktasu, and Toshinori Kinoshita from Nagoya University as well as their colleagues on the publication of their article "The Protein Kinase Inhibitor, Tyrphostin AG126, and Its Derivatives Suppress Phosphorylation of Plasma Membrane H⁺-ATPase and Light-Induced Stomatal Opening"! Published in Plant & Cell Physiology, their article explains how the compound AG126, along with newly synthesized derivatives AGD-1 and AcAGD-1, can block a key step in how plants open their stomata in response to light.
Plant Metabolic Engineering Gordon Research Conference & Seminar – June 14th-20th, 2025
The Plant Metabolic Engineering GRC (6/15-20) is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The Plant Metabolic Engineering GRS (6/14-15) provides a unique forum for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers to present their work, discuss new methods, cutting edge ideas, and pre-published data, as well as to build collaborative relationships with their peers.
C-SPIRIT Director Seung Yon (Sue) Rhee from Michigan State University will be a Keynote Speaker at the Plant Metabolic Engineering GRS, presenting her talk "Plant Metabolism for a Sustainable Future". She will also be a discussion leader for the Plant Metabolic Engineering GRC, facilitating conversations around the Integration of Artificial Intelligence.
Details:
- Dates: Saturday, June 14th - Friday, June 20th
- Location: Avinguda de l'Hotel, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
Michigan State University ASPB Plant Biology 2025 Mixer – Sunday, July 27th, 2025
Are you attending the American Society of Plant Biologist's Plant Biology 2025 Conference? You're invited to the MSU Plant Science Community mixer (even if you're not from MSU)! Taking place at the end of the poster session on Sunday, the event is just a short walk away from the conference at The Brewery in downtown Milwaukee. Food and drinks provided, and no registration required!
Details:
- Date: Sunday, July 27, 2025
- Time: 7:30–10:30 p.m. CT
- Location: The Brewery, 1101 N Water St, Milwaukee, WI
American Society of Pharmacognosy Annual Meeting – August 2nd-6th, 2025
The 2025 ASP Annual Meeting is a scientific conference hosted by the American Society of Pharmacognosy, focused on natural products research. It brings together scientists from academia, industry, and government to share advancements in areas like drug discovery, metabolomics, chemical ecology, and biotechnology. The event includes workshops, talks, poster sessions, and networking opportunities.
C-SPIRIT Director Seung Yon (Sue) Rhee from Michigan State University will be a Plenary Speaker at this event as a part of a symposium on metabolomics.
Details:
- Dates: Saturday, August 2nd - Wednesday, August 6th
- Location: Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, MI
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!
May 19th, 2025 | via LinkedIn On May 14th, C-SPIRIT, supported by the MSU Extension team, planted potatoes across 90 plots at Michigan State University’s Montcalm Research Center. The trial includes two elite potato varieties and is designed to test how they respond to 7-day mobile heat stress treatments during key stages of growth. |
April 22nd, 2025 | via BlueSky 📢 Two new calls for papers aligned with C-SPIRIT’s mission: American Journal of Botany: Plant Resilience & Conservation for a Changing Climate Frontiers in Plant Science: Unveiling the Potential of Biostimulants in Agriculture to Enhance Plant Stress Responses and Productivity |
April 14th, 2025 | via BlueSky C-SPIRIT members Hiroshi Ezura (professor) and Toon Suzuki (undergrad) from the University of Tsukuba visited MSU for research + collab talks. They shared work on high-GABA tomatoes and Toon's future role as a long-term visiting scholar. |
April 17th, 2025 | via LinkedIn Faculty from Michigan State University recently traveled to Japan to strengthen connections with three C-SPIRIT partner institutions: the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Nagoya University, and the University of Tsukuba. |
