Full story on the College of Natural Science website.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the Michigan State University-Department of Energy (MSU-DOE) Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) a $12 million DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences competitive renewal grant to continue research in photosynthetic energy capture, conversion and storage.

The three-year grant (2023-2026) will allow PRL scientists to continue in their mission to understand how photosynthetic organisms function and thrive in natural environments. Those detailed mechanistic discoveries will enable the development of new technologies that improve human lives.

“This renewal from the Department of Energy is a testament to the PRL’s almost 60-year history of plant science research excellence,” said Doug Gage, vice president for research and innovation. “The current PRL team is committed to continuing that legacy with new scholarship that could lead to fundamental insights with important applications. I congratulate the team on their renewal and wish them continued success.”

Currently, 11 PRL faculty members, as well as talented postdocs, technicians and graduate and undergraduate students, participate in this endeavor, covering a comprehensive spectrum of expertise in molecular, synthetic, structural and cell biology, biophysics, biochemistry, molecular dynamics modeling, plant, algal, and microbial physiology, genomics and genetics