Our lab combines computational and experimental approaches to reveal molecular mechanisms underlying adaptive strategies in plants. We focus on metabolic traits at multiple scales including individual genes, pathways, and networks. We also uncover novel functions, mechanisms, and pathways of 'unknown' genes (those that are not similar to any known genes), which is taking us to areas of research we never thought of studying before.

Front Matter

New NSF-Funded Institute Will Probe Biology in the Absence of Water​

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Water is inextricably linked to our understanding of life—it makes up most of our planet’s surface and organisms across the tree of life depend on it to function. Yet the ability to survive extremely dry conditions for long periods is crucial to the life cycles of many species—including in plants, which can reproduce from desiccated pollen grains and grow from dried-out seeds.
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​“There are some desert plants and micro-animals, like tardigrades, which can lose up to 90 percent of their water and resume normal biological function within hours of being rehydrated. We want to know how they do it,” said Carnegie’s Sue Rhee, who was just awarded a $12.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create a cross-disciplinary institute that will investigate this question.
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Understanding the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms by which they accomplish this incredible hardiness could inform strategies for surviving climate change with minimal impact to the food supply and help identify conditions that could support life on other planets.

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Why should we study plants?

Introduction by Ruby Tebbutt, 2022 Summer Intern

Tweets by Sue Rhee