A graphic for Administrative Professionals Day honoring the Michigan State University Plant Resilience Institute administrative team. Text in the top left says: "Happy Administrative Professionals Day" with the MSU PRI logo underneath. The graphic includes a grid of ten headshots with the following text over it: "Celebrating the PRI Administrative Team."

Happy #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay! We’re celebrating the dedicated professionals behind the MSU Plant Resilience Institute across project management, communications, outreach, finance, operations, and germplasm curation. Your work keeps PRI and its center-level grants thriving. Thank you! 🌱

Happy Earth Day! 🌱🌍

A more sustainable future starts with resilient plants—that’s why C-SPIRIT connects global teams to drive plant innovation and resilience.

#EarthDay #PlantScience

Dark green leafy background with text announcing the Plant Cell Atlas 2026 Synthetic Biology Hackathon at MIT, July 12-13, 2026. A banner saying ‘Applications Due June 1, 2026!’ is at the bottom.

Are you interested in competing in a time-bound event where participants work to design synthetic genetic circuits to program plants with new functions?

If so, apply to the SynBio Hackathon! Applications are due June 1, 2026!

Apply Here: bit.ly/3QpF5Jr

We’re hiring a Research Assistant III/S in the Rhee Lab @ MSU 🌱🔬

Work on plant resilience using molecular biology + advanced imaging in a collaborative lab.

Apply:
careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

Closes April 21 (may re-open late April/early May). If closed, reach out by email.

#plantscience

A lecture room with attentive students seated in rows facing a woman presenting at a podium. The room is well-lit, creating a focused atmosphere.

Last week, PCA's Dr. Sue Rhee gave a talk on "Understanding and engineering drought resilience in sorghum using modeling and single-cell omics” hosted at the PCA SoCal Single Cell Retreat at the University of California, Riverside!

@rheelab.bsky.social

🎉 New publication!

Congrats to Rhee Lab members Evan Saldivar, Bo Xue, Sue Rhee & colleagues on their Plant Direct paper.

In their paper, they present SPLASH, a method that identifies gene regulation from RNA-seq without a reference genome.

🔗 doi.org/10.1002/pld3...

#PlantScience

A man and woman pose together behind a table with various flyers, cards, and stickers displayed as well as three potted soybean plants in different degrees of stress. A sign in the background says "Crop Defenders."

A man in a white hoodie points to a card on a table while a child watches. He is standing behind a table with three potted plants in front of him.

Two people stand behind a table with three potted plants on it as an attendee reads a flyer displayed on the table.

We would like to welcome to the lab Yingtao Li, a visiting postdoc from the University of Tsukuba! Dr. Li will be with the Rhee lab for the next year working with @c-spirit.org. After arriving last night, Dr. Li is already making a difference at #MSUSciFest showcasing how crops defend themselves.

Two individuals at a science festival table discuss corn growth. One holds a chart; the other examines labels on small corn plant pots. Bright, educational atmosphere.

Small glass jars with cork lids contain colorful maize seeds, labeled "Plant Resilience Institute." Attached tags detail planting instructions. A chart in the background shows corn plant anatomy.

A group of people working together in a lab setting, examining potted plants. They appear engaged and focused, discussing plant growth and research.

Rhee Lab member Karine Prado leads our booth at MSU Sci-Fest on Exploring Growth and Self-Recycling with Corn!

Come check it out and get your own colorful glass-gem Indian corn kernels to grow at home!

@msuscifest.bsky.social #PlantScience

A person in a brown sweater and two young children in pajamas explore molecular models on a table with an engaging presenter at a science festival.

A table displays colorful cartoon atom stickers and a chart listing carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur. A person sits nearby with a presenter badge.

A science festival booth with a green tablecloth displays colorful molecular models and atom stickers. Two people sit behind the table smiling, engaging with visitors. Signs read about the scent of bananas and plant chemistry. The atmosphere is interactive and educational.

We're back at Michigan State University's Science Festival with our popular interactive activity, "Why Do Bananas Smell So Good? How Plants Make Themselves A-Peeling!"

Come stop by the MSU STEM Teaching & Learning Facility, Room 2202 today until 4pm & tomorrow, 11am-4pm!
@msuscifest.bsky.social

Rhee Lab members Natalie Pitts, Ryan Brener, and Aidan Deneen are representing @waliianhydro.bsky.social at this year's MSU SciFest!

The MSU SciFest STEAM Expo Days are this weekend!

Join the Rhee Lab in the STEM Teaching & Learning Facility April 11-12 to participate in our interactive booth "Exploring Growth and Self-Recycling with Corn!"

Learn about autophagy in maize & take home colorful kernels 🌽

#plantscience

We’re hiring a Research Assistant III/S in the Rhee Lab @ MSU 🌱🔬

Work on plant resilience using molecular biology + advanced imaging in a collaborative lab.

Apply:
careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

Closes April 21 (may re-open late April/early May). If closed, reach out by email.

#plantscience

The image is a colorful promotional poster for the Michigan State University Science Festival, focusing on the theme "World of Plants." Centrally featured is a collage of various plant and science-related elements against a vivid blue and white background.

MSU's plant science community is set to flourish at the 2026 #MSUSciFest STEAM Expo Weekend, April 11-12! Join us at the STEM Teaching and Learning Facility Room 2202 for "The World of Plants," featuring 18 unique #plantscience activities: sciencefestival.msu.edu/Event/Tagged... 🌿🔬

April 7th is #WorldHealthDay 🌍

Plant health is easy to overlook, but it underpins our crops, food systems, ecosystems, and long-term human health.

Our work at C-SPIRIT focuses on building plant resilience to support that bigger picture 🌱

#plantscience

Happy Graduate Student Appreciation Week! 🎓

Shoutout to Rhee Lab grad students for the work, ideas, and teamwork you bring every day 👏

#plantscience

A newsletter header for the Plant Metabolic Network.

Our Spring 2026 Newsletter is out now!

You can view it here: createsend.com/t/y-5D55BBF5...

Not on our mailing list? Visit our website at plantcyc.org to sign up!

📣 We’re hiring a postdoc in the Rhee Lab at Michigan State University!

This position focuses on plant–nematode interactions and desiccation tolerance in C. elegans, with collaborative projects across C-SPIRIT + WALII. Come work with us!

🔗 careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

#plantscience

Rhee Lab member Danielle Hoffmann will be giving a talk at the upcoming Water & Life Interface Institute (WALII) webinar on RNA extraction from seeds 🌱

Join to learn more about approaches advancing anhydrobiosis research!

Register here: walii.science/anhydrobiosi...

#plantscience

The graphic is a job advertisement for the SYNCORNET Project Administrator. It features a background image of a field with farm machinery with the Plant Resilience Institute logo in the top left corner. In the middle of the graphic is a green gradient arrow with the following text: “Now Hiring: SYNCORNET Project Administrator.” In the bottom right corner, there is the MSU PRI logo and the text: “Apply online at careers.msu.edu.”

Now #Hiring! Join Christopher Topp's lab at the MSU Plant Resilience Institute as a project administrator supporting SYNCORNET, a new multi-institutional research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E. Apply now: careers.msu.edu/jobs/project... #PlantScience #PlantSciJobs

An art poster of George Washington Carver displayed in a university hallway.

An art poster on Phytoremediation displayed in a university hallway.

The Plant Science Art Exhibit is now on display at the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences!

This exhibit will be up for the rest of the semester to engage students and inform them about the history and potential of plant science!

Learn more about the exhibit: bit.ly/4byqtQo

Addie Thompson smiles while holding the 2026 M. Rhoades Early-Career Award on a balcony overlooking Cologne, Germany at night.

MSU PRI faculty member Addie Thompson has been named the recipient of the 2026 M. Rhoades Early-Career Award from the Maize Genetics Cooperation, recognizing outstanding contributions to maize genetics research! 🌽 Read the full story: plantresilience.msu.edu/pri-news/202... #MGM2026 #PlantScience

Green promotional graphic for the Plant Cell Atlas Computation, Modeling, & AI Two-Part Speaker Series including the images and names of the speakers.

PCA's Computation, Modeling, & AI Committee is happy to announce their two-part speaker series, highlighting recent advances in AI-driven tools for single-cell datasets happening May 4 and May 11, 2026 (12:00pm ET / 11:00am CT / 9:00am PT)!

Learn More: bit.ly/4cTuGPH

Join the Rhee Lab @ the 2026 MSU Science Festival!

Our activity: Exploring Growth and Self-Recycling with Corn! 🌽
📅 April 11–12 | 11–4 PM ET
📍 Room 2202

See how corn grows & “recycles” itself, and grab colorful kernels!

Learn more: sciencefestival.msu.edu/Event/View/45

#MSUSciFest #plantscience

We're excited to share that Rhee Lab member Karine Prado (MSU) will be presenting her research on thermo-adaptation in Death Valley at the BioEM Talks webinar on March 19 at 11 AM EDT! 🌵

Learn more and register: www.bioemtalks.org/march-19-2026

#plantscience

East Lansing Makers: Do You Know the Mushroom Man? - East Lansing Info Matt Stata has been cultivating mushrooms at his home for years.

🍄 Rhee Lab member Matt Stata is featured in East Lansing Info!

We’re excited to see @mattstata.bsky.social in “Do You Know the Mushroom Man?”, which explores his passion for cultivating gourmet mushrooms like oyster & lion’s mane. 🔬

Read more:
eastlansinginfo.news/east-lansing...

#plantscience

🎉 Congratulations to Rhee Lab member Dr. Evan Saldivar on defending his PhD dissertation "Discovery of novel molecular players in the adaptive response to nitrogen deprivation in two divergent model photoautotrophs" on March 2nd at Stanford Biology!

We are so proud of you, Evan! 👏

#plantscience

Promotional image for the PCA Imaging Workshop Webinar Series: Introduction to 2D and 3D Segmentation with MorphoGraphX. The promo has a purple background behind text over a green plant cell graphic with a black background. It also includes the details for the webinar including the date/time.

Don't forget to register for the second installment of the Plant Cell Atlas Imaging Workshop Series: Introduction to 2D and 3D Segmentation with MorphoGraphX!

You can learn more and register here: plantcellatlas.org/events

This week, Rhee Lab members Charles, Aidan, Katie, and Barno from Michigan State University joined Glencairn Elementary’s Science Night, sharing hands-on activities about plant growth, chemistry, and molecular models with curious young scientists! 🔬🌱

#plantscience

An amazing year full of excitement, adventures, travels, and networking. Great people at all levels and places. Looking forward to another exciting year in 2026! A huge thanks to Maricar and Ashley for an amazing job coordinating and promoting C-SPIRIT. I couldn't have asked for a better team!

The MSU Plant Resilience Institute's 2025 Annual Report is now live!

PRI launched our NSF Global Center in January of 2025, and many of our C-SPIRIT members at MSU are a part of PRI, furthering the Institute's discoveries.

Read the report: plantresilience.msu.edu/about/annual...

#plantscience