🎉 Congrats to C-SPIRIT member Mazhar Sher (SDSU) & colleagues on their paper in Environmental Monitoring & Assessment!
They use deep learning to rapidly detect nitrate & nitrite in water from test strip images, supporting sustainable ag & ecosystem health.
🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s106...
#plantscience
🎉 Congratulations to C-SPIRIT member David Douches from MSU on receiving the 2026 Innovation Celebration Technology Transfer Achievement Award!
His work bridges lab discovery & agriculture, advancing more resilient & sustainable crops. 🌱
🔗 Read more: www.canr.msu.edu/news/david-d...
#plantscience
A woman leans over a table with a large plant research poster on it while gesturing to a corn plant and speaking to a young child and his father.
An attendee listens as a woman speaks behind a table while holding up a dish of corn kernels.
A woman picks up kernels of corn on a table surrounded by potted plants as an attendee watches.
Attendees of the annual @msuscifest.bsky.social STEAM Expo Weekend explored the science behind what we eat at the Thompson lab booth with Anuradha and Eleanor! Young participants explored how seeds and plant structure shape our nutrition and everyday food through hands-on demonstrations. #MSUSciFest
Congrats to C-SPIRIT Director Sue Rhee & colleagues on their Plant Direct paper! 🎉
This work supports our mission by expanding tools to study plant resilience across species without relying on reference genomes.
Congrats again to the authors! 🌱
doi.org/10.1002/pld3...
#PlantScience
Welcome to the Rhee lab, Dr. Yingtao Li! Dr. Li and C-SPIRIT Project Manager Maricar Macalincag are at the C-SPIRIT exhibit today at #MSUSciFest teaching next-gen plant scientists how natural defenses help farmers grow strong crops. #PlantScience
C-SPIRIT member, Karine Prado, is representing The Rhee Lab at this weekend's Science Festival!
Six cards display plant-enhancing substances: abscisic acid, salicylic acid, seaweed extracts, calcium, glycine betaine, and silicon. Each card includes an illustration and a brief benefit description. The overall tone is educational and informative.
A science festival booth titled "Crop Defenders" features a woman sitting at a table with plant stickers and a young person engaging. Attendees interact eagerly.
Three potted plants are on a table, each with a sign describing its stress condition: "It's Too Hot!", "It's Too Dry!", and "It's Too Salty!". Each sign includes symptoms, causes, and survival strategies for soybean plants. The overall tone is educational and informative.
Booth at a science festival with the sign "Crop Defenders." Two people sit behind a table with potted plants, sharing information with a child. The space is bright and engaging.
At the C-SPIRIT Booth at MSU's Science Festival, see how different compounds help defend crops to survive scorching heat, dry soil, or hungry insects!
By studying these special natural helpers, C-SPIRIT helps farmers grow strong crops and support a more sustainable future for agriculture.
It's almost time! Join us Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th at MSU's STEM Teaching & Learning Facility to participate in our "Crop Defenders" activity, learn about how soybeans protect themselves, and earn your Crop Defender sticker!
#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
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 all the grad students driving discovery, pushing boundaries, and keeping research moving forward 💡
We appreciate you this week and every week 👏
#plantscience
A promotional graphic for the Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar Series hosted by WALII that includes a blue water background.
A promotional graphic for the Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar Series hosted by WALII that includes a blue water background and an image of the speaker.
Join us NEXT WEEK for our first Technical Training Workshop for the Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar Series!!
Danielle Hoffmann will be presenting on "Tips & Tricks for RNA Extraction from Seeds"
Register here: walii.science/anhydrobiosi...
@cobussmit.bsky.social @skiryczlab.bsky.social @santastic-k.bsky.social @istudytrust.bsky.social @bar-plantbio.bsky.social @asherpasha.bsky.social @alenzimic10.bsky.social @hatem-rouached.bsky.social @mattstata.bsky.social @bobvanburen.bsky.social @rheelab.bsky.social @oli-wilkins.bsky.social
🌱 We’re hiring a Postdoctoral Researcher at MSU in the Rhee Lab!
Research on plant–nematode interactions and desiccation tolerance in C. elegans, with collaborations across C-SPIRIT + WALII (@waliianhydro.bsky.social )
🔗 careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...
#plantscience
📬 Our March 2026 C-SPIRIT Newsletter is out now!
This month: a new blogpost on trainees & workforce development, an MSU institutional feature, new publications, upcoming events, & community highlights. 🌱
🔗 msunatsci.cmail19.com/t/y-e-airfik...
Subscribe: forms.gle/hWQycasrts2m...
#plantscience
Congrats to C-SPIRIT members Anuradha Singh, Addie Thompson, & their colleagues on their new article on drought resilience in sorghum 🎉🌱
Their study reveals genetic & physiological traits that improve water-use efficiency & support climate-resilient crops 🌍
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/plph...
#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
Huge congratulations to C-SPIRIT Aim 5 Lead Addie Thompson on receiving the 2026 M. Rhoades Early-Career Award from the Maize Genetics Cooperation! 🌱
#plantscience
A promotional graphic for the Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar Series hosted by WALII that includes a blue water background.
Happening each month beginning April 9, 2026!
Learn more about each session and how to register, here: walii.science/anhydrobiosi...
🎉 Congrats to Dr. Sora Han on becoming an Assistant Professor at Sun Moon University!
A C-SPIRIT admin team member and contributor across Aims 1-4, her research focuses on polar microorganism genomics and uses AI to predict enzyme function and discover bioactive compounds. 🌱
#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 C-SPIRIT at Michigan State University’s SciFest! 🔬🌱
Try out our activity Crop Defenders 🛡️🌾
📅 April 11–12 | 11–4 PM ET
📍 STEM Teaching & Learning Facility, Room 2202
Find us in the World of Plants, with 18 interactive booths!
Learn more: sciencefestival.msu.edu/Event/Tagged/1
#plantscience
C-SPIRIT member Karine Prado from MSU will be giving a talk about her research on thermo-adaptation in Death Valley on March 19th at 11 am EDT!
Learn more & register: www.bioemtalks.org/march-19-2026
#plantscience
📢 New Publication!
Congrats to C-SPIRIT members Jisub Hwang, Jun Hyuck Lee, Hackwon Do, & colleagues on the publication of their PLOS One paper showing how a surface loop acts as a structural switch that helps an enzyme stay active in cold environments. ❄️🧬
🔗 doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#plantscience
C-SPIRIT member Danielle Hoffmann (Michigan State University) will present in the WALII Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar Series on April 9! Join her talk, “Tips and Tricks for RNA Extraction from Seeds.”
Learn more and register: walii.science/anhydrobiosis
#plantscience
📢🌱 New publication!
Congrats to C-SPIRIT member Hatem Rouached (Michigan State University, @hatem-rouached.bsky.social ) & colleagues on their paper “Sulfur in Dialogue with Phosphorus, Nitrogen, and Iron: Regulatory Networks in Plant Nutrient Homeostasis"!
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience
A promotional graphic for an event titled "March Madness: Battle of the Biofuel Crops." The top section features a light gray background with circular illustrations of poplar, sorghum, switchgrass, and mixed prairie plants. Above the illustrations, there is a hyperlink for registration. The bottom section showcases five individuals with headshots above their names and their event role/plant they'll be representing. From left to right, they are Sarah Lebeis: Moderator, Rebecca Smith: Poplar, Evan Kurtz: Sorghum, Colette Berg: Switchgrass, and Dileepa Jayawardena: Mixed Prairie.
Join @uwenergy.bsky.social for a March Madness-themed virtual bioenergy forum on March 24th! Speakers from @glbioenergy.bsky.social representing four of the most promising bioenergy crops will face off in a bracket-style botanical showdown. Learn more and register to attend: go.wisc.edu/crop-madness
📢 New publication!
Congratulations to C-SPIRIT members Jun Hyuck Lee and Tae-Jin Oh as well as their colleagues on their new paper in Bioinformatics titled “Prediction of bacterial protein-compound interactions with only positive samples”!
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/bioi...
#plantscience
🌏 C-SPIRIT Meet-Up at RIKEN CSRS!
C-SPIRIT member Hatem Rouached (@hatem-rouached.bsky.social, MSU) visited RIKEN CSRS in Yokohama to present a seminar on plant mineral nutrition and phosphorus homeostasis. Researchers from RIKEN and the University of Tsukuba joined the discussion!
#plantscience
🌿 Mark your calendar! The premier global meeting for plant scientists returns July 18–22 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
👉Register for #PlantBio2026: plantbiology.aspb.org/registration/.
