The RIPE Project

We have been awarded a $34M grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations to continue our work for 4 more years with the same goal of delivering benefits to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa & South Asia! Full release on the grant here:bit.ly/3hrt1Gv

Lancaster University’s @ecarmosilva has been named Deputy Director of the internationally-acclaimed @RIPEproject RIPE is an international research project that aims to increase global food production by developing crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently

Science does not move forward without the invaluable contributions of women. Today we celebrate the incredible women on the RIPE team and all of those shaping the future of research. #EveryVoiceInScience

RIPE Researchers, in work done for @CABBIbio, demonstrated that increasing the Rubisco enzyme in C4 crops like sorghum and sugar cane increases photosynthesis and yield as well! Their work was published in the @theNASciences proceedings. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2… @IGBIllinois

Tracy Lawson's fascination with plants started as a child on an English farm & recently brought the globally recognized expert in plant biology across the pond to Illinois! Tracy talks about her research & what she's looking forward to in a new feature! bit.ly/4jfguQQ

(2/2) Field studies showed biomass increases of 15.5% in field-grown sorghum and up to 80% in lab-grown sugarcane. The work suggests an opportunity for substantial productivity increases in economically vital C4 crops, future-proofing their value under global atmospheric change.

A CABBI team led by Co-PI Stephen Long and Postdoc Coralie Salesse-Smith of @UofIllinois demonstrated that increasing the Rubisco enzyme in sorghum & sugarcane plants boosts photosynthesis and improves yield in these C4 crops. 🌱 📰@PNASNews: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn… 1/2 ⤵️

RIPE team members have developed an R package for curve fitting that enables users to build analysis pipelines for fitting photosynthetic gas exchange data. Read more about PhotoGEA in @PlantCellEnvir: doi.org/10.1111/pce.15…

A RIPE team determined a crucial soybean photosynthesis improvement via traditional breeding methods is unlikely. Gene editing could be the key to unlocking soybean potential. They were published in @ThePlantJournal Article: doi.org/10.1111/tpj.17… Story: bit.ly/4iAM0ZN

RIPE researchers from @LancasterUni wrote a chapter in the latest volume of Methods in Enzymology, providing a protocol for using radiometric assays to measure Rubisco in plant leaves. Read more about their work here: bit.ly/3XzXW5h

Current & former RIPE team members were invited to share their expertise & provide commentary on a recent @NewPhyt article. Read Coralie & Yi's article, “Mesophyll conductance and cell wall composition: insights from a meta-analysis across species,” doi.org/10.1111/nph.70…

This semester, RIPE will be joined by @IllinoisNRES/@IllinoisComm student Maria Raza as our science communication intern! Maria will work with our team to share RIPE news and also participate in career preparation experiences. Welcome to the team, Maria! bit.ly/3XbypiO

Check out this @sciam article about our ‘Hot Potato’ research! bit.ly/4hYOX5z

We are thrilled to announce our new leadership duo! @ainsy28 is our Director & @ecarmosilva is our Deputy Director! Lisa & Elizabete have been with RIPE for years & we look forward to what we can accomplish under their guidance. Full announcement here: bit.ly/42UuCtW

We are looking for a team member to provide maintenance & management of our pool of LiCOR devices at Illinois. Work will take place in lab, greenhouse, & field settings. More details can be found here: bit.ly/4hXUGbI Deadline is March 13 at 6pm (CST). #plantscijobs

After decades of impactful & prolific research, Steve Long & Don Ort are retiring from their RIPE leadership roles. bit.ly/4hEKDIA We are honored to have worked under them for 12 years & are elated they will continue as principal investigators. We wish them all the best!

Read about the latest in genomics research from our home institute, @IGBIllinois! There are a couple of RIPE features in this year’s Biomarker, and we can even help you out with page 61 🙂 bit.ly/49ALtmQ

“The reason we focus on photosynthesis is because we want to try to improve crop production without added inputs and without needing more land,” said Katherine Meacham-Hensold in a recent interview for Advanced Science News. Read the full article here: bit.ly/3WsKbEW

David Hong, RIPE's science communication intern last semester, recently reflected on what he learned as a member of the RIPE team and his internship experience. bit.ly/3PDT9vq Thank you, David, for all of your hard work, and best of luck in your future endeavors!

The deadline for our RIPE Data Manager position is this Thursday (1/16)! More information about the role can be found here: bit.ly/3VMBuoO All RIPE openings can be found here: ripe.illinois.edu/team/join-our-…

RIPE currently has three openings to join our Illinois team! We are looking for a Data Manager, a Postdoc in the Lawson Lab, and a Science Communication Intern. More information about all of the positions can be found on our website: ripe.illinois.edu/team/join-our-… #plantscijobs