One aspect of ensuring future food security is the ability to produce more crop products using fewer resources – such as land, water, and fertilizer – in the face of climate change.
In the Salesse-Smith lab, we are helping to address this challenge by using synthetic biology to study the molecular mechanisms of carbon metabolism and photosynthesis, with the goal of engineering crops with improved productivity and resilience.
Our main target is the enzyme Rubisco, which is responsible for nearly all biological carbon fixation, but we are also interested in other components of leaf carbon assimilation.
Our research combines plant physiology, molecular biology, and machine learning to address fundamental questions about photosynthesis and, ultimately, use this knowledge to benefit society.
