Professor W. Paul Quick. Paul leads a C4 rice team at IRRI and is Professor of Plant Physiology at the University of Sheffield in the UK. His research focuses on plant photosynthesis and the partitioning of photosynthate into food end-products. He took over as project lead for Phase I when John Sheehy retired, led Phase II, and was a consortium member in Phase III.
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Professor Rowan Sage. Rowan is Professor of Plant Biology in the Ecology and Evolution Department at Toronto. His research addresses physiological mechanisms governing photosynthetic responses to CO2 and temperature, and the ecophysiology of C4 plant evolution. He is noted for identifying the number of independent origins of C4 photosynthesis. His lab is currently identifying new intermediate species of C4 evolution to better understand how the C4 pathway evolved. Rowan was a scientific advisor for Phases I & II and an associate member in Phase III..
Professor Tammy Sage. Tammy is an Associate Professor of Plant Biology in the Ecology and Evolution Department at Toronto. Her research focuses on elucidating the cellular and developmental events associated with the evolution of C4 photosynthesis, and the developmental physiology of the unique aspects of the rice leaf. In this work, she combines high resolution imaging with transcriptomics, immunohistochemistry, and bioinformatics. Her work aims to understand the functional significance of plant structure in an evolutionary context. Tammy was a consortium member during Phases II & III..
Professor Andreas Weber. Andreas is Professor of Plant Biochemistry at Heinrich Heine University. His research interests include function and evolution of C4 photosynthesis and photorespiration; cellular compartmentation of metabolic networks in plants; endosymbiosis and the evolution of plastids; and algal functional genomics and biology of the Cyanidiales. His longstanding interest in metabolite transport underpinned his C4 rice research, which focused on the identification and characterization of transporter proteins. Andreas was a consortium member during Phase III..
Professor Peter Westhoff. Peter is Professor of Plant Developmental and Molecular Biology at Heinrich Heine University. His group is presently working on the discovery of cis-regulatory elements involved in mesophyll and bundle sheath specific gene expression in C4 species. The group is also identifying genes required for bundle sheath cell differentiation in Arabidopsis, aiming to use this information to alter the rice bundle sheath. Peter was a consortium member throughout Phases I-III and remains an associate member in Phase IV.
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Professor Xinguang Zhu. Xinguang is Group Leader at the CAS-Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology. His research focuses on photosynthesis systems biology, in particular on developing and applying systems models of photosynthesis to identify new options to manipulate photosynthetic systems for enhanced efficiency. In the C4 rice project, Xinguang’s team focused on developing systems models of C4 photosynthesis to prioritize engineering options towards C4 rice. He was a consortium member during Phases II and III.
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Dr Hirofumi Ishihara Hiro is currently a postdoc in Mark Stitt’s group. He gained his PhD in bioinformatics and genome research from Bielefeld University. His research is focused on elucidating regulation of carbon allocation to growth during the light and dark cycle using 13CO2 labeling.
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Dr Ana Rita Borba Rita is currently a postdoc at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Julian Hibberd. She obtained her PhD degree in Molecular Biology, with specialisation in Plant Sciences, from ITQB NOVA Institute in Portugal. During her PhD she identified and characterised transcriptional regulators of the NADP-ME gene involved in maize C4 photosynthesis. In the C4 Rice Project, she is investigating how photosynthesis activation can be achieved in rice bundle sheath cells.
Dr Florian Hahn Florian is a research associate in the Kelly lab. He obtained BSc and MSc degrees in biochemistry at the University of Düsseldorf. He also did his PhD in Düsseldorf where he focused on establishing the CRISPR/Cas9 system in Arabidopsis. He then did a 2 year PostDoc at Rothamsted Research, where he applied genome editing techniques in crops such as wheat, rice and legumes and created Golden Gate modules for CRISPR researchers. In the C4 Rice Project, his focus is using CRISPR/Cas to integrate a basic C4 cycle in rice.
Dr Tom Hughes Tom is a postdoc in the Langdale lab. He obtained his Bachelors degree in Natural Sciences, specializing in Plant Sciences, from the University of Cambridge, and his PhD from the University of Oxford. His research involves characterization of a number of putative regulators of Kranz anatomy, through gain of function experiments in rice and loss of function experiments in maize.
Dr Maria Ermakova Maria is a postdoc in Susanne von Caemmerer’s and Robert Furbank’s groups. She obtained her PhD in biochemistry in University of Turku working in Eva-Mari Aro’s lab. Her research is focusing on photosynthetic electron transport reactions in C4 plants and ways to improve crop yield by manipulating thylakoid proteins.
Dr Samantha McGaughey Sam is a postdoc in Caitlin Byrt and Robert Furbank’s groups. She completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide under the supervision of Caitlin Byrt and Steve Tyerman. Sam’s research is focused on membrane transport processes and the characterisation of plant protein function.
Dr Florence Danila Flor is a postdoc in Susanne von Caemmerer’s and Robert Furbank’s group. She obtained her PhD at the Australian National University under the supervision of Susanne von Caemmerer, Bob Furbank, Paul Quick and Rosemary White. Flor’s research is focused on leaf symplastic transport and its importance for improved photosynthesis.
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