NEWS

For media requests about the lab or plant science in general, please contact Berkley here.

2024

4/9/2024
Congrats to Kaila for being the first Walker Lab PhD!

3/26/2024
Congrats to max for getting the Michigan Soybean Asociation scholarship!

2/28/2024
Congrats to Kaila for accepting her position at Loyola law school starting in August of this year! Its been a long road and you are getting closer to the finish line!

2/21/2024
Congrats to the whole team involved in writing a pretty sizable summary of methods in measuring photosynthetic gas exhange. Check it out here.

2/21/2024
Congrats to Mauri and the team on a great publication exploring if rapid (DAT) CO2 response curves are really comparable to steady-state measurements that take a lot longer. Spoiler alert: They pretty much are. Check it out here.

1/9/2024
Congrats to Luke for accepting an offer to work as a Postdoc at Cornell following graduation!

2023

12/29/2023
We are looking for a postdoc interested in working out the metabolic flux during growth-defense transitions. Check it out and apply here!

11/8/23
Luke Gregory from the lab shares his experience as a summer intern at Bayer here.

10/24/23
Look out for me, I was selected to be one of Science News top 10 scientists to watch. Find the really nice write-up here.

10/20/23
Check out this great write-up on Mauricio’s work looking at the consequences of less carbon storage on seasonal photosynthesis in switchgrass here.

10/01/23
Congrats to Binod Basyal on your recent paper! Find out about how AMF protects photosynthesis and yield against drought in switchgrass here.

9/29/2023
The Walker lab needs a lab Manager/Technician. Please find details here.

9/26/2023
The Plant Research Lab is hiring a new faculty member at the assistant of associate professor level. Check out details here.

9/26/23
Congrats to Stephanie Schmiege on your paper looking at the effects of heat on gas exchange physiology. Also some cool data on how to measure Laisk curves quickly here.

9/26/23
Congrats to Luke Gregory on your paper looking at how desert plants “beat the heat” with increased photorespiratory activities and a partitioning of conductances from stomatal to mesophyll. Read more about it here.

9/26/23
Congrats to Mauri Tejera on your paper determining that the perennial switchgrass can regrow just fine despite decreases in starch storage of at least 30%. Read more about it here.

6/23/23
Congrats to Max Harman for getting a graduate student fellowship from the National Corn Growers Association! More on the program here.

7/01/23
Congrats to Luke Gregory for getting a dissertation completion fellowship from MSU!

6/23/23
Congrats to Max Harman for getting accepted to the Plant Biotechnology for Health and Sustainability fellowship! More on the program here.

5/25/23
I guess there was a claim on Facebook that NASA said you could live off the oxygen of 8 snake plants. That is not true, and I had the chance to help set the record straight in an Associated Press write-up! Check out the article here.

4/8/23
I had the chance to help lead a great collaboration between scientists and composers. If you want to hear what some great plant science sounds like in musical form, check out the archived video here.

3/27/23
Anne Steensma from the lab (co-advised by Yair Shachar-Hill) just had her work probing a most likely novel carbon-concentrating mechanism in Cyanidioschyzon merolae, a red algae that grows in volvanic hot springs! Read more on this here, or watch a cool video summary here.

1/25/23
Congrats to Max for joining the lab and getting a scholarship from the National Sorghum Foundation and BASF! More details here.

1/25/23
Why do perrenials slow down halfway through the growing season? A new paper from Mauri helps shed some light here. Also some news coverage on this story here

1/11/23
A chance meeting with another assistant professor during orientation in 2018 led to a cool paper. Read about it here.. Thanks Kara Headley for the great write-up!

1/6/23
How does plant nutrition link to photorespiration? Our new paper here might be part of the answer! Matt Davenport from MSU wrote a nice story about it here as well.

2022

12/14/22
Congrats to Luke Gregory for landing a summer internship with Bayer Crop Sciences this summer!

9/8/22
We got some more press for our EHS safety award…yeah us! More info here

7/28/22
Kaila Smith finished her internship in patent law with the Michael Best Firm. As part of her time she wrote the following client alert, read it here

7/25/22
Our lab was recognized with an MSU EHS Laboratory Safety Recognition award. We have enjoyed working with them to make sure we are operating safely and appreciate the free mugs and ice cream! You can read more about it here

7/20/22
Here is a great write-up about Mauri in the PRL newsletter. We are so greatful to have you and everyone in our lab! Article here Award

6/15/22
Congrats to Anne for recieving an NIH Plant Biotechnology for Health and Sustainability fellowship!

5/10/22
I won the Robert Rabson Award. from ASPB for early career folks involved in bioenergy research. More info Here

5/6/22
Kaila successfully defended her PhD proposal…great job!

4/24/22
Mauri won the Kalamazoo half marathon. Now we know how he can get so much field work in!

4/15/22
Luke successfully defended his PhD proposal…great job!

3/23/22
Heather Roney was selected to be an ASPB Ambassador and early career representative on the Advisory Committee for the Environmental and Ecological Plant Physiology (EEPP) Section of the American Society of Plant Biologists. A nice write up can be found Here