Christoph Benning, Director
A center for research in modern plant biology, the MSU/DOE Plant Research Laboratory was established in 1964. The Laboratory is administered by the College of Natural Science under a core research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Laboratory conducts a broad range of energy-related research at the molecular, subcellular, cellular, tissue, organ and organismal levels and draws on plant physiology, biochemistry, structural biology, cell and molecular biology, genetics, synthetic biology and other disciplines. Areas of research under investigation emphasize topics related to energy capture, conversion, and deposition in energy-rich molecules. These topics include dynamic regulation of photosynthesis and growth, identification of energy-sensing and response pathways, mechanisms and regulation of carbon fixation, compartmentalization of photosynthetic metabolism in organelles and bacterial microcompartments, transduction of environmental information by the plant, and effects of stress conditions upon growth and productivity.
The Laboratory provides facilities and support for students intending to proceed toward the Doctor of Philosophy degree and for postdoctoral research associates. The doctoral degree programs are administered through academic units, with which the Laboratory faculty have joint appointments, particularly the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. The interdepartmental doctoral programs in Molecular Plant Sciences, Genetics, and Cellular and Molecular Biology are also available. The student's admission and program of study are subject to the regulations and approval of the appropriate department or program as well as the College of Natural Science.
The aim of graduate work in the Laboratory is to give students training in independent research and to provide them with sufficient strength, both in biology and in the basic sciences, to enable them to stay in the forefront of their continuously changing and developing field. Doctoral programs consist of course work in advanced subjects and research, leading to a dissertation.
Graduate students are given freedom of choice in selecting, within the Laboratory, the areas of their research and their major advisors, who are members of the above-mentioned departments and programs. These selections must be compatible with the Laboratory's objectives. Students are expected to spend the first two semesters familiarizing themselves with the research programs of the Laboratory's staff and related research in other departments, including participation in several research projects, and to make their selection on this basis.
Because of the intensity of the program, the student is expected to work on a year-round basis.