Press Releases

Oct

11

2016

Surprising role of bacterial genes in evolution

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA—We generally think of inheritance as the genetic transfer from parent to offspring and that evolution moves toward greater complexity. But there are other ways that genes are transferred between organisms. Sometimes a “host” organism ...

Oct

04

2016

Overlooked plants defy drought

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA— A feature thought to make plants sensitive to drought could actually hold the key to them coping with it better, according to new findings published by eLife , from Kathryn Barton of the Carnegie Institution for Science (Department of ...

Sep

22

2016

Carnegie’s José Dinneny Selected HHMI-Simons Faculty Scholar

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA—The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Simons Foundation have awarded José Dinneny, of Carnegie’s Department of Plant Biology an HHMI-Simons Faculty Scholar grant. He is one of 84 scientists chosen out of some 1,400 ...

Jul

11

2016

Crop roots enact austerity measures during drought to bank water

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA — With a growing world population and a changing climate, understanding how agriculturally important plants respond to drought is crucial. New work from a team led by Carnegie’s José Dinneny discovers a strategy employed by grasses in ...

Jul

04

2016

Feeding the world by rewiring plant “mouths”

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA — Plants have tiny pores on their leaves called stomata—Greek for mouths—through which they take in carbon dioxide from the air and from which water evaporates. New work from the lab of Dominique Bergmann, honorary adjunct staff member ...

May

10

2016

How algae could save plants from themselves

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA — Algae may hold the key to feeding the world’s burgeoning population. Don’t worry; no one is going to make you eat them. But because they are more efficient than most plants at taking in carbon dioxide from the air, algae could ...

Apr

20

2016

Four Stanford professors join Carnegie as honorary adjuncts

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA — Four additional members of Stanford University’s faculty have been named Honorary Adjunct Staff Scientists at Carnegie’s Department of Plant Biology. Stanford’s Dominique Bergmann has been a Carnegie adjunct since 2011, and the newly ...

Mar

02

2016

Some bacterial CRISPRs can snip RNA, too

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA — You’ve probably seen news stories about the highly lauded, much-discussed genome editing system CRISPR/Cas9. But did you know the system was actually derived from bacteria, which use it to fight off foreign invaders such as viruses? ...

Feb

26

2016

How plants protect photosynthesis from oxygen

By Carnegie HQ

Stanford, CA— During the daytime, plants convert the Sun’s energy into sugars using photosynthesis, a complex, multi-stage biochemical process. New work from a team including Carnegie’s Mark Heinnickel, Wenqiang Yang, and Arthur Grossman identified ...

Feb

18

2016

Plant scientists: GM technology a safe tool to help meet food supply demands

By Carnegie HQ

Washington, DC — More than 1,000 scientists from nonprofit, corporate, academic, and private institutions say public doubts about genetically modified food crops are hindering the next Green Revolution. In a letter published in the journal Science ...

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