[CEPCEB_All] Plants3D April 2021 newsletter

[Maureen Gateas]

Images not shown? To view the images, please click "Display images below"
in the top of this email located just below the subject line.


*The Plants3D NRT Program Newsletter*
April 2021
*Announcements*

   - Dr. Mary Williams of the American Society of Plant Biologists. "How to
   talk about science: cultivate curiosity and inspire inquiry", Friday, noon
   April 9th.
   - Welcome to the Plants3D 2021 fellow cohort!
   - Community Member Highlight: Assistant Professor Yanran Li and Ph.D.
   candidate Angie Zhou
   - Plants3D's course, Product Design and Entrepreneurship for
   Agricultural and Biological Applications  (BPSC/CEE208), has room for a few
   more students or serious auditors. T/TH 4-5:30 3 units

*Friday, April 9th noon, Plants3D Seminar*
"How to talk about science: Cultivate curiosity and inspire inquiry."
*Dr. Mary Williams*
*Invited by Taylor Myhre and the other Plants3D Fellows*
The inspiring Dr. Mary Williams received her Ph.D. from the Rockefeller
University and did a postdoc at UC Berkeley. She worked at Harvey Mudd
College in Claremont, CA as a biology professor for 14 years before joining
the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) as Features Editor for *The
Plant Cell* and the developer of Teaching Tools in Plant Biology. Mary
actively mentors students via the Plantae platform (https://plantae.org/
<https://ucr.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&id=992d51083f&e=f8eca9c9de>),
edits Plant Science Research Weekly (https://plantae.org/research/wwrtw/
<https://ucr.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&id=0167841ea3&e=f8eca9c9de>),
and gives workshops on writing, teaching, and communication. You can follow
Mary on Twitter via @PlantTeaching
<https://ucr.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&id=54f79e5ed1&e=f8eca9c9de>
*Congratulations Plants3D 2021 Cohort!*
We congratulate the new cohort of Plants3D trainees, who we will introduce
in the May newsletter. Thanks to all students who applied for our program.
If you are eligible but weren't selected, you are welcome to apply again
next year!
Plants3D Community Member Profile
*Yanran Li*

Dr. Yanran Li is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental
Engineering. Dr. Li obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular
Engineering at UCLA in 2012 under the guidance of Dr. Yi Tang. She was a
postdoc in the group of Dr. Rustem Ismagilov at CalTech from 2012 to 2013,
before a second postdoc in the group of Dr. Christima Smolke at Stanford
University from 2013 to 2016. After the masterful reconstitution of the 10
enzyme pathway for noscapine biosynthesis from the opium poppy in yeast,
Dr. Li joined UCR's CEE faculty and CEPCEB in 2016. Yanran is
on the Plants3D Leadership team.


In 2020, Yanran Li received the New Innovator Award from the National
Institutes of Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program to discover
and synthesize novel plant natural products of potential medicinal value.
Visit Li  LAB - Home (weebly.com)
<https://ucr.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&id=08daca9d9f&e=f8eca9c9de>
to
learn more about Yanran's lab.

Cytochrome P450s (CYP450s) are enzymes involved in secondary metabolism and
are essential to the natural product bioproduction in microbial systems.
To know more about challenges in functional reconstitution of
CYP450s in microbes, check out Plants3D fellow Anqi (Angie) Zhou and
Professor Li's new review in *Current Opinion in Plant Biology* (
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2021.102005
<https://ucr.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&id=ad6bc8d40e&e=f8eca9c9de>
)

Angie Zhou's dissertation focuses on the rational engineering of *S.
cerevisiae* to efficiently synthesize valuable plant-derived terpenoids
such as limonoids. Limonoids, produced by citrus, have a range of
biological activities, including as anticancer agents. CYP450s are involved
in multiple steps of the limonoid biosynthetic pathway. Angie is
troubleshooting their functional reconstitution challenges due to their low
catalytic activity, instability, dependence on CYP450 reductases, and the
need for association with membranous structures. One strategy is the
co-cultivation of *E. coli *and yeast to overcome these challenges.

Angie remarked, "The experience of writing this review paper not only
largely enriched my knowledge of rational design strategies but also helped
me to understand better how to "plantize" microbial factories to increase
production efficiency."

Angie wrote about Dr. Yanran Li, "Dr. Li is a very nice, knowledgeable, and
helpful mentor." She mentioned that they have open and effective
communication. Dr. Li always gives her honest feedback about new ideas and
provides constructive criticism, guidance, and encouragement during her
research.

Research in the Li group on limonoids is benefited by the citrus genomics
projects in the labs of Dr. Danelle Seymour, Dr. Mike Roose, and
the Dynamic Genome (Dr. Sue Wessler and Dr. Jim Burnette).
Photo on the left Dr. Danelle Seymour and Dr. Yanran Li and
photo on the right: Dr. Yanran Li and Angie Zhou
*Trainee Information and Tips*

Do you want your research or outreach to be featured on our website or in a
newsletter? Do you want changes in your bio? Do you have an idea for the
community to share? Do you want to feature your PI or a new paper?

Please email the Plants3D NRT Program Coordinator, Maureen Hummel, about
your accomplishments with "Plants3D product" as your subject.

Be sure to acknowledge your NSF funding on every abstract, poster, and
manuscript as follows:
"Funded by the US National Science Foundation, DBI-1922642".

*Program Contacts*
Julia Bailey-Serres,
University Distinguished Professor,
Botany and Plant Sciences
serres at ucr.edu
*
Ian Wheeldon,
Professor,
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Ian.wheeldon at ucr.edu
*
Maureen Hummel,
Program Coordinator
maureenh at ucr.edu
Plants3D NRT Website
<https://ucr.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&id=31f875416b&e=f8eca9c9de>
*Copyright © 2021 Plants3D NSF NRT *DBI-1922642*, All rights reserved.*
plants3d.ucr.edu






[image: Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp]
<http://www.mailchimp.com/email-referral/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=referral_marketing&aid=20258b97443c8dea22c17955f&afl=1>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/cepceb_all/attachments/20210401/0c7e36af/attachment-0001.html>