Plant Science Seminar Lecture
Dr. Don Ort - University of Illinois
WHEN: Thursday, October 5
WHERE: 1140 Plant Science Building
TIME: 4:00pm
"Improving photosynthetic efficiency for improved yield”
About: Feeding the world’s current population already requires 15% of the total net primary productivity of the globe’s land area and that will need to increase to 25% in order to meet the projected increase in agricultural demand this century. This near doubling of food production will have to be accomplished on globally declining acreage and during a time in which there will be ever increasing demand on cultivated lands for the production of bioenergy crops, while in the face of a changing global environment that has already resulted in decreasing global yield of some of the world’s most important food crops. Opportunities to improve photosynthetic efficiency exist in readapting photosynthesis to the rapid changes in atmospheric composition and temperature, in redesigning photosynthesis for agricultural production and in applying synthetic biology to bypass evolutionary limitations and inefficiencies in photosynthesis.
Don Ort is the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois and Research Leader of the USDA/ARS Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit in Urbana, IL. He is the 2006 ASPB Kettering Award recipient, elected Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologist in 2007, Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science Award in 2009 and elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2017. His laboratory is engaged in three lines of research: i) Redesigning photosynthesis for improved efficiency; ii) Molecular and biochemical basis of environmental interactions with crop plants; iii) Ecological genomics: Interactive effects of CO2, temperature and drought on plant, plant canopy and plant ecosystem performance.
Dr. Don Ort - University of Illinois
WHEN: Thursday, October 5
WHERE: 1140 Plant Science Building
TIME: 4:00pm
"Improving photosynthetic efficiency for improved yield”
About: Feeding the world’s current population already requires 15% of the total net primary productivity of the globe’s land area and that will need to increase to 25% in order to meet the projected increase in agricultural demand this century. This near doubling of food production will have to be accomplished on globally declining acreage and during a time in which there will be ever increasing demand on cultivated lands for the production of bioenergy crops, while in the face of a changing global environment that has already resulted in decreasing global yield of some of the world’s most important food crops. Opportunities to improve photosynthetic efficiency exist in readapting photosynthesis to the rapid changes in atmospheric composition and temperature, in redesigning photosynthesis for agricultural production and in applying synthetic biology to bypass evolutionary limitations and inefficiencies in photosynthesis.
Don Ort is the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois and Research Leader of the USDA/ARS Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit in Urbana, IL. He is the 2006 ASPB Kettering Award recipient, elected Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologist in 2007, Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science Award in 2009 and elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2017. His laboratory is engaged in three lines of research: i) Redesigning photosynthesis for improved efficiency; ii) Molecular and biochemical basis of environmental interactions with crop plants; iii) Ecological genomics: Interactive effects of CO2, temperature and drought on plant, plant canopy and plant ecosystem performance.