Rhee Lab Research
Climate change is the single biggest threat to global human health, and is expected to cause about a quarter of a million deaths globally from malnutrition, infectious diseases and heat stress (link). Climate change is rapidly changing the habitability of many species on many places on Earth. We need innovations in science and technology to tackle global sustainability, food security, human health, and biodiversity.
Plants not only underpin terrestrial ecosystems and feed us, but also bestow renewable energy and essential medicines. Plants also sequester a significant proportion of the world’s carbon. Therefore, to meet today’s societal challenges, we need technological and conceptual advances in plant science.
Plants not only underpin terrestrial ecosystems and feed us, but also bestow renewable energy and essential medicines. Plants also sequester a significant proportion of the world’s carbon. Therefore, to meet today’s societal challenges, we need technological and conceptual advances in plant science.
We aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptive traits in the face of heat, drought, nutrient limitation, latitude and pests. We study a variety of plants including models, orphan crops, medicinal and desert plants. More recently our work has involved studying a model nematode C. elegans, fungal pathogens, corals, and piezophilic bacterium.
Our group employs computational modeling and targeted laboratory testing to study mechanisms of adaptation, functions of novel genes, organization and function of metabolic networks, and chemical and neuronal code of plant-animal interactions. We are also interested in developing translational research programs involving carbon sequestration by plants and biomass maximization under drought in bioenergy crops. See our Publications and Talks.
Decoding Plant Resilience
From Molecules to Fields
Metabolic Cell BiologyLinking enzyme location & subcellular organization to plant metabolism
The Metabolic Cell Biology project investigates how the cellular and genomic organization of enzymes shapes metabolic pathway function and regulation in plants. By studying where enzymes are located within cells and how metabolic genes are organized, the project aims to better understand how plant metabolism is coordinated as a functional system.
Meet the Team
Evan Saldivar
Karine Prado
C-SPIRITDiscovering bioactive natural products that enhance plant resilience
The Center for Sustainable Plant Innovation and Resilience Through International Teamwork (C-SPIRIT) is an NSF-funded Global Center bringing together researchers from the United States, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom. The center explores natural products from plants and microbes to develop new approaches for improving plant and soil health, strengthening crop resilience and supporting more sustainable food production under environmental stress.
Meet the Team
Kathe Rivera-Zuluaga
Bri Hashim
Karine Prado
Henry Nvenankeng
Barno Rezaeva
Danielle Hoffmann
Yingtao Li
Maricar Macalincag
Ashley Stender
Plant Metabolic NetworkUnderstanding how plant metabolism is organized & functions as an integrated system
The Plant Metabolic Network project works to understand plant metabolism across multiple levels, connecting genes, enzymes, pathways and metabolic networks. By organizing these relationships into an integrated framework, the project helps researchers explore how plant metabolism functions as a coordinated system.
Meet the Team
Charles Hawkins
Bo Xue
Johanna Murray
Water and Life Interface InstituteExploring how cells, tissues, & organisms can dry without dying
The Water and Life Interface Institute (WALII) explores how life interacts with water across biological scales, from molecules and cells to tissues and whole organisms. A major focus is understanding how living systems can withstand extreme water loss and, in some cases, dry without dying.
Meet the Team
Erin Cushing
Aidan Deneen
Ryan Brener
Flavia Bossi
Evan Saldivar
Huiqiao Pan
Plant Resilience Inducing Metabolite EffectorsDiscovering metabolites that regulate genes & help plants withstand stress
Plant Resilience Inducing Metabolite Effectors (PRIME) seeks to identify a new class of regulatory metabolites that influence plant resilience. The project also investigates the nuclear signaling mechanisms through which these metabolites regulate gene activity and help plants respond to environmental stress.
Meet the Team
Karine Prado
Bo Xue
Barno Rezaeva
Autophagy in MaizeExploring how cellular recycling regulates maize genes to improve nitrogen use
The Autophagy in Maize project explores how transcription factors associated with cellular recycling regulate gene activity in maize. The long-term goal is to use this knowledge to help develop crop varieties that can maintain high yields while requiring less nitrogen fertilizer.
Meet the Team
Katie Philipps
Karine Prado
Barno Rezaeva
Extreme Heat ResilienceLearning from a Death Valley plant to engineer heat-resilient crops
The Extreme Heat Resilience project looks to plants that naturally survive exceptionally hot environments for clues about how crops might better withstand heat stress. By learning from a plant adapted to Death Valley conditions, the project aims to identify strategies that could contribute to engineering more heat-resilient crops.
Meet the Team
Karine Prado
Joanna Feehan
Harnessing Water to Optimize CropsEngineering sorghum & other crops for greater water-use efficiency
This project investigates ways to improve water-use efficiency in sorghum and other crops. By better understanding and engineering how plants use water, the work aims to support crop productivity under conditions where water availability is limited.
Meet the Team
Bethany Holland
Katie Philipps
Huiqiao Pan
Beneficial VirusesDiscovering how viruses can support plant health & resilience
The Beneficial Viruses project explores how certain viruses interact with plants in ways that may support plant health rather than cause disease. The team is investigating how these relationships could potentially be harnessed to improve plant resilience.
Meet the Team
Huiqiao Pan
Environment-Wide Association Study for Plant ResilienceIdentifying environmental factors that shape crop resilience in the field
The Environment-Wide Association Study for Plant Resilience aims to identify environmental variables that causally shape plant resilience in the field. By connecting real-world environmental conditions with crop performance, the project seeks to better understand which factors have the greatest influence on resilience.
Meet the Team
Shifa Ansari
Evan Saldivar