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Plant Scientist Rob Sharwood wins Academy of Science award
RSB Plant Scientist Rob Sharwood has been awarded a Thomas Davies Research Grant from the Australian Academy of Science for his proposal “Unlocking the diversity of Rubisco catalysis from deep-sea ocean α-cyanobacteria for eventual transplantation into higher plant chloroplasts to improve photosynthetic CO2 assimilation”.
The project seeks to improve our knowledge of Rubisco catalytic properties within marine α-cyanobacteria from different biogeographical positions within the ocean water column and to identify ideal candidate(s) for transplanting into higher plant chloroplasts with their cognate carboxysome. α-Cyanobacteria harbour a simpler carboxysome compared to their β-cyanobacterial counterpart, but functionally similar, thus making it a less complex challenge to engineer into higher plant chloroplasts. This research will involve a number of researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, based at the RSB, including Dean Price, Murray Badger, Spencer Whitney, Ben Rae and Ben Long.
The Thomas Davies Research Grant for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology offers annual science grants to early- and mid-career researchers in the field of marine, soil and plant biology.
