Date: Tuesday, October 21,2025
Location: Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium, Salk Institute

Joanne Chory – A tribute to an extraordinary scientist

Joanne Chory, whose life was cut short by Parkinson’s disease last year, was one of the most accomplished biologists of her generation. Trained as a bacterial geneticist, Joanne revolutionized plant physiology by bringing the power of genetics to study how plants sense and respond to the environment. Much of what we know today about how plants adapt to light, shade or dark comes from Joanne’s groundbreaking work.

In basic science, Joanne is best known for discovering and characterizing an entire signaling pathway – from the biosynthesis of a small signaling molecule to its transmembrane receptor and the complex downstream events inside the cell. This extraordinary feat – accomplished by Joanne and her trainees – is unparalleled in biology.

Joanne was, however, so much more than an accomplished scientist: she was also a deeply inspiring mentor and leader, both for her own lab and across the science community at large. In the last decade, Joanne was a powerful voice that like no one else inspired an entire generation of plant biologists to enlist plants to counteract the greenhouse gas emisions and to confront the pressing challenges of climate change. On October 21, friends, colleagues and former trainees will come together to honor Joanne’s remarkable legacy.