In the News
Recent Salk news from the Plant biology team
How light and temperature work together to affect plant growth
LA JOLLA—Plants lengthen and bend to secure access to sunlight. Despite observing this phenomenon for centuries, scientists do not fully understand it. Now, Salk scientists have discovered that two plant …
The best offense is a great defense for some carnivorous plants
LA JOLLA–Insect-eating plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants evolved the ability to capture and consume live prey has largely remained a mystery. Now, Salk …
Renowned plant molecular geneticist Mary Lou Guerinot joins Salk Institute as Nonresident Fellow
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute has named plant molecular geneticist Mary Lou Guerinot a Nonresident Fellow, a group of eminent scientific advisors that guide the Institute’s leadership. Guerinot holds the Ronald …
Salk Research Professor Todd Michael receives $2 million to build a genome repository for the cassava plant
Todd MichaelClick here for a high-resolution image.Credit: Salk InstituteLA JOLLA–Research Professor Todd Michael will receive nearly $2 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to sequence the genomes of …
Salk Institute appoints David Lawrence executive director of Harnessing Plants Initiative
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute announced today the appointment of David Lawrence to the position of executive director of the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI). In his new role, Lawrence will oversee …
Plants rely on the CLASSY gene family to diversify their epigenomes
LA JOLLA—What determines how a cell’s genome is regulated to ensure proper growth and development? Turns out, the parts of the genome that are turned on or off in each …
Six Salk professors named among most highly cited researchers in the world
LA JOLLA—Salk Professors Joanne Chory, Joseph Ecker, Rusty Gage, Satchidananda Panda, Reuben Shaw and Kay Tye have been named to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate. The list identifies researchers who …
Study shines a light into “black holes” in the Arabidopsis genome
LA JOLLA—Salk scientists, collaborating with researchers from the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins University, have sequenced the genome of the world’s most widely used model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, …
Secrets of quillwort photosynthesis could boost crop efficiency
LA JOLLA—The humble quillworts are an ancient group of about 250 small, aquatic plants that have largely been ignored by modern botanists. Now, Salk scientists, along with researchers from the …
Salk plant researchers launch collaboration to breed carbon-capturing sorghum
LA JOLLA—Researchers at the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) have established a five-year, $6.2 million collaboration with Nadia Shakoor, principal investigator and senior research scientist and her team at …
How plants quickly adapt to shifting environmental conditions
LA JOLLA—Scientists—and gardeners—have long known that plants grow taller and flower sooner when they are shaded by close-growing neighbors. Now, for the first time, researchers at the Salk Institute have …
Transforming atmospheric carbon into industrially useful materials
LA JOLLA—Plants are unparalleled in their ability to capture CO2 from the air, but this benefit is temporary, as leftover crops release carbon back into the atmosphere, mostly through decomposition. …
New protein helps carnivorous plants sense and trap their prey
LA JOLLA—The brush of an insect’s wing is enough to trigger a Venus flytrap to snap shut, but the biology of how these plants sense and respond to touch is …
Salk Professor Wolfgang Busch named first incumbent of the Hess Chair in Plant Science
LA JOLLA—Salk Professor Wolfgang Busch has been recognized for his contributions and dedication to advancing science through research by being named the first holder of the Hess Chair in Plant …
$200,000 gifted to Salk’s Coastal Plant Restoration project
Recently, donors completed a matching challenge, gifting $200,000 to Salk’s Coastal Plant Restoration (CPR) program to address increasingly urgent needs to preserve some of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs and …
Research catches up to world’s fastest-growing plant
LA JOLLA—Wolffia, also known as duckweed, is the fastest-growing plant known, but the genetics underlying this strange little plant’s success have long been a mystery to scientists. Now, thanks to …
Bezos Earth Fund donates $30 million to Salk Institute for innovative climate change research
The Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) is an innovative, scalable and bold approach to fight climate change by optimizing a plant’s natural ability to capture and store carbon and …
Salk Institute and Sempra Energy announce project to advance plant-based carbon capture and storage research
SAN DIEGO and LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute and Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today announced a new project to advance plant-based carbon capture and sequestration research, education and implementation to help …
Media Coverage
Using wetland plants to fight climate change
March 14, 2022
– CBS8
San Diego Botanic Garden to create medicinal plants research consortium
March 10, 2022
– Oside News
Program seeks to fight climate change with plants
February 16, 2022
– FOX 5
Salk scientists study value of wetlands ahead of Love Your Wetlands Day
February 4, 2022
– Spectrum News
Joanne Chory and the Harnessing Plants Initiative are featured in PBS’ documentary The Age of Nature, episode 3 (“Changing”)
November, 2021
– PBS – The Age of Nature
Salk Institute harnessing power of plants to fight climate change
November 18, 2021
– Spectrum News
Researchers Launch Collaboration to Breed Carbon-Capturing Sorghum
September 15, 2021
– Seed World
Plant a garden that helps the planet by devouring carbon
July 06, 2021
– Popular Science
Joanne Chory is using plants to save the planet
April 28, 2021
– The Washington Post
Consider the Sinks, Not Just the Sources” Featuring the Salk Institute Harnessing Plants Initiative
April 21, 2021
– Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. – C.O.B. Tuesday
Harnessing plants to clean the air
Row after row of plants are being tested to see how much carbon dioxide they can suck out of the air.
April 21, 2021
– CBS8
Researchers Find How Venus Flytrap Plants Can React To Touch
March 31, 2021
– KPBS
The World’s Fastest-Growing Plant Could Help Solve Food Scarcity and Climate Change
February 21, 2021
– Freethink
Scientists search for ways to lock more carbon in the soil
Listen to the podcast»
-Yale Climate Connections
How to Bury Carbon? Let Plants Do the Dirty Work
December 2020
-Nautilus | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Down to Earth: Plant Power
The Salk Institute is spear heading an innovative program using crop plants to try to mitigate climate change.
December 4, 2020
– 7 News San Diego
San Diego Coastal Marshes May Become Important Tools To Battle Climate Change
December 1, 2020
– KPBS
Salk Institute harnessing power of plants to reverse climate change
November 26, 2020
– ABC 10 News San Diego
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos gives Salk Institute $30 million to help fight climate change
November 17, 2020
– The San Diego Union Tribune
Bezos makes first donations from $10 billion Earth Fund for fighting climate change
November 16, 2020
– The Washington Post
San Diego Scientists Hope Plants Can Store A Lot More Carbon
November 12, 2020
– KPBS
The Sorghum Solution?: The Salk Institute’s plant-based research to battle climate change gets a boost
November 10, 2020
– The San Diego Union Tribune
The weeds that could save the world
October 18, 2020
– Palatinate
Carbon-Sucking Bionic Weeds Are New Front in Climate Change War
September 25, 2020
– Bloomberg Businessweek
Cropland vs Climate Change: A Conversation with Wolfgang Busch
September 1, 2020
– Discover Magazine
Into the Light: A Profile of Joanne Chory
March 1, 2020
– The Scientist
The power of plants to fight climate change
December, 2019
– The Economist
Salk Scientists Plan To Combat Climate Change With Plants
August 17, 2019
– KPBS
Can ‘Supercharged’ Plants Solve the Climate Crisis?
July 20, 2019
– Foreign Policy
Deep roots, edited genes and a plan to fight climate change with supercharged plants
July 18, 2019
– New Atlas
By making plant roots grow deeper, these geneticists hope to curb climate change
July 17, 2019
– PBS News Hour
The five: genetic fixes for the climate crisis
July 14, 2019
– The Guardian
Scientists Are Genetically Engineering Plants to Fight Climate Change
July 12, 2019
– Vice
The Plan to Grab the World’s Carbon with Supercharged Plants
April 26, 2019
– Wired
Scientists work to alter plants to fight climate crisis
April 17, 2019
– CNN
Salk Institute gets $35 million for ‘audacious’ plan to fight global warming with carbon-hungry plants
April 16, 2019
– The San Diego Union Tribune
Could a superplant save the planet?
Jan 31, 2019
– Financial Times
Scientists aim to fight climate change with super plants
Nov 17, 2017
– LA Times
Salk scientists describe strategy to address climate change using plants
Voice of America (VOA)
