Recognizing Plant Direct authors: Meng Li
Meng Li, co-first author of Measuring the dynamic response of the thylakoid architecture in plant leaves by electron microscopy
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar in School of Oceanography at University of Washington, Seattle
Education: PhD in Biochemistry, Cellular & Molecular Biology with concentration in Energy Science and Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
Non-scientific Interests: learning new languages, hiking, traveling, stargazing
Brief bio: Guided by original interest in bioenergy, I started my PhD training in Bruce lab at University of Tennessee by studying photosystem I (PSI) in a thermophilic cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis sp. TS-821, which led to my dissertation focus on the special tetrameric PSI. With keen interest in sustainability and a renewable energy scenario, I took extra curriculum in Energy Science and Engineering at the Bredesen Center. My first Postdoc training was advised by Dr. Helmut Kirchhoff and co-advised by Dr. Hans-Henning Kunz at Washington State University, where I had the opportunity to gain experience in photosynthesis research in the model organism Arabidopsis. Here I studied how thylakoid ion transporters impact the dynamics of light reaction and thylakoid architecture by applying techniques including in phenomics, modeling and microscopy.
Currently I am working with Dr. Jodi Young at University of Washington, studying marine algal Rubiscos and Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms for understanding future oceanic carbon fixation in the context of rising CO2 level and climate change. After finishing current training in Young lab, I hope to establish my own research laboratory and devote my academic career in photosynthesis research.
