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.