Join us for an online LSU Science Café with a faculty researcher.  

About this Event  

Nearly 1 billion people are affected by hunger every day and as the population increases, traditional methods of crop improvement have become less effective in adapting and improving agricultural production. In addition, photosynthesis is a fundamental process sensitive to environmental stresses. LSU Department of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Paul South’s research aims to unlock the genetic mechanisms that can improve photosynthetic efficiency to increase agricultural production and achieve greater food sustainability. So far, his research has yielded 20-40% more biomass in his study plants. Join Dr. South as he shares how he and his students are engineering crops for better future food security. 

About the Speaker 

Paul South earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University studying the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in sterol biosynthesis. After completing his thesis research, Dr. South shifted focus to engineering photosynthesis as a Research Molecular Biologist working for the USDA-Agriculture research service in Urbana, Illinois. There, Dr. South began working on the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project. In 2019, Dr. South joined the faculty in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, where he continues his focus on improving crop productivity by re-engineering photosynthetic processes using synthetic biology approaches.  

LSU Science Café is presented in partnership with WRKF.  

Image Credit: Photo courtesy of the RIPE Project/University of Illinois.

Registration & Attendance Information  

The event is open to the public and advance registration through Eventbrite is required.  

Access to the webinar will be available through the Eventbrite online event page. Your registration confirmation email will provide a button that links to the event page, followed by reminder emails prior to the event. The passcode will be available on the event page after 5:30 PM the day of the event. Please check your "clutter" or "junk" box if you do not receive your email reminders. 

The live event will be closed captioned and a recording of the webinar will be made available on the LSU Research YouTube channel shortly after the event.