Shan He
Position title: Assistant Professor of Botany
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Email: shanhe@princeton.edu
Address:
B219 Birge Hall
- Education
- PhD (2013) Peking University
- Research Interests
- Plant molecular biology, Transcriptional and post-translational regulation, Photosynthesis, Algal CO2-concentrating mechanism
- Google Scholar
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Q13MfpIAAAAJ&hl=en
- Curriculum Vitae
- Current CV
Dr. He will be joining the Botany Department in January 2025.
Her lab will be accepting Ph.D. students wishing to start in Summer/Fall 2025.
The Shan He Lab studies how eukaryotic algae adjust their photosynthetic strategies in response to fluctuating environmental changes.
As the most important biological process on this planet, photosynthesis begins with fixing CO2 from the air and forms the foundation for all kinds of materials that impact nearly every aspect of our daily lives, such as food, clothes, housing, fuel, and medicine.
Nearly half of all photosynthesis occurs in water. Eukaryotic algae, including diatoms, dinoflagellates, haptophytes, and unicellular green algae, dominate this process in the oceans and freshwater.
Most eukaryotic algae have evolved an inducible CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM) that enhances their photosynthetic CO2 assimilation. Significantly, this mechanism mediates approximately 30~40% of global CO2 fixation and has great potential to be engineered to substantially increase crop yields.
Precise regulation of the algal CCM is crucial, as it is only activated when needed in response to environmental CO2 and light changes to save energy. Defects in its activation can lead to cell death. However, how the algal CCM is regulated remains unclear.
Using the powerful model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and interdisciplinary approaches, including genetics, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, and cell biology, we investigate how algal cells sense environmental cues, transduce the signals to regulate gene expression, and modify proteins to activate the CCM.
Our findings will provide insights into how eukaryotic algae make such a significant contribution to the global carbon cycle in CO2-poor and fluctuating aquatic environments. Our results will also inform strategies to enhance the efficiency of engineering the algal CCM for agricultural and environmental applications, helping to address global challenges related to food security and climate change.