News

Congrats to the renewal of our long-term HHMI funding (2024 - 2031)!  

Sheng Yang and the lab received a second renewal of HHMI funding for 7 years!

Paula Collado Cordon and Julian Liber advance to PhD candidacy

The newly minted PhD candidates celebrated by sharing a bottle of bubbly with the lab after passing their prelim exams.

Sheng Yang He lab's work featured in TheScientist

Nomura et al. 2023 was written up for a popular science audience by Kamal Nahas - A New Drug Fixes a Leak caused by Bacteria

Sheng Yang He socializes with colleagues at ICPP 2023

Prof. Sheng Yang He travelled to Lyon, France, to present at the International Congress of Plant Pathology.

Reza Sohrabi was awarded best poster prize at 2023 IS-MPMI

Reza’s poster titled ”a critical role of a eubiotic microbiota in gating proper immunocompetence in Arabidopsis” was awarded best postdoctoral poster prize at the 2023 IS-MPMI conference held on July 16-20 at Providence Rhode Island. To read more about his research checkout here (link: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.02.527037).

Saunia Withers featured in HHMI "Get to Know" series

Read the article here.

Jonghum Kim to start as Assistant Professor at POSTECH

Congratulations as we send off Dr. Kim to start his new position at POSTECH Department of Life Sciences, South Korea! 

Members of the lab present talks and receive awards

Several members of the lab earned prestigious honors for this summer’s conferences. Paula Collado Cordon, Chi Kuan, and Hannah McMillian earned travel awards to attend this year’s 33th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), June 5th-9th, 2023 in Chiba, Japan. Paula presented a poster titled “From root to leaf: The effects of high soil salinity on the defense mechanisms of the phyllosphere”. Chi presented two posters, one from her work at Academia Sinica, tilted: “Turn over a new leaf: A single cell view of leaf epidermis in Arabidopsis”, and another in collaboration with Jonghum Kim, titled " Preserving salicylic acid-mediated plant immunity in a warming climate”.

Hannah presented a talk titled "Microbiome colonization leads to emergent plant phenotypes at elevated temperature”. She went on to win a presentation award for the talk! Kinya Nomura and Bradley Paasch also presented posters at ICAR.

Julian Liber will be travelling to Quito, Ecuador August 1st-4th to present a talk at the 4th Plant Microbiome Symposium, titled "Probing the leaf micro-environment with whole cell yeast biosensors to establish principles of microbiome coexistence". 

Hannah McMillan awarded NSF PRFB

Hannah's NSF PRFB proposal titled "Understanding microbiome impact on plant performance in a warming climate" was recently funded and will address knowledge gaps in “temperature-microbiome-plant” triangular interactions to reveal underlying principles of emergent plant and microbiome function(s) in warming conditions. Congrats Hannah!

Shanice Webster joins the lab

Shanice joined the He Lab as a postdoc in January 2022. Shanice’s graduate work focused on understanding the mechanisms by which free-swimming bacteria sense surface contact and transition to surface attachment (biofilm formation). She determined a mechanism by which cysteines in a type 4 pili cell-surface-associated protein senses surface contact and initiates a signal transduction cascade to regulate intracellular levels of the second messenger molecule c-di-GMP. In the He lab, Shanice is investigating how pathogenicity affects changes in the plant microbiome and how such changes contribute to disease development.

Tim Arapov departs the lab for San Francisco startup

Tim joined the lab in October 2020 and has made several important contributions to microbiome and pathogenesis related projects in the lab. On top of being a brilliant scientist, Tim has been a wonderful colleague and lab citizen. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavor! 

Hannah McMillan joins the lab

Hannah's graduate work at Duke focused on the roles bacterial outer membrane vesicles play in plant systems. She found that these nanoscale proteoliposomes elicit immune responses in plants that can protect against future pathogen challenge. In the He lab, Hannah is looking forward to uncovering how temperature impacts the plant microbiome structure and function.

Comzit Opachaloemphan joins the lab

During his graduate studies at NYU, Comzit worked with social insects and used the Indian jumping ant as a model of study. Division of labor is crucial and stable in social insect communities; however, in jumping ants, caste switching can occur in a queenless colony. His research provided insight into the mechanisms underlying these unusual changes in ant behavior and longevity. He will be making a transition from the animal to the plant kingdom to figure out how humidity influences plant growth and disease susceptibility. 

Richard Hilleary receives NIFA postdoctoral fellowship from USDA

Learn more about Rich's fellowship here!

The He Lab Moves to Duke University

Duke University welcomes the He Lab - read more here! 

The He Lab Moves to Duke University — Nov 19, 2020 12:29:05 AM

The He Lab is recognized among Highly Cited Researchers of 2020 — Nov 19, 2020 12:20:19 AM

What makes plants sick? — Aug 30, 2020 7:57:40 PM

Plants of the future — Apr 22, 2020 10:44:07 PM

He Lab Recognized as Highly Cited Researchers in 2019 — Nov 19, 2019 3:22:46 PM

Rose Kithan to Receive PBHS Fellowship — Aug 7, 2019 6:47:04 PM

Dr. Bethany Huot to start new position as an Instructor at Michigan State University — Jul 23, 2019 3:05:09 AM

Dr. Danve Castroverde to start new position as Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. — Jun 3, 2019 3:43:28 AM

He Lab Recognized as Highly Cited Researchers in 2018 — Dec 7, 2018 4:14:57 PM

Dr. Danve Castroverde to Receive NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship — Nov 5, 2018 5:17:54 PM

Dr. Kyaw (Joe) Aung to start Assistant Professor position at Iowa State University — Jun 7, 2018 6:53:40 PM

Congratulations Dr. James Kremer! — Jan 8, 2018 2:54:26 PM

Bethany Huot to Receive the 2017 Hans Kende Award — Dec 14, 2017 6:04:37 PM

Latest He Lab research subject of MSU Today article and video — Dec 1, 2017 6:57:43 PM

Sheng Yang He named a 2017 Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science — Nov 15, 2017 6:53:25 PM

Dr. Xiufang Xin to start PI position at the Chinese Academy of Sciences - Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology — Jun 1, 2017 6:43:51 PM

Sheng Yang contributes to VOICES piece in Cell — May 31, 2017 1:58:48 PM

PRL article features recent He Lab publication — May 1, 2017 5:08:08 PM

Openings Available for Postdoctoral Researchers! — Mar 31, 2017 8:36:39 PM

Dr. Feng Zhang to start full-professor position at Nanjing Agricultural University — Jan 9, 2017 2:21:53 PM

The Highs and Lows of Scientific Research — Dec 5, 2016 9:45:55 PM

Congratulations Dr. Bethany Huot! — Nov 22, 2016 8:00:50 PM

Congratulations Dr. Li Zhang! — Nov 22, 2016 3:01:54 PM

EMBO Reports: Plant Microbiomes and Sustainable Agriculture — Nov 4, 2016 6:38:21 PM

Joe Aung to Receive the NIH Pathway to Independence Award — Sep 20, 2016 1:21:33 PM

Sheng Yang He 2016 Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher — Sep 13, 2016 5:50:43 PM

Adam Seroka Awarded Fellowship Through PBHS Graduate Training Program — Aug 19, 2016 1:45:39 PM

MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory Announces 2016 Anton Lang Research Excellence Award Winners — Apr 13, 2016 8:27:36 PM

The Scientist: Holding Their Ground — Feb 1, 2016 10:55:18 PM

Popular Science: A New Way To Make Resistant Plants — Dec 8, 2015 3:55:38 PM

Reengineering a hormone receptor- a new strategy to counter defense hijacking — Nov 12, 2015 6:20:26 PM

Highly Cited Researcher Designation for Sheng Yang He — Sep 16, 2015 9:10:00 PM

Flow cytometry in the He lab — Sep 15, 2015 8:35:24 PM

Structural basis of JAZ repression of MYC transcription factors in jasmonate signalling — Aug 26, 2015 7:53:52 PM

Plant Microbiome research discussion at ASM — Jun 9, 2015 3:53:50 PM

Professor Kvitko, starting his lab at U of Georgia — Jun 9, 2015 3:48:02 PM

Sheng Yang He elected to National Academy of Sciences — Jun 5, 2015 4:30:47 PM

He lab research featured in the HHMI Bulletin — Jan 24, 2014 5:41:34 PM

Xiufang Xin, Ph.D. — Jan 24, 2014 5:26:42 PM

JP Jerome Leaves for Rubicon Genomics — Jan 24, 2014 5:19:31 PM

Olivia Oney — Jan 24, 2014 5:08:26 PM

Sheng Yang He, University Distinguished Professor — Jun 29, 2013 10:22:44 PM

JP Jerome and YuTi Cheng awarded prestigious fellowships — Jun 29, 2013 10:11:21 PM

New faces and new horizons — Jun 11, 2013 4:35:29 PM

Balancing defense and growth — May 1, 2012 3:47:37 PM

Weiqing Zeng now senior scientist at Dupont — Nov 29, 2011 9:55:40 PM

Christy Mecey moves on to Lyman Briggs College @ MSU — Aug 15, 2011 2:09:26 PM

MSU Faculty Conversation with Sheng Yang — Jul 2, 2011 6:08:40 PM

MSU Plant Sciences Expansion — Jun 29, 2011 7:23:49 PM