Our group is interested in understanding how global re-arrangements of gene regulatory networks have shaped the evolution of photosynthesis in plants, more specifically the adaptation of the photosynthetic machinery to different light conditions. The capacity of plants to harvest light energy from the sun and fix CO2 through photosynthesis is one of the main determinants to crop yield. However, too much light can inhibit the photosynthetic capacity of a plant when parts of the photosynthetic machinery like the photosystem II are damaged and not repaired fast.

Thus, our research aims to integrate genomics, phenomics and synthetic biology tools to 1) understand how different plant lineages evolved mechanisms to cope with light stress, 2) use this information as a principle for improving CO2 fixation under stress conditions and 3) generate predictive models for gene regulation to reprogramme and control gene expression in plants under different stress conditions.