Improving nitrogen uptake in corn plants
Grant and Award Announcement
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Jun-2026 12:16 ET (8-Jun-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)
A project led by University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture researchers will help reduce the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer by designing corn plants that better use nitrogen already in the soil.
Scott Lenaghan, associate professor of food science, and Neal Stewart, professor of plant sciences, secured $2.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Their project, “SyN-Fix: Synthetic Biology to Improve Nitrogen Cycling in the Maize Rhizosphere,” is one of nine awarded to develop technologies that reduce synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use in corn and sorghum farming, which are key crops for U.S. ethanol production.
Join us in Florence, Italy for this year's Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) Annual Conference!
A recent publication has revealed the first photographic evidence and confirmed sighting of the Cozumel dwarf fox in over twenty years. This exciting discovery confirms that this elusive and endangered mammal continues to survive on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. The full publication is available in the open-access journal Neotropical Biology and Conservation.
The horses at the Children’s Zoo in Gothenburg don’t mind being pet by children and adults. However, they do get stressed by the noise from an excavator. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered this after fitting heart rate monitors to eight Gotland russ horses.
A three-year study has cracked open the hidden biology behind coral reproduction, revealing hormone cycles that echo those of humans and other animals, and a new way to detect reef distress before it's too late.
Sesame dynamically rewires lignan metabolism during germination
Newly identified enzyme networks drive large-scale conversion of sesamin-derived compounds
Researchers at the Suntory Foundation for Life Sciences (SUNBOR) have uncovered a previously unknown metabolic system that enables sesame seeds to extensively remodel lignan metabolism during germination (Figure 1).