Three members of Laura Gunn’s Laboratory were recognized for their excellence at the 34th Western Photosynthesis Conference, January 2-5, at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratory Campus, San Juan Islands, Washington.
Gunn, an assistant professor, in the Plant Biology Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science, studies the carbon-fixing enzyme Rubisco, with the goal of improving the photosynthetic efficiency of crops.
Plant Sciences major Chiara Giraldo ’25 brought home best undergraduate student poster honors for her work, “Elucidating the missing link(er): Identifying pyrenoid components of Penium margaritaceum.”
“My research looks at how pyrenoid organelles form to make this green alga more efficient at fixing carbon,” said Giraldo, who transferred to Cornell from Monroe Community College, Rochester, N.Y. “Working in the Gunn Lab helped bring together my skills in chemistry and my love of plants.”
Giraldo’s grad student mentor in the Gunn Lab, PhD candidate Bryce Askey, was awarded best graduate student talk for his “Rubisco kinetic acclimation at the holoenzyme level.”
A third member of the Gunn Lab, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology graduate student Maddie Ceminsky, won best graduate student poster for her work, “Structural Insights into Rubisco-BSD2 Assembly Intermediates and their Functional Impact.”
