CBMS Lecture: Deep Phenotyping of Root and Rhizosphere Biology – December 15, 2021

The Center for Biomolecular Structure (CBMS) at NSLS II invites structural biologists to join its ongoing lecture series on Wednesday, December 15, at 1:30 pm (EST).

In this session, Christopher Topp, an associate member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, presents his talk, “There’s a world going on underground: deep phenotyping of root and rhizosphere biology.”

Topp’s laboratory uses an integrated phenomics approach to uncovering the molecular basis of root traits in multiple crop species. The lab specializes in developing root and rhizosphere imaging technologies and analytics, in particular X-ray CT, positron emission tomography, and statistical and deep learning methods.

By integrating these efforts with natural variation and genomics, the work focuses on developing new crop and cover crop varieties with root systems tailored to the local environment that enhance drought tolerance, efficient nutrient uptake, and ecosystem services towards sustainable agriculture goals.