Patrick Shih
Biologist Faculty Scientist
Building: 978, Room 4464
Mail Stop: 978R4121
Phone: (510) 486-5764
PMShih@lbl.gov
http://shih-lab.ucdavis.edu
Links
Research Interests
Much of the ingenuity of life has revolved around the evolution of metabolic pathways, which has unlocked novel chemistries and expanded the molecular repertoire of nature. In particular, plants have been especially successful through the evolution of many unique and relevant metabolisms, ranging from synthesis of specialized compounds that can be used as pharmaceuticals (e.g., morphine, artemisinin) to broad processes that drive our planet’s elemental cycles (e.g., photosynthesis). As a result, life as we know it could not exist without plants. Given the scale and utility of agriculture, plants offer a unique platform to address many imminent challenges facing society. My research focuses on developing the foundational knowledge needed to innovate, deploy, and engineer new traits in plants using synthetic biology. Beyond biotechnological applications, these approaches can also be utilized to provide more sophisticated tools to improve our basic understanding of plant systems.
Recent Publications
Related News
Biofuels and Bioproducts from Plants
New research led by Patrick Shih has enhanced the efficiency of DNA introduction into plant genomes using Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which could significantly improve the development of biology-based fuels and materials.
Machine Learning Screening for Plant Engineering
Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute are using machine learning to identify new proteins involved in plant gene expression, uncovering hundreds of potential targets for bioenergy crop engineering and advancing efforts to develop sustainable biofuels.
A Roadmap for Gene Regulation in Plants
A team of researchers from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has, for the first time, developed a genome-scale way to map the regulatory role of transcription factors, the proteins that play a key role in gene expression and determining a plant’s physiological traits.
