EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Decoding Thermo-Induced Calcium Signatures in Plants

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) EPSCoR Research Fellows project provides a fellowship to an Associate professor and training for a graduate student at the University of Mississippi. This work is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Sheng Luan at the University of California, Berkeley. Through the fellowship, the PI will examine how plants use calcium signals to detect and respond across a range of temperatures. It will help explain why some temperatures promote growth while others trigger protective responses. The research will combine plant physiology, genetics, live-cell imaging, and measurements of electrical activity in plant cells. By identifying proteins that control these signals, the project will reveal how plant cells translate temperature changes into biological responses. The findings may guide efforts to develop crops that can withstand variable temperatures. The fellowship will also bring new research methods to Mississippi, strengthen collaborations, and expand research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. This project will define how plants generate distinct calcium signatures across temperature regimes and how these signals support growth and stress responses. It will establish a mechanistic framework for understanding how temperature cues are encoded through changes in calcium signal amplitude, duration, frequency, and spatial distribution. Using Arabidopsis thaliana, the research will compare calcium dynamics under non-stressful warm temperatures and moderate-to-severe heat stress using multiple calcium indicators. Genetic analyses will determine how calcium channels and transporters shape these signatures, while electrophysiological studies will characterize candidate transport systems under controlled thermal conditions. The fellowship will expand faculty expertise at the University of Mississippi in quantitative live-cell imaging, electrophysiology, and ion channel biology. These capabilities will strengthen student training, support interdisciplinary research, and inform curricula. The project will establish a lasting partnership with the University of California, Berkeley and contribute to workforce development in plant environmental signaling and quantitative biology. This project is supported by the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: EPSCoR Research Fellows (ERF). The ERF program supports early- and mid-career investigators in eligible jurisdictions to develop collaborations at the nation’s private, government or academic research institutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.