Funded Researchers
Robert Wilson
- Research Scientist
- Department of Chemistry
Robert Wilson received his PhD in plant science from The Australian National University, where he successfully and stably integrated engineered RuBisCO enzymes into the chloroplasts of a C3 crop plant (Nicotiana tabacum) and developed new systems to screen engineered RuBisCO enzyme bacteria (Escherichia coli). Later, at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany, he elucidated the molecular requirements to produce plant RuBisCO enzymes recombinantly, thereby enabling their engineering in tractable hosts like E. coli. Wilson was also the first to determine the structure and function of Bundle Sheath Defective 2 (BSD2), an essential chaperone for RuBisCO biogenesis, and characterize its role in RuBisCO assembly. He now leads the research effort for engineering RuBisCO at MIT as a research scientist in the Shoulders Laboratory.
J-WAFS-funded projects
News
- J-WAFS supports interdisciplinary research that could launch a new approach to making agriculture more productive
- Colleagues from Community Jameel tour an MIT lab and learn about J-WAFS projects
- J-WAFS researcher discusses innovating a better RuBisCO at MIT
- Spotlight on J-WAFS’ First Grand Challenge Project
- Inaugural J-WAFS Grand Challenge aims to develop enhanced crop variants and move them from lab to land