{"646239":{"#nid":"646239","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lily Cheung Wins $1.1 Million Human Science Frontier Program Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/people\/lily-cheung\u0022\u003ELily Cheung\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has won a $1.1 million Human Science Frontier Program (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hfsp.org\/awardees\/newly-awarded\u0022\u003EHSFP\u003C\/a\u003E) award to investigate the interplay of cellular movement and metabolism in grass stomata \u0026ndash; the microscopic breathing valves on plant leaves.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENew insights into how these tiny structures work could be exploited to bioengineer crops that can better withstand the drought and heatwaves associated with climate change.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If you ate any corn, wheat, or rice today, you enjoyed sugars made from carbon that passed through stomata,\u0026rdquo; Cheung says. \u0026ldquo;Together, these three grass species provide half of all calories consumed by humans, and much of their agricultural success is credited to how fast their stomata work.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to a United Nations statistic, the world will need to produce 50% more food by the middle of the century to account for population growth rates, changing diets, and the harmful effects of climate change on current agricultural practices.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Ensuring food security, via biotechnology or any other means, is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century,\u0026rdquo; says Cheung, who is collaborating with biophysicist \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/routierlab.com\/\u0022\u003EAnne-Lisa Routier Kierzkowska\u003C\/a\u003E of the University of Montreal and plant biologist \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/raissiglab.org\/\u0022\u003EMichael Raissig\u003C\/a\u003E of the University of Heidelberg on the three-year HFSP project.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe HFSP funds international, multidisciplinary collaborations focused on creating novel approaches to problems in fundamental biology. Cheung\u0026rsquo;s team, one of seven selected Early Career awards from a total of 158 letters of intent, joins a cohort of 94 awardees from 20 different countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The award will go towards investigating the interplay of cellular movement and metabolism in grass stomata \u2013 the microscopic breathing valves on plant leaves."}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2021-04-08 14:07:26","changed_gmt":"2021-04-08 14:09:03","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-04-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-04-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"646240":{"id":"646240","type":"image","title":"Lily Cheung Wins $1.1 Million Human Science Frontier Program Award","body":null,"created":"1617890900","gmt_created":"2021-04-08 14:08:20","changed":"1617890900","gmt_changed":"2021-04-08 14:08:20","alt":"","file":{"fid":"245319","name":"Lily Cheung - Award - 119x119.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lily%20Cheung%20-%20Award%20-%20119x119.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lily%20Cheung%20-%20Award%20-%20119x119.png","mime":"image\/png","size":18212,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lily%20Cheung%20-%20Award%20-%20119x119.png?itok=qryVHOmW"}}},"media_ids":["646240"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:braddixon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrad Dixon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["braddixon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}