The Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology (formerly known as Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis & Environmental Molecular Physiology), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was established in December, 2000. The major focus of the Laboratory is to elucidate the molecular machinery behind plant development and stress responses, using genetic, physiological, proteomics and metabolomics approaches. We aim to understand how cell differentiation, organogenesis, and stress responses are regulated in plants, and to apply such knowledge to improve the yield and quality of crops.
The laboratory currently has 17 research groups, with 2 group leaders entitled Distinguished Young Investigators by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Prof. Tai Wang serves as the Director of the Laboratory, Prof. Weihua Wu chairs the Academic Committee, and Prof. Tingyun Kuang acts as the Honorary Chair.
Research projects carried out in the Laboratory are supported by CAS and other national funding agencies, such as the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the Ministry of Agriculture and NSFC. It hosts three core facilities, dedicated to proteomics, metabolomics and living cell imagining analysis. At the present, the Laboratory has 24 projects from the Ministry of Science and Technology, 38 from NSFC.