Prof. Heinemann receives EUR 500,000 for EU project on energy dissipation

Prof. Matthias Heinemann from the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB) receives EUR 500,000 for research on energy dissipation, as partner in the EU consortium GAIN4CROPS. GAIN4CROPS aims to boost plant productivity using novel strategies to minimize the inefficiencies of photorespiration. Photorespiration reduces CO2 assimilation efficiency, and thus biomass yield, by ~30% and represents a prime target for improving agricultural productivity. GAIN4CROPS will follow a stepwise approach, starting by engineering naturally occurring carbon pumps and culminating with the introduction of highly efficient synthetic metabolic pathways that can dramatically boost carbon fixation. It serves as a research and innovation roadmap to attain similarly higher photosynthetic performance in a broad range of C3 crops. In total, the consortium receives EUR 8 million for this research project.