Plant Growth Research Facility at the University of Missouri The doors of the University of Missouri’s new Plant Growth Research Facility are on schedule to open in April 2019. Back in 2006, university leaders acknowledged the need to expand their plant biology facilities and placed the project on the campus master plan, says Robert Sharp, professor of plant sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group. “In fall 2016, the University of Missouri (MU) Board of Curators approved $28.2 million in fund- ing for the current development, which represents the first phase of the East Campus Plant Growth Facility,” Sharp says. “Providing plant growth facilities on the MU campus that match the caliber of the research- ers within the plant biology community has been identified as an important need for more than a decade. Plant Biology is a major strength at the University of Missouri, with more than 100 faculty and their lab members from multiple departments and divisions in several colleges across campus.” Construction began in the fall of 2017 on the building that will include approximately 23,000 square feet of greenhouse space, more than 9,000 square feet of space for controlled environment plant growth chambers and expanded long-term seed storage capacity. It will complement the exist- ing Ernie and Lottie Sears Plant Growth Facility built in 2001 and named in honor of the husband and wife research team who “made significant contributions to the advancement of rust-resistant wheat varieties,” Sharp notes. MU is confident that multiple goals can be achieved through this infrastructure investment. “With the new facility, expanded research avenues can be explored while enhancing research funding and recruitment and retention of top-flight faculty and students, which will allow the campus to further enhance its national and international reputation in plant biology research and educa- tion,” he says. Some of those expanded research opportuni- ties will be made possible by unique features of the Plant Growth Research Facility, such as extended height growing chambers and the use of field or non-sterile soil. Sharp says some greenhouse modules will allow for plant growth up to 21 feet and several growth chambers will accommodate plants up to 11.5 feet tall. “This will allow studies all the way from Arabidopsis, a model genetic organism for plant biology research for which studies began at MU that is now used worldwide, to tall plants like maize as well as bioenergy grasses like switchgrass and sorghum, and also tree species. This allows us to work with plants that we haven’t been able to work with in the past. Even corn, in our existing facili- ties, can be pushing up into the lights by the time it reaches reproductive development,” he says. Extra growth height will help researchers, par- ticularly root biologists, better replicate field condi- tions in a controlled environment. For example, in the case of corn, which sends out roots six feet or more into the soil, abnormal root systems develop when it’s grown in pots, he noted. In their existing Sears Plant Growth Facility, MU only uses sterilized soil mixes to ensure no pests or diseases would be introduced into the building, but that has limited certain types of research. “The new facility has been designed with one range of greenhouses separate from the others to allow scientists to work with field soil yet still avoid problems of contamination,” Sharp says. The university is confident that the work to be accomplished in the Plant Growth Research Facility will have far-reaching impacts on the seed industry and beyond. “Several MU plant scientists study the regu- lation of seed metabolism, including oils, amino acids and macro and micro nutrients, with a goal of developing crops with improved nutritional quali- ties for animal and human health. The interaction of plant biology and human health is an area of expanding focus,” Sharp says. He notes that professor Ron Mittler, a recent joint hire between the Division of Plant Sciences and School of Medicine, is examining signaling pathways that are involved both in plant stress and cancer biology. 28 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2019 The University of Missouri’s new Plant Growth Research Facility is scheduled to open in April 2019. Bob Sharp serves as a professor of Plant Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group.