Dr Tina Schreier awarded ERC Starting Grant
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant of €1.5 million to Dr Tina Schreier, a BBSRC Discovery Fellow at the Department of Biology, for research into the cell biology of C4 photosynthesis. Tina is one of 11 Oxford researchers to receive an ERC Starting Grant, which are highly competitive and support cutting-edge research for early-career researchers to launch their independence.
Tina’s project will explore the cell biology that leads to the formation of specialised bundle sheath cells in plants that conduct C4 photosynthesis. In C4 photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is concentrated, increasing photosynthetic efficiency by up to 50% compared to plants that use C3 photosynthesis, which is more common.
Bundle sheath cells have two key adaptations: increased connectivity with neighbouring leaf tissue cells via plasmodesmata (pores) that aid metabolite exchange for building CO2 concentration, and an increased number of organelles which are uniquely positioned at one side of the cell. Although it is expected that these traits are important, how they appear during leaf development is unknown. Tina’s project uses innovative approaches to uncover these mechanisms, including 3D electron microscopy to study cell development and mass spectrometry imaging to link structure to metabolic function.
Overall, Tina’s project will greatly advance our understanding of how leaf architecture develops in C4 plants, and reveal fundamental mechanisms of how plasmodesmata and organelle placement develop in plants. This knowledge is a missing piece of the puzzle in the global efforts to engineer C4 photosynthesis into C3 crops.
A figure showing the positions of chloroplasts and plasmodesmata in mesophyll (M) and bundle sheath (BS) cells in C3 and C4 leaves. Left panels show cross sections through an intermediate vein; middle panels show a typical pair of neighbouring M and BS cells; right panels show a typical M-BS interface with plasmodesmata (blue).
To read about the other Oxford researchers awarded ERC Starting Grants, visit: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-09-04-outstanding-early-career-researchers-awarded-european-research-council-funding
