The Tennessee Plant Research Center (PRC) was initially established in 2009 by the current co-directors Andreas Nebenführ and Neal Stewart. The mission of the Center is to nurture the community of plant biologists at UT for the goal of increasing the scope and impact of plant biology research on campus, while providing enhanced research experience to junior scientists, i.e, undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs.
The Center’s strategic plan focuses on activities to create community and shared experiences among faculty and trainees to foster collaboration. In Knoxville, university plant scientists are sited on the “main campus” (UTK College of Arts and Sciences) and the “ag campus” (UTIA AgResearch). This physical separation combined with the traditional foci on basic research and applied agricultural research in the two units has limited collaborations and translational research between groups in the past, but can now be overcome through the activities of the Center. Faculty can become members of the Center simply by request. Members are housed in several academic departments. Their expertise and research interests span from biochemical studies of ion homeostasis in plant cells to plant-pathogen interactions, to mathematical modeling of plant ecology, to the use of synthetic biology for more sustainable and productive bioenergy feedstocks: the gamut of plant biology.
The strategic plan includes the following activities to build community:
- Colloquia throughout the academic year that include prominent invited speakers as well as internal UT faculty and ORNL scientists.
- Travel awards for students of member labs to present their research at national and international meetings.
- Pilot research grants to members and/or students and postdocs of member labs.
- Other ad hoc activities such as retreats and picnics.
The Center is generously funded by various UTK units including the College of Arts and Sciences and various UTK departments as well as UTIA AgResearch. Federal grants to PIs across UTK and UTIA also provide Center funding via the UTK Office of Research.