Climate Change and Rutgers New Brunswick

Since graduating from Rutgers in 2021 with a doctorate in plant science with a concentration in human health and natural product chemistry, Ariane Vasilatis has focused on helping those with addiction and substance dependence.

Using her deep research experience in plant derived pharmacotherapies, Vasilatis co-founded Zena Therapeutics Inc., a Rutgers startup that strives to create narcotic medications that will minimize or even eliminate overdoses from prescription drugs. Vasilatis serves as Chief Executive Officer and is co-founder of the startup with Eileen Carry, the chief scientific officer, who earned a doctoral degree from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry in 2021.

Personal tragedy motivated them to embark on this venture.

“Like Dr. Carry, I had my own experiences with friends and family struggling and succumbing to addictions and knew there had to be a better way that we could address and at least try to eliminate these outcomes. Basically, we saw it as our duty to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Vasilatis said.

They were pursuing their doctoral degrees from Rutgers at the same time and worked together in the New Use Ag and Natural Plant Products (NUAPP) lab, which is a part of the Department of Plant Biology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS). The lab brings together botany, ethnobotany, environmental science horticulture, agronomy, genetics, chemistry, food science and medicinal chemistry into a single unique program. The goal is to develop new crops and identifying new compounds that are of potential health or commercial interest.

Armed with an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences in 2014, Vasilatis started conducting research in natural products chemistry as a plant science graduate student working at the NUAPP lab, helping to analyze and develop the use of essential oils to deter post-harvest small berry rot.

“My focus in my dissertation was to decrease loss of fresh fruit during transport using essential oils and modifying atmospheric conditions to deter spoilage organism growth. I also conducted chemical analyses for basil and hemp to aid in breeding efforts and had an early start in identifying vitamin profiles of African indigenous vegetables.”

According to Vasilatis, “the NUAPP lab is definitely cut from a different cloth when compared to most other academic labs. Dr. Jim Simon (Distinguished Professor) is very entrepreneurially coded and is open-minded when it comes to research ideas. You are free to present an idea and run with it if you are able to identify funding sources—it was like our first introduction to pitching. This type of thinking, paired with our academic goals, was the perfect set up for Eileen and me to have the confidence to go out on this venture.”

It was during this period at NUAPP that Vasilatis met Carry, who at the time was researching safer medications for addiction and mental health. Carry’s findings led her to develop “novel compositions of matter that target the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor, the major inhibitory receptor of the brain, which has been the target of anti-anxiety, seizure, and alcohol withdrawal medications,” explained Vasilatis.

Carry’s discovery addressed a critical gap in current anxiety medications and laid the foundation for Zena Therapeutics’ work. Vasilatis describes their journey to forming the start-up company in 2021.

“In the beginning we were still both working at Rutgers as post-docs applying to many funding sources so that we could fully spin out of the university. It was pretty nerve racking, I like to think of the first few years as “scrounging for quarters in the couch cushions” because that is what it felt like. However, we had so much support from the university, our professors, and the larger entrepreneurial network that it felt a little less isolating. Finally in 2023 we received venture capital backing and were able to “fly from the nest,” if you will. This was also a bit scary but invigorating at the same time because we were really doing it.”

As to what’s next for Zena Therapeutics, Inc? “We’re currently conducting our proof of concept and pre-clinical studies and will hopefully be in the clinic in the next few years. We look forward to helping as many people as possible,” said Vasilatis.

This article was originally published by SEBS/NJAES Newsroom.

The post Plant Science Graduate Sets Her Sights on Developing Safer Prescription Medication appeared first on Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute (RCEI).

In a discovery with potential practical applications, a team of Rutgers biophysicists, bioengineers and plant biologists capture first live images

In a groundbreaking study on the synthesis of cellulose – a major constituent of all plant cell walls – a team of Rutgers University-New Brunswick researchers has captured images of the microscopic process of cell-wall building continuously over 24 hours with living plant cells, providing critical insights that may lead to the development of more robust plants for increased food and lower-cost biofuels production.

The discovery, published in the journal Science Advances, reveals a dynamic process never seen before and may provide practical applications for everyday products derived from plants including enhanced textiles, biofuels, biodegradable plastics, and new medical products. The research also is expected to contribute to the fundamental knowledge – while providing a new understanding – of the formation of cell walls, the scientists said.

It represents over six years of effort and collaboration among three laboratories from differing but complementary academic disciplines at Rutgers: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

“This work is the first direct visualization of how cellulose synthesizes and self-assembles into a dense fibril network on a plant cell surface, since Robert Hooke’s first microscopic observation of cell walls in 1667,” said Sang-Hyuk Lee, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and an author of the study. “This study also provides entirely new insights into how simple, basic physical mechanisms such as diffusion and self-organization may lead to the formation of complex cellulose networks in cells.”

The microscope-generated video images show protoplasts – cells with their walls removed – of cabbage’s cousin, the flowering plant Arabidopsis, chaotically sprouting filaments of cellulose fibers that gradually self-assemble into a complex network on the outer cell surface.

“I was very surprised by the emergence of ordered structures out of the chaotic dance of molecules when I first saw these video images,” said Lee, who also is a faculty member at the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine. “I thought plant cellulose would be made in a lot more of an organized fashion, as depicted in classical biology textbooks.”

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer – large molecules naturally produced by living organisms – on Earth. A carbohydrate that is the primary structural component of plant cell walls, cellulose is widely used in industry to make a range of products, including paper and clothing. It also is used in filtration, trapping large particles more effectively and enhancing flow, and as a thickening agent in foods such as yogurt and ice cream.

“This discovery opens the door for researchers to begin dissecting the genes that could play various roles for cellulose biosynthesis in the plant,” said RCEI affiliate Eric Lam, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Biology in Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and an author on the study. “The knowledge gained from these future studies will provide new clues for approaches to design better plants for carbon capture, improve tolerance to all kinds of environmental stresses, from drought to disease, and optimize second-generation cellulosic biofuels production.”

The work is the culmination of a childhood dream for RCEI affiliate Shishir Chundawat, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the Rutgers School of Engineering and an author on the study.

“I have always been fascinated by plants and how they capture sunlight via leaves into reduced carbon forms like cellulose that form cell walls,” Chundawat said, who plans to explore new ways to produce new, sustainable biofuels and biochemicals from diverse feedstocks like terrestrial plants and marine algae. “I remember back in middle school when I had collected many leaves of different shapes, sizes and colors for a science class report, and being very curious about how plants produce all this myriad complexity and diversity in nature. I was inspired by that experience to delve deeper into the fundamental phenomena of biomass production and its utilization using sustainable engineering to produce valuable bioproducts for societal benefit.”

Scientists from each of the three research teams made unique and critical contributions.

When conventional lab microscopes wouldn’t do, providing at best blurry images of the cell wall-building process, the team turned to an advanced super-resolution and minimally invasive technique called total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. The approach, which captured images only of the underside surface of cells, was sensitive enough to take videos for 24 hours without bleaching and destroying the cells. 

Lee, a biophysicist and an expert on using cutting-edge microscopy techniques to study living systems, developed a custom microscope for the project and oversaw the imaging efforts.

Chundawat led a team that pioneered a technique allowing the scientists to tag the emerging cellulose tendrils with fluorescent protein dye. 

Chundawat is a bioengineer and expert on protein engineering and glycosciences, the study of complex carbohydrates such as cellulose. To make the cells fluorescent and detectable by the microscope, he and his team developed a probe derived from an engineered bacterial enzyme that binds specifically to cellulose.

Lam, an expert on plant genetics and biotechnology, and his team found a way to remove the cell wall of individual cells of Arabidopsis to create a “blank slate” for new cell walls to be laid down by protoplast cells. 

“This provided little to no background cellulose to confound our visualization and tracking of newly synthesized cellulose under optimized conditions,” Lam said.

Other Rutgers scientists on the study included: Hyun Huh, a postdoctoral scientist with the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine; Dharanidaran Jayachandran, a doctoral student, and Mohammad Irfan, a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering; and Junhong Sun, a lab technician in the Department of Plant Biology.

This study was funded primarily by the Department of Energy (DOE) through a DOE Bioimaging Program grant awarded to Lee, Chundawat, and Lam. Additionally, Chundawat was supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems Faculty Early Career Development grant to partially support development and characterization of the imaging probes.

Animations for young students inspired to learn more about plants are available, however, the Rutgers study shows that the process of cellulose synthesis and cell wall formation is much more complex. 

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.

This article was originally published by Rutgers Today.

The post Scientists Witness Plant Cells Generate Cellulose and Form Cell Walls for First Time appeared first on Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute (RCEI).

A Rutgers-led effort will help scientists aiming to participate in major global assessment

Eminent climate experts from United States academic institutions, including Rutgers University, have formed an alliance designed to provide coordinated support for research colleagues who wish to participate in preparing a comprehensive climate report for governmental leaders worldwide.

Members of the newly formed U.S. Academic Alliance for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (USAA-IPCC) have opened a call for U.S. researchers who are interested in being nominated to work on the Seventh Assessment Report being prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“This new alliance will help the U.S. maintain a preeminent position in global science policy assessments,” said RCEI affiliate Pamela McElwee, a professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and chair of the alliance’s steering committee. “The benefits to U.S. researchers from involvement in the panel are tremendous, and we want to ensure that our scientists continue to play an important leadership role internationally.” 

The call for experts is aimed to ensure U.S. scientists will have opportunities to be nominated to the upcoming IPCC assessment cycle. The U.S. has been a leader in past climate assessments, supplying the largest number of experts of any nation in the last cycle. 

“The IPCC plays a crucial role in informing both global climate negotiations and national and local climate policy and planning around the world,” said RCEI affiliate Robert Kopp, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and a member of the steering committee. “U.S. scientists have always been key players in the IPCC, and as registered observer institutions that are permitted to nominate panel authors, the USAA-IPCC members want to ensure that continues to be the case.”

Kopp and McElwee have played decisive roles in previous assessments and overviews. Kopp, who also is director of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub, was a lead author of the IPCC’s earlier Sixth Assessment Report. McElwee was a lead author of the Special Report on Climate Change and Land for the panel. 

Recently, McElwee served as co-chair of another international report, the Nexus Assessment prepared by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The organization, a frequent partner of the IPCC, adopted its report in December 2024. 

Experts in climate research and practice who are U.S. citizens or based at U.S. institutions and are interested in being nominated, are encouraged to submit applications to USAA-IPCC via the Alliance portal. Experts may be nominated by multiple organizations, and eligible individuals are encouraged to submit nomination materials through the U.S. government process as well as the USAA-IPCC. 

USAA-IPCC will accept submissions through April 4 and host a webinar on Thursday, March 27, at 2 p.m. ET to allow prospective experts to learn more about the nomination process through USAA-IPCC.

When completed, the IPCC Seventh Assessment cycle will provide governments and policymakers with the most up-to-date scientific information on climate change, its impacts and potential response options. The final synthesis report will be completed and issued in late 2029.

In addition to Rutgers, founding institutions of the alliance include: Colby College; College of the Atlantic; Dickinson College; Indiana University; Princeton University; Washington University in St. Louis; University of California, San Diego; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Yale University. These ten are the only U.S. academic institutions allowed to nominate experts due to their observer status with the IPCC. The American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest association of Earth and space scientists, will host the alliance. 

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.

This article was originally published by Rutgers Today.

The post Scientists Form Academic Alliance to Support U.S. Climate Researchers  appeared first on Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute (RCEI).

The expansive Pacific Island nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is taking bold steps to develop sustainable local food production with support from an interdisciplinary food system science team from the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

Pohnpei State is home to FSM’s most biodiverse ecosystems that includes many endemic species and unique terrestrial, coastal and ocean environments. With fertile land and abundant fresh water, Pohnpei state is considered well suited for the sustainable development of local agriculture and aquaculture to enhance food security, economic growth, and reduced dependence on imported foods. Pohnpei’s Governor Stevenson A. Joseph recently announced the official endorsement and release of the Pohnpei State Food Security Policy, a groundbreaking initiative that will guide the state toward a more resilient and self-sustaining food system. This policy, developed in collaboration with Rutgers scientists and researchers over the last five years, is the first of its kind in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Rutgers scientists began working with Pohnpei State on this food security policy back in 2020. RCEI affiliate Dena Seidel, an honorary Ambassador-at-Large for Pohnpei State, had been tasked by then Governor Reed Oliver to assist with the development of a food security policy as central to the state’s effort to tackle food insecurity. A SEBS visiting scholar at the time, Seidel reached out to RCEI affiliate Jim Simon, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, to discuss this opportunity. Simon, who has spent decades supporting sustainable development projects in Africa and Central America with Ramu Govindasamy, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Food Resource Economics, was excited at the chance to apply agriculture science toward food security policy. Soon a Rutgers food system science team was formed that also included RCEI affiliate Oscar Schofield, professor and chair of the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, and Mike Balick, ethnobotanist from the New York Botanical Gardens, among others.

For the past five years, the Rutgers science team has been working in close partnership with Pohnpei State’s Directors of Resources and Development, Hubert Yamada and Mark Kostka and their teams. Building upon prior surveys and previous reports, the Pohnpei State Food Security policy evolved into incorporating new data from the Rutgers’ led Green Climate Fund Baseline Assessment of Climate Change Impact on FSM Farming Families. Using a participatory approach and a community-based food system development framework, the Pohnpei State Food Security Policy is now recognized as representing the voices of the Pohnpei people and their food system development goals and aspirations.

In February 2025, Governor Joseph reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to implementing the Food Production Master Plan 2025 and achieving the ambitious goal of increasing local food production by 50 percent within the next five years.

“Pohnpei State has enormous potential to strengthen our economy, improve our overall health and nutrition, and build upon our culture through the production of local food. This Food Security Policy serves as a living document to guide us as we take urgent, targeted steps to strengthen our local food system. There is much we can do together to incentivize and stimulate local food production for the benefit of our people,” said Governor Joseph.

“It’s very meaningful to be part of a science team invited to co-create food security policy in the Federated State of Micronesia. Food system development is inherently interdisciplinary, and I am grateful that at Rutgers we have such a wide variety of scientists who are interested and passionate about applying their skills toward the greater good,” said Simon.

Additional scientists, researchers and graduate students that contributed to this policy include Lara Brindisi and Erik Gomes (Plant Biology), Daniel Hoffman, (Nutritional Sciences), RCEI affiliate Ethan Schoolman (Sociology) RCEI affiliate Mark Robson, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, and RCEI affiliate Michael De Luca (Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve) as well as Rutgers students Micah Seidel, Nisha Khanna, Tori Rosen and Erin Quinn. Micronesian food system development partners that contributed to the policy include Engly Ioanis and Manoj Nair (Ph.D) from the College of Micronesia Land-Grant, and Saimon Mix and Emihner Johnson of the Island Food Community.

The official endorsement of the Pohnpei State’s Food Security Policy was recently announced on the Governor’s website to support the state’s goals for local food system development with emphasis on strengthening local food production to provide economic opportunities and increased health and well-being for all Pohnpeians.

The Rutgers food system science team working in support of the FSM continues to grow and is now working on their 5th project in support of the nation’s food security goals with collaborative support from Rutgers scientists and RCEI affiliates AJ Both and James Shope (Environmental Sciences), RCEI affilaite Dave Bushek and Roland Hagan (Marine and Coastal Sciences) and Yariv Ben Naim (Plant Biology).

The article was originally published by the SEBS/NJAES Newsroom.

The post Micronesia’s Pohnpei State Endorses Landmark Food Security Policy Developed in Collaboration with SEBS Science Team appeared first on Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute (RCEI).