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Plant Biology

Explore the rich world of plants through molecular, cell, and evolutionary biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics and functional genomics, physiology, and root biology

Program Overview

Plants are fundamental to life on earth. Plant biologists use these important organisms to address issues such as global climate change, food insecurity, loss of biodiversity, and disease. The Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Plant Biology offers students the opportunity to conduct research on plants—ranging from the cellular level to the whole-plant level.

Students' program of study includes a comprehensive set of team-taught courses that reflect the breadth of scientific fields, and the linkages between them. All students must also complete a thesis based on their own original research.

Faculty and Research Areas

Seminars

Symposia

News

Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams receive 2026 IEE seed grants

Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams have received funding through the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) 2026 Seed Grant Program. The program supports basic and applied research that lays the groundwork to pursue external funding and is guided by IEE’s five strategic research themes. This year, the program awarded seed funding to more than 40 researchers across 10 colleges and campuses and 21 departments and units.

Newly discovered corn trait may help improve crop drought tolerance

Some corn plants are genetically predisposed to develop longer, less constricted water-conducting tissues and deeper roots, which helps them deal with drought. That’s the conclusion of a team led by Penn State researchers that conducted a study of the plant’s xylem tissue that moves water upward from the roots out to the leaves. They found that corn plants with longer metaxylem vessel elements also tend to have rapidly elongating roots, deeper root systems, stronger water transport capacity, greater water capture and improved drought adaptation

Q&A: What does science say about plants as medicine?

Plants have always played an integral role in traditional medicine and healing practices, according to Kent Vrana, Elliot S. Vesell Professor of Pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine, and they continue to shape health and medicine today. In this Q&A, Vrana discussed the relationship between plant science and human health and the growing role of plant-derived solutions in medicine.

News

Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams receive 2026 IEE seed grants

Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams have received funding through the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) 2026 Seed Grant Program. The program supports basic and applied research that lays the groundwork to pursue external funding and is guided by IEE’s five strategic research themes. This year, the program awarded seed funding to more than 40 researchers across 10 colleges and campuses and 21 departments and units.

Newly discovered corn trait may help improve crop drought tolerance

Some corn plants are genetically predisposed to develop longer, less constricted water-conducting tissues and deeper roots, which helps them deal with drought. That’s the conclusion of a team led by Penn State researchers that conducted a study of the plant’s xylem tissue that moves water upward from the roots out to the leaves. They found that corn plants with longer metaxylem vessel elements also tend to have rapidly elongating roots, deeper root systems, stronger water transport capacity, greater water capture and improved drought adaptation

Q&A: What does science say about plants as medicine?

Plants have always played an integral role in traditional medicine and healing practices, according to Kent Vrana, Elliot S. Vesell Professor of Pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine, and they continue to shape health and medicine today. In this Q&A, Vrana discussed the relationship between plant science and human health and the growing role of plant-derived solutions in medicine.

Q&A: Can plants help reverse climate change?

Heatwaves are arriving sooner and becoming hotter, with the United Kingdom recording May 25 as its hottest day in May since tracking began more than a century ago, only for the record to break again the next day. While humans can turn to artificial means of cooling, such as air conditioning or swimming pools, plants are left to cope with heat and frequently co-occurring droughts on their own. Sarah M. Assmann, Waller Professor of Biology at Penn State, is working to better understand how plants respond to environmental signals — and is applying that understanding to develop crops more resilient to environmental stress.

Events

Monday Sep

14

Plant Biology Seminar Series - Benjamin Blackman - 9/14/26
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Monday Sep

21

Plant Biology Seminar Series - Anthony Taylor - 9/21/26
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Monday Sep

28

Plant Biology Seminar Series - Yuxin Luo - 9/28/26
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Events

Monday Sep

14


Plant Biology Seminar Series - Benjamin Blackman - 9/14/26
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Monday Sep

21


Plant Biology Seminar Series - Anthony Taylor - 9/21/26
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Monday Sep

28


Plant Biology Seminar Series - Yuxin Luo - 9/28/26
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Monday Oct

05


Detecting and deploying adaptive variation in complex plant pan-genomes
Plant Biology Seminar Series