About
Steven James Burgess is an Assistant Professor in the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on developing sustainable ecosystems using synthetic biology tools to simplify, miniaturize, and automate the engineering of photosynthetic organisms. His work aims to provide a sustainable ecosystem for future generations by working openly and collaboratively, leveraging advances in synthetic biology, machine learning, protein engineering, gene editing, genomics, and automation to assess enzyme variants and gene functions related to photosynthesis. His research includes developing the smallest known photosynthetic eukaryote, Ostreococcus tauri, as a model for studying phototrophs and as a chassis for testing computational predictions of metabolic models and alternative carbon fixation pathways. Additionally, he is involved in developing platforms for the directed evolution of photosynthesis enzymes. Burgess holds a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh, a Ph.D. from Imperial College London, and has completed postdoctoral work at the University of Cambridge. He is also affiliated with the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Center for Digital Agriculture at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and the Plant Biology department.
Research topics
- Computer Science
- Biology
- Information Retrieval
- Environmental science
- Botany
- Materials science
- Epistemology
- Physics
- Data science
- Philosophy
- Optics
- Mathematics
- Psychology
- World Wide Web
- Agronomy
- Ecology
Selected publications
Into the Shadows and Back into Sunlight: Photosynthesis in Fluctuating Light
Annual Review of Plant Biology · 2022 · 226 citations
- Environmental science
- Biology
- Botany
assimilation. Transgenic manipulations to accelerate the adjustment in sun-shade transitions have already shown a substantial productivity increase in field trials. Here, we explore means to further accelerate these adjustments and minimize these losses through transgenic manipulation, gene editing, and exploitation of natural variation. Measurement andanalysis of photosynthesis in sun-shade and shade-sun transitions are explained. Factors limiting speeds of adjustment and how they could be modified to effect improved efficiency are reviewed, specifically nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ), Rubisco activation, and stomatal responses.
Soybean photosynthesis and crop yield are improved by accelerating recovery from photoprotection
Science · 2022 · 335 citations
- Agronomy
- Environmental science
- Biology
Crop leaves in full sunlight dissipate damaging excess absorbed light energy as heat. This protective dissipation continues after the leaf transitions to shade, reducing crop photosynthesis. A bioengineered acceleration of this adjustment increased photosynthetic efficiency and biomass in tobacco in the field. But could that also translate to increased yield in a food crop? Here we bioengineered the same change into soybean. In replicated field trials, photosynthetic efficiency in fluctuating light was higher and seed yield in five independent transformation events increased by up to 33%. Despite increased seed quantity, seed protein and oil content were unaltered. This validates increasing photosynthetic efficiency as a much needed strategy toward sustainably increasing crop yield in support of future global food security.
Research Integrity and Peer Review · 2020 · 159 citations
- Computer Science
- Information Retrieval
- Data science
BACKGROUND: Preprint usage is growing rapidly in the life sciences; however, questions remain on the relative quality of preprints when compared to published articles. An objective dimension of quality that is readily measurable is completeness of reporting, as transparency can improve the reader's ability to independently interpret data and reproduce findings. METHODS: In this observational study, we initially compared independent samples of articles published in bioRxiv and in PubMed-indexed journals in 2016 using a quality of reporting questionnaire. After that, we performed paired comparisons between preprints from bioRxiv to their own peer-reviewed versions in journals. RESULTS: Peer-reviewed articles had, on average, higher quality of reporting than preprints, although the difference was small, with absolute differences of 5.0% [95% CI 1.4, 8.6] and 4.7% [95% CI 2.4, 7.0] of reported items in the independent samples and paired sample comparison, respectively. There were larger differences favoring peer-reviewed articles in subjective ratings of how clearly titles and abstracts presented the main findings and how easy it was to locate relevant reporting information. Changes in reporting from preprints to peer-reviewed versions did not correlate with the impact factor of the publication venue or with the time lag from bioRxiv to journal publication. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, on average, publication in a peer-reviewed journal is associated with improvement in quality of reporting. They also show that quality of reporting in preprints in the life sciences is within a similar range as that of peer-reviewed articles, albeit slightly lower on average, supporting the idea that preprints should be considered valid scientific contributions.
Frequent coauthors
- 33 shared
Ivan Reyna‐Llorens
University of Cambridge
- 19 shared
Jane X. Kelly
Portland State University
- 19 shared
David H. Peyton
Portland State University
- 16 shared
Julian M. Hibberd
University of Cambridge
- 12 shared
Sarvenaz Sarabipour
- 11 shared
John E. Coligan
- 11 shared
Lynn Doran
- 10 shared
Francisco Borrego
BioCruces Health research Institute
Labs
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