News


Virus like particles can act as tunable, scalable, and biodegradable nanocarriers for plant molecular farming and bioengineering. Check out our seminal paper on virus nanocarriers in plants by Reyazul and Marina et. al. published in Nano Letters! 

June 2024


Our Nature Nanotechnology review "Towards realizing nano-enabled precision delivery in plants" is now published! This review is the result of a collaborative effort by colleagues who participated in a NSF-USDA sponsored workshop in fall 2022.

June 2024


Suji is rocking it with another key publication in Environmental Science & Technology about developing model cell walls to elucidate the mechanisms of interactions between this key plant/algae cell barrier and nanomaterials. Congrats again!

November 2023


Suji's research on biorecognition mediated delivery of nanocarriers and chemical cargoes to the plant vasculature is published in Small. This work paves the way for more precise and systemic delivery of agrochemicals. Congrats!

October 2023


Congratulations Greg for successfully completing his PhD and publishing his research on DNA delivery by high aspect ratio nanomaterials to algal chloroplasts in Environmental Science: Nano!

September 2023


Congratulations to Leticia who will be an NSF SBIR Innovative Postdoctoral Entrepreneurial Research Fellow!

August 2023


Supreetha will transition from MS to PhD student with support of an intramural fellowship! We look forward to continue pioneering with Supreetha nanotechnology approaches for enhancing algae bioreactor photosynthesis. 

August 2023


Congratulations Chris for being awarded the prestigious UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship!

May 2023


Welcome Marina to the Giraldo lab and congratulations for receiving the NSF Plants 3D fellowship! You are off to a great start of your PhD.

April 2023


Juan Pablo and Suji presented their work in person for first time in two years at ACS Spring 2022, SIVB, and Gordon Research conference of Bioanalytical Sensing

June 2022


Our discoveries on molecular mechanisms of interactions between chloroplast model and native lipid membranes and nanoparticles is out in ES Nano. Congrats Suji and Kyoungtea!

June 2022


The Giraldo lab had fifteen minutes of worldwide fame in fall 2022 when our research was highlighted in BBC news radio, CBS TV news, multiple newspapers around the world, and the National Nanotechnology Initiative podcast!

December 2021


Giraldo lab is awarded multiple grants from NSF, DOE and BASF to explore nanotechnology approaches for turning plants into biomanufacturing devices, targeted delivery of nutrients and active ingredients in plants, and enhancing algae bioreactor performance.

December 2021


Juan Pablo will be promoted to Associate Professor at UCR!

April 2021

 

Israel Santana is awarded a Genentech postdoctoral fellowship! So well deserved. We are excited for Israel and his career as a scientist ahead.

March 2021

 

Giraldo Lab receives UCR Office of Technology Partnership Award to translate our targeted delivery nanotechnologies to agrochemical applications in collaboration with industry partners.

February 2020

 

Dr. Honghong Wu, who is now Professor at Huazhong Agricultural University, is selected as 1000 Young Talent Fellow by the Chinese Scholarship Council. Congrats Honghong!

November 2020

 

ACS Nano published our systematic and comprehensive study of nanoparticle-leaf interactions. Peiguang Hu and Jing An elucidated and modeled how nanoparticle size and charge influence delivery efficiency into leaf cells and organelles. Congrats Peiguang and Jing!

July 2020

 

Excited to continue our collaborative work on nanoparticle-plant interactions with the NSF Center of Sustainable Nanotechnology!  Check out the UCR press release.

July 2020

 

Congratulations to Jing An for the upcoming publication of her work in  Environmental Science Nano! Jing's paper contributes to our understanding of unifying molecular mechanisms of nanoparticle-seed priming enhancement of plant salinity tolerance.

June 2020

 

Targeted nanoparticles with chemical cargoes in plants enabled by biorecognition motifs. Check out Israel, Honghong and Peiguang's work published in Nature Communications

April 2020

 

Our  collaborative work with the Kruss Lab on near infrared fluorescent nanosensors for monitoring plant health and ultra-bright nanosheets for biological imaging is published in Nano Letters and Nature Communications

March 2020

 

Juan Pablo had a great visit at UC Davis hosted by the Plant Biology graduate student program

December 2019

 

Congratulations to Greg Newkirk for passing his qualifying exam and becoming a PhD candidate!

December 2019

 

Juan Pablo will give two invited talks at the Sustainable Nanotechnology conference (SNO)

November 2019

 

Our review article on smart plant nanosensors is published in Nature Nanotechnology along with other key reviews and perspectives by collaborators in the field of nano-enabled agriculture. An exciting issue and a must read!

June 2019

 

Juan Pablo will present this summer our research on plant nanobiotechnology at the Environmental Nanotechnology GRC and the International Congress on Photobiology

June 2019

 

We have new openings for a postdoctoral researcher and Ph.D. students interested to work at the interface between nanotechnology and plant biology. Research will be performed collaboratively between the Giraldo Lab and the Lowry Lab at Carnegie Mellon University or in collaboration with the Center of Sustainable Nanotechnology. Follow this link for more info.

May 2019

 

Israel Santana receives the Outstanding Teaching Award for his consistently superior teaching performance. Congrats! Very well deserved!

April 2019

 

The Giraldo and Lowry Lab at Carnegie Mellon University will start a collaborative project on plant-nanoparticle interactions with the support of a NSF CBET award

April 2019

 

Huge congratulations to Greg Newkirk! He was awarded both a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) graduate fellowship! This is amazing news!

April 2019

 

Peiguang and Juan Pablo to present our research on chloroplasts nanobiotechnology and plant-nanoparticle interactions at the ACS Spring meeting in Orlando, FL.

March 2019

 

Juan Pablo will present the lab's research on chloroplast biotechnology at the Chloroplast GRC and PAG conferences in Southern California

January 2019

 

Multiple congratulations to Honghong for his future position as Professor at Central China Agricultural University, receiving the CEPCEB Postdoctoral Award and being nominated to the 1000 Young Talent program in China!

December 2018

 

The Giraldo and Landry Lab at UC Berkeley will start a collaborative project funded by USDA-NIFA

October 2018

 

The Giraldo Lab joins the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology funded by a seed grant from the NSF center for chemical innovation program

October 2018

 

Juan Pablo becomes a Faculty member of the UCR Material Science and Engineering program

September 2018

 

Juan Pablo presented the lab research at an invited virtual seminar to the University of Wisconsin - Madison Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology

September 2018

 

Juan Pablo will contribute as invited speaker to the Exposure to Nanomaterials in Agroecosystems session at QEEN II: 2nd Quantifying Exposure to Engineered Nanomaterials from Manufactured Products Workshop

August 2018

 

Nature Nanotechnology highlights our research on nanomaterials that associate with chloroplasts for oxidative stress protection and enhanced energy capture

August 2018

 

Our work demonstrating standoff detection of glucose by quantum dots in photosynthetic organisms is in press in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Congrats Jinming and Honghong!

July 2018

 

Our study on mechanisms of nanoceria improvement of plant salinity tolerance is published as top 10% paper in Environmental Science Nano. Congrats Honghong!

June 2018

 

Greg, Israel, and Honghong  present their work at the CEPCEB symposium. Congrats on winning #1 and#2 poster awards!

May 2018

 

Juan Pablo to give a keynote on Applications and Implications of Nanomaterials for Agriculture at ICEENN/CEINT 2018

May 2018

 

Juan Pablo will give an invited talk at the Gordon Research Conference on Nano-Enabled Technologies to Improve Efficiency, Quality, and Health in Food and Agriculture

February 2018

 

We thank the support of NSF for funding our work about understanding plant subcellular ROS signaling using a nanobiotechnology approach

January 2018

 

Congrats Honghong for being selected to speak at ASPB Western!

January 2018

 

Our most recent work is in press at ACS Nano and Current Protocols of Chemical Biology!  Congrats to everyone, specially to lead authors Dr. Honghong Wu and Israel Santana.

November 2017

 

Jing An starts as a Joint Ph.D. student funded by a China Scholarship Council (CSC) Fellowship. Welcome Jing!

September 2017

 

Dr. Peiguang Hu joins the lab. Welcome!

Peiguang comes from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) where he received a Ph.D. in Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Shaowei Chen

August 2017

 

Israel was awarded a GAANN Fellowship

Congrats Israel!

July 2017

 

The lab participated in the UCR Plant Discovery Day outreach event

Israel and Honghong led a station about Plant Nanobiotechnology

May 2017

 

The lab enjoyed a nice day at the beach in Crystal cove

We discovered a hidden talent for beach volleyball!

April 2017

 

Israel Santana joins the lab as a Ph.D student. Welcome Israel!

February 2017


Honghong was selected to present his research on plant nanobionics at the UCR Center for Plant Biology symposium.

December 1st, 2016

 

Spinach plants engineered with nanotechnology can now detect explosives

Check out our recent Nature Materials paper on plant nanobionics!

October 31st, 2016

 


Honghong was selected to present his research on plant nanobionics at the UCR Postdoctoral Symposium. Congrats!

September 22, 2016

 

Dr. Jinming Li joins the Lab. Welcome Jinming!

He will develop optical nanosensors, and nanoparticles for targeted and controlled release of biomolecules in plants.

August 1st, 2016

 

The Giraldo, Xue, and Yin Labs start a collaboration to develop nanosensors for plant sugars funded by a UCR collaborative seed grant

July 1st, 2016

 

Juan Pablo will present the Lab's work on plant nanobiotechnology and nanobionics at the Frontiers Seminar of Los Alamos National Laboratory

June 27th, 2016

 

Juan Pablo joins the Department of Chemistry at UCR as a Cooperative Faculty Member

May 18th, 2016

 

Juan Pablo will present his work on plant nanobiotechnology in an invited seminar at the Ecology and Evolutionary Department of UCLA

January 27th, 2016


Juan Pablo will talk about his research at the UCR Center of Plant Biology symposium

December 1st, 2015

 

Dr. Honghong Wu joins the lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Welcome Hong!

December 1st, 2015

 

Juan Pablo to give an invited talk on plant nanobionics at the International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology in Iguazu Falls, Brazil

April 14th, 2015

 

Plant nanobionics: one of the ten amazing tech innovations of 2014

According to the International Business Times

March 10th, 2015


Lab will open at UC Riverside in July 2015! Stay tuned

January 16th, 2015

 

Plant nanobionics is featured in the news media

March 23rd, 2014