Joanne Chory

Joanne Chory, born on March 19, 1955, is a distinguished American botanist and geneticist renowned for her groundbreaking research in plant biology. As a professor and director of the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, she has made significant contributions to understanding how plants adapt their growth and shape to optimize photosynthesis in varying environments.

In 1988, Chory joined the Salk Institute, where her pioneering work in molecular genetics has transformed the field. She held the prestigious Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology and served as an adjunct professor in the Section of Cell and Developmental Biology at UC San Diego. Her research has focused on enhancing plants' natural abilities to capture and store carbon dioxide, a crucial aspect of combating climate change.

Chory is the founding director of the Salk Institute's Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI), which aims to develop plants with larger and stronger root systems capable of sequestering more carbon in the form of suberin. Under her leadership, the HPI team received substantial funding, including thirty-five million dollars from the TED Audacious Project in 2019 and another thirty million dollars from the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020.

Her exceptional contributions to science have been recognized with numerous accolades, including her election as a foreign member of the Royal Society in 2011, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2018, and the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research in 2019. Joanne Chory continues to inspire future generations of scientists through her innovative research and dedication to environmental sustainability.