Peng Liu: An Early Spark

Peng Liu’s first memory of his lifelong fascination with plants goes back to grape vines that grew on the front of his childhood home. Each year, as the grapes started to ripen, Peng couldn’t wait to taste them and search for the sweetest ones among them.

When he first learned about photosynthesis in grade school, his interest grew even deeper. He was captivated by the concept of solar energy as a major resource for the Earth and plants’ extraordinary ability to convert light into organic matter that humans can use. He saw photosynthesis as an extraordinary fact of life on Earth that we often take for granted. Right away, he wanted to learn more about plants and the mechanisms underlying the process.

Learn more about Peng's genome editing work here!