Joanne Chory was a pioneering molecular biologist and distinguished professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies who dedicated more than thirty years to transforming our understanding of plant-environment interactions. Born in Boston, she earned her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before completing postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical College, where she developed her fascination with plant genetics. She joined the Salk Institute in 1988 and served as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator for over 25 years, establishing herself as a world leader in plant molecular biology. Despite living with Parkinson's disease for two decades, she maintained an active research program and continued to make groundbreaking contributions to science. Joanne Chory passed away on November 12, 2024, at the age of 69 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Chory pioneered the application of molecular genetics to plant biology using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system, revealing how plants alter their size, shape, and form to optimize growth in changing environments. Her discovery of the DET1 gene's role in plant light response and subsequent elucidation of the entire plant steroid hormone signaling system represented a paradigm shift in understanding plant development and environmental adaptation. Her work demonstrated for the first time that plants utilize steroid signaling pathways, previously thought to exist only in animals, fundamentally changing biological understanding across kingdoms. Through elegant genetic screens and molecular analyses, she and her team meticulously pieced together entire signaling pathways that regulate plant growth and development in response to environmental cues, a singular achievement that reshaped plant biology.
Chory co-founded the Harnessing Plants Initiative in 2017, a visionary effort to optimize plants for enhanced carbon sequestration as a scalable solution to climate change, demonstrating her commitment to translating basic research into practical applications for humanity. Under her leadership, the initiative secured $35 million from the TED Audacious Project and $30 million from the Bezos Earth Fund, and spun out Cquesta Inc. in 2022 to commercialize carbon-sequestering plants. Her innovative approach to leveraging plant biology for environmental solutions earned her the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, making her the first plant biologist to receive this prestigious honor. Chory also received the Benjamin Franklin Medal and the Kumho Science International Award for her transformative contributions, leaving commanding legacies in both pure and applied science that continue to inspire researchers worldwide to address critical challenges through innovative biological solutions.
