Meet our new faculty: Jesus Beltran

Jesus Beltran, a new faculty member at the University of Delaware, grew up in a small town in Colombia. He was always fascinated by nature and agriculture. The South American town depended on coffee plantations, fruits and vegetables to drive employment and the local economy. School vacations on farms sparked Beltran’s fascination with living things, which likely influenced his decision to study biology.

Throughout his career, Beltran became aware of the importance of fruits and vegetables in certain regions of the world and the lack of access to them. Early in his career, Beltran interned at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. He worked on improving the provitamin A content of cassava plants so that people living in tropical regions could have access to them.

“It’s a global problem,” said Beltran, an assistant professor of plant and synthetic biology in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of North Dakota. “Many populations are deficient in this vitamin. And that deficiency causes disease.”

Beltran is interested in all things plant engineering. As a faculty member, he applies the knowledge and passion he developed for his hometown agriculture to various types of plants.

Plant breeding requires a deep understanding of how plants work, a complex process.

During his PhD in the United States, Beltran studied the functional mechanism of a novel carotenoid enzyme from corn, which is now a candidate for metabolic engineering.

“I believe that combining basic and applied research will drive innovation and sustainably advance the bioeconomy,” Beltran said. “By understanding how plants regulate metabolic pathways, we can better position ourselves to make crops more nutritious and resilient.”

Beltran joined the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in July 2023. He studies the genetics that make plants act the way they do. He teaches students the basics of plant evolution as well as the concept of genetic modification of plants.

“I think students are impressed when they realize that plants can be reprogrammed,” Beltran said, “that we can improve plants to benefit humans and the environment.”

Plants struggle to withstand drastic environmental changes, from wild temperature swings to floods to droughts. But Beltran says there is a solution: creating seeds with certain traits that can help plants withstand the full range of challenges brought on by climate change.

“If there’s not enough water, plants have to process that information and change the function of their genes, cells and biochemical pathways, to tolerate that stress,” Beltran said. “What we’re trying to do is use plant synthetic biology tools to be able to design the modules that already exist in plants, or design new modules to give plants new capabilities.”

Ultimately, Beltran said, engineering these changes gives plants a better chance of resisting these stressors.

The ultimate goal? To design versatile seeds.

“The more characteristics we can create in a single plant, the better,” Beltran said.

Beltran, who runs his lab at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute on the STAR campus, designs “gene expression circuits,” which are essentially impulses that can control the behavior of cells. Once these circuits are embedded in plants, they change the plants’ behavior in the way Beltran wants. The Delaware Biotechnology Institute provides him with the state-of-the-art labs and equipment he needs to engineer plant biology.

“This year, we set up our lab at the Ammon Pinizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center (known as AP-BIO) and initiated collaborations,” Beltran said. “I am excited to be a part of the exceptional Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and look forward to contributing to its continued growth and profound impact on our communities. Delaware has a strong agricultural economy, which is why we are here to develop innovative solutions.”

Last semester, Beltran taught Botany II (PLSC 201) to undergraduates, teaching them about plant diversity and how different plants evolve. In the fall, he is excited to teach Plant Synthetic Biology (PLSC 467) to undergraduate and graduate students. Students who enroll in this lecture-based course will learn all about genetic engineering to solve plant problems.

“This course provides students with a theoretical framework that will be useful as they try to identify their future careers,” Beltran said. “The agricultural industry is interested in biotech solutions. This course could put them in a position to discuss these high-tech projects.”