Lilly LaPlace was a research associate for the RIPE project at Louisiana State University in Jim Moroney's lab. Lilly's research focused on the carbon dioxide concentrating mechanism (CCM) in green algae so that components from that system can be used to improve photosynthesis in crop plants. For RIPE, Lilly worked on understanding the role of putative bicarbonate transporters CCP1 and CCP2 in the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii CCM and determining whether these proteins can help improve photosynthetic efficiency if transplanted into crop plant chloroplasts. Lilly earned her bachelor's degree in biological sciences from LSU in December 2020.