Faculty

Ben Montpetit studies how components of nuclear pore complexes direct and regulate RNA export at a cellular, molecular, and atomic level. Lab members use techniques from cell biology, biochemistry, structural biology, and single molecule imaging with the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Maeli Melotto studies the close interaction between plants and pathogens -- both plant and human -- at the molecular level. She seeks to determine the physiological changes that happen in both the plant and the pathogen when they come into contact, with applications to minimizing the impact of disease and economic losses in agriculture.

Tiffany Lowe-Power heads a team of plant pathologists and microbiologists driven to uncover the behavioral and fitness adaptations that allow bacteria to colonize plants and cause disease. Lab members use the Ralstonia-plant model as a reductionist microbiome system to investigate molecular microbial ecology, host specificity, and host physiology. The questions they address are broadly relevant to vascular and nonvascular plant-colonizing bacteria. The research focus is two pronged and includes how the host environment shapes bacterial behavior and how xylem pathogens alter the host environment.

Research in the Andrew Latimer lab focuses on plant population and community responses to climate change and environmental disturbance. Core interests include forest and grassland responses to climate change, fire, and drought.

The Dinesh-Kumar lab focuses on understanding the molecular basis of host-microbe interactions in plants, including immune systems, autophagy, and cellular- and molecular-level responses to a pathogen.

Daniel Kliebenstein studies two major questions using biochemical genomics. The first question focuses on how and why plants make secondary metabolites using Arabidopsis thaliana to study how its secondary metabolites control interactions with insects and fungi. To do this, researchers in the lab use a mixture of functional genetics, quantitative genetics, plant biology, evolutionary biology and metabolite profiling to develop as in depth and broad a picture as possible. The second major question is how and why organisms have genetic variation. To ask this question, the lab uses the same secondary metabolites as phenotypes to help us study and develop methodology to understand the underpinnings of quantitative genetics and genomics.  In addition, the lab is developing a new model organism for quantitative biochemical genomics: the fungus Botrytis cinerea that produces a suite of secondary metabolites whose main role is to allow the fungus to kill plant cells. This is allowing us to combine the network tools to look at how the genomes of both Arabidopsis and Botrytis interact and to analyze how organisms can combat each other through metabolism. 

The Harmer lab uses a Arabidopsis thaliana and sunflower as complementary model systems to better understand the molecular nature of the plant clock and how it influences growth and development. To do this, they apply genetic, genomic, biochemical, physiological, and ecological approaches to better understand the plant clock and its role in enhancing plant growth and development in the natural world. Specific questions include: What is the molecular nature of the circadian clock? What are the mechanistic links between the clock network and other signaling pathways? What aspects of physiology are under circadian regulation? How does a functional circadian clock provide an adaptive advantage?

Agroecologist Amelie Gaudin explores how diversification and healthy soil ecosystems can help agriculture meet its sustainability and resilience goals. Researchers in her lab integrate concepts and methodologies from various disciplines to measure outcomes of ecological intensification strategies and linkages between diversification, soil health and ecological resilience. They also study plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere and the ecological functions central to crop production in agroecological systems.

Elisabeth Forrestel studies the phylogenetic and functional basis of drought and heat responses in grapes, and ways to mitigate climate change impacts in viticulture. Her work includes incorporating monitoring technology in vineyards and using remote sensing data to help paint a fuller picture of the environmental factors that most significantly affect plant growth, berry chemistry and, ultimately, wine quality.

Valerie Eviner uses a mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions to increase our understanding and effective management of: ecosystem services, plant invasions, restoration, plant community composition, biogeochemical cycling, global change, grazing systems, ecosystem response to wildfire, and resilience of ecosystem structure and function.