Archive
Erin Sparks
Research Interests Erin Sparks’ research uses interdisciplinary and multi-scale approaches to optimize plant resilience under abiotic and biotic stressors, for example, by applying a unique blend of principles of mechanical engineering and the genetics of root development.
Gary Stacey
Research Interests ATP is a ubiquitous compound in all living cells; it not only provides the energy to drive many biochemical reactions, but also functions in signal transduction as a substrate for kinases, adenylate cyclases, etc. However, ATP was also shown to be an essential signaling agent outside of cells, where it is referred to as extracellular ATP (eATP). An extensive literature exists in animals implicating eATP in numerous cellular processes, including neurotransmission, immune responses, cell growth, and cell death. Initial observations of effects of eATP in animals were met with considerable skepticism. However, much less is known about the…
David Mendoza
Research Interests The Mendoza lab focuses on the identification of the molecular mechanisms mediating nutrient sensing and allocation in plants, particularly nutrient elements that are required for photosynthesis, such as iron, copper, and zinc.
Scott C. Peck
Research Interests Bacterial pathogens spend the majority of their lives in the soil competing with other microbes for nutrients. However, when they chemically recognize the presence of a potential plant host, the bacteria activate a virulence program to suppress plant immunity. Conversely, plants only activate defense responses when they recognize the presence of the potential pathogens. By studying these interrelated chemical recognition processes, the Peck lab has discovered the chemical signals utilized by bacteria to activate their virulence programs, and we have isolated mutants that fail to secrete these signals, rendering the plants more resistant to infection. We are…
Dong Xu
Research Interests Dr. Xu’s lab focuses on the interface between bioinformatics and deep learning. It works on development of novel computational methods, algorithms, software and information systems, as well as on broad applications of these tools and other informatics resources for various biological and medical problems. Several successful applications of deep learning by the lab in bioinformatics span areas such as single-cell data analysis, protein structure prediction, protein language models, protein localization prediction, predicting sites of protein post-translational modifications, elucidating genotype-phenotype associations, understanding biological pathways through image analysis in published literature, and analyzing tongue images for health evaluations.
Trupti Joshi
Research Interests The Joshi lab has expertise in the areas of bioinformatics and its application to biomedical sciences, plants sciences, animal sciences, and health informatics fields. The lab has three key research pillars: Multiomics Informatics Data Analytics and Framework Development Multiomics Informatics Method Development Multiomics Data Integration Tool Development…
Bing Yang
Research Interests The main research foci of the Yang laboratory are: Gaining a molecular understanding of host disease susceptibility and resistance to pathogenic microbes by using bacterial blight of rice as a disease model. Developing and applying genome editing technologies for gene/trait discovery and for engineering improved traits such as disease resistance in crop plants.
Marc Libault
Research Interests Plant cells differentially use their genetic information to gain their specific function. Libault has a long-term interest in understanding the differential use of the genome between plant cells and its dynamic regulation during plant development and in response to environmental stresses. Gaining this information is essential to understand gene function and the regulation of their expression, and, therefore, to implement well-sounded synthetic biology strategies to enhance desirable crop traits. …