Faculty

Floral and fruit development in Cucumis; disease resistance; cucurbit genomics; biotechnology biosafety.

Discovery of plant pathways for bioactive diterpenoids in medicinal plant species.

Molecular biology of secondary growth; secondary wall biosynthesis; feedstock development for bioenergy and biomaterials; drought tolerance.

Molecular genetics of plant-pathogens/microbiota interactions.

Metalloenzymology; biosynthesis, transport, and regulation of heme and other metal cofactors; mechanism of microbial H2 and N2O production; bioenergy; conversion of biomass to transportation fuels.

Plant biochemistry; phloem-mediated mechanisms of plant growth and development; identification of factors which regulate plant growth through changes in cell wall and cuticle biosynthesis.

Molecular genetics of fruit tree development & physiology; plant architecture; flower development & bud dormancy.

Molecular basis of plant-insect interactions; regulation of plant growth and defense.

Using experimental and computational approaches to study genome-wide mRNA translation and identify novel peptides; plant responses under diurnal cycles and environmental stress; circadian rhythms.

Molecular mechanisms of peroxisomal function and regulation in plants.

Plant gene expression and regulation induced by environmental stresses, including heat, cold, and drought; Epigenetic mechanisms associated with plant centromere function; Genetics, genomics, and epigenomics of potato and other crop species.

Function of transposable elements; mechanisms of genome diversification; computational and molecular biology.

Biological mass spectrometry and metabolomics of plant stress; plant defense and signaling chemistry involved in plant-insect and plant-pathogen interactions.

Structural and functional characterization of bacterial microcompartments and of proteins involved in photoprotection in photosynthetic organisms.

Energetics and control of photosynthesis; electron and proton transfer reactions; reactive oxygen generation; understanding the molecular and physiological processes involved in conversion of light energy by plants into forms usable for life; understanding how plants evolved to support life in extreme environments.

Plant genetics, metabolic regulation, amino acid and vitamin biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, functional genomics.

Plant Speciation; population and quantitative genetics; landscape evoluationary genomics.

Plant and landscape ecology; plant virus ecology; disturbance ecology; remote sensing; global change; sustainability; restoration.

Molecular basis of organ-specific phytochrome responses in higher plants; light-regulated development in cyanobacteria.

Function and evolution of plant genomes and epigenomes using both experimental and computational approaches.

Structural organization and dynamics of the chloroplast division machinery; molecular mechanisms controlling chloroplast division and expansion in plant cells.

Plant/insect interactions; pesticide resistance; pest control strategies for cowpea in Africa.

Tree diseases (detection, identification, pathogenicity and population analysis) and improving tree health (phytobiome approach).

Molecular basis of chloroplast biogenesis; optimizing photosynthetic carbon capture for crop improvement.

The arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, non-photosynthetic one-carbon metabolism, metabolic engineering, plant NMR spectroscopy.

Biochemistry and biophysics of processes important in gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere.

Genome evolution, stress biology, bioinformatics, systems and predictive biology.

Plant bacteriology; host pathogen interactions; fruit tree disease management; bacterial plasmid biology; microbial evolution.

Molecular mechanisms of nitrogen and sulfur utilization in plants; nutrient sensing, transport and metabolism.

Molecular genetics of plant freezing and drought tolerance; regulation of gene expression in response to environmental stress.

Development in filamentous fungi and host-pathogen interactions using genetics, genomics and physiological approaches.

Comparative genomics; molecular genetics of desiccation tolerance; engineering CAM photosynthesis; crop domestication.

Developmental genetics, epigenetics, chromatin structure; regulation of gene activity during development including flowering.

Biosynthesis of cyclic peptide toxins of Amanita and other mushrooms; cellulases and cell-wall active enzymes for biomass conversion.

Soybean genetics and genomics to improve plant performance, host plant resistance and seed chemical composition.

Genetics of plant development; genomics-assisted breeding; marker-assisted selection; floriculture crops.