Research in the Plant Biological Sciences Graduate Program encompasses all aspects of the basic biology of plants, algae, and fungi. Listed below are areas of research strength, reflecting both scientific disciplines and experimental approaches. Faculty may be listed in more than one research area; links to faculty pages provide more details.
| Biochemistry
and Physiology |
| Deborah
Allan |
Plant response to nutrient stress |
| Jerry
Cohen |
Plant hormone metabolism and regulation |
| Anath
Das |
Biochemistry of membrane transporters |
| Gary
Gardner |
Photomorphogenesis, plant hormones, plants
and human health. |
| Sue
Gibson |
Characterization and manipulation of plant
secondary metabolism |
| Florence
Gleason |
Metabolism of cyanobacteria |
| John
Gronwald |
Cell Wall Biosynthesis in Medicago |
| Adrian Hegemam |
Plant Metablomics and Ecological Biochemistry |
| Robert
Jones |
Physiological of maize kernel development |
| Albert
Markhart |
Environmental physiology, temperature and
water stress. |
| Neil
Olszewski |
Hormone and post-translanslational regulation
of proteins |
| Peter
Reich |
Physiological ecology, forest and environmental
biology |
| Imke Schmitt |
secondary metabolites and biosynthetic genes in fungi |
| Joseph
Sowokinos |
Mechanism of stress action on potato quality |
| Carroll
Vance |
Legume nitrogen fixation; plant
root adaptation to nutrient stress |
| John Ward |
Membrane proteins and transport physiology |
| |
| Ecology |
| David Biesboer
|
Nitrogen cycling in ecosystems |
| Iris Charvat |
Symbiotic fungal associations in prairies
and wetlands |
| Ford Denison |
Evolution of legume-rhizobium mutualism; nodule physiology;
crop ecology |
| Julie
Etterson |
Ecological genetics of native plants |
| James
Perry |
Water quality and environmental management |
| Jeannine
Cavender-Bares |
Physiological ecology of plants; phylogenetic
structure of communities particularly within oak forests |
| Powers, Jennifer |
Terrestrial biogeochemistry, ecosystem processes, microbial
ecology, tropical ecology and landscape ecology |
| |
|
| Evolution
and Systematics |
| Georgiana
May |
Evolutionary genetics of fungi; coevolution
of plant/fungal interactions |
| David
McLaughlin |
Systematics of basidiomycetes, fungal structure
and phylogeny |
| Imke Schmitt |
Fungal evolution, lichen symbiosis, mol. phylogenetics
chemotaxonomy |
| Ruth Shaw |
Evolution; quantitative genetics of natural
populations |
| Peter
Tiffin |
Molecular and phenotypic evolution of plant
defenses |
| George Weiblen |
Coevolution; molecular phylogenetics; plant/insect
interactions |
| |
| Molecular,
Cellular, and Developmental Biology |
| Neil Anderson |
Flower breeding/genetics, reproductive biology, invasive
species research |
| Robert Brambl |
Mitochondrial biogenesis, heat shock in mycelial
fungi |
| Jerry
Cohen |
Hormonal metabolic controls during plant
growth and development |
| Anath
Das |
Type IV secretion |
| Sue Gibson |
Sugar-response pathways; genomics |
| William Gray |
Auxin-regulated growth and development |
| Paul Lefebvre |
Chlamydomonas flagellar length control |
| M. David Marks |
Control of cell fate in plants |
| Neil Olszewski |
Gibberellin-induced growth and development;
badnaviruses |
| Min Ni |
Light signal transduction and photomorphogenesis |
| Ronald
Phillips |
Plant molecular genetics and cytogenetics |
| Deborah Samac |
Alfalfa biotechnology; functional genomics
of stress tolerance in Medicago |
| Anton
Sanderfoot |
Protein targeting in the endomembrane system |
| Carolyn
Silflow |
Chlamydomonas centriole positioning, genome
project |
| Alan
Smith |
Molecular genetics of flower development |
| D. Peter
Snustad |
Genetic control of the cytoskeleton in Arabidopsis |
| Nathan Springer |
Molecular basis of epigenetic phenomena |
| Robert Stupar |
Legume molecular genetics |
| Cindy
Tong |
Potato tuberization, anthocyanins, and fruit
ripening |
| Susan Wick |
Plant cytoskeleton, tubulin isoforms in plant
development |
| |
|
| Genomics
and Bioinformatics |
| James M. Bradeen |
Host plant resistance/genomics/resistance
gene evolution |
| Jerry
Cohen |
Functional genomics of auxin regulatory networks |
| J.
Stephen Gantt |
Gene expression & function, nitrogen
assimilation in legume nodules |
| Sue
Gibson |
Genomic analysis of plant sugar response |
| Adrian Hegeman |
Plant Metabolomics and Ecological Biochemistry |
| Paul Lefebvere |
Chlamydomonas genome project |
| Georgiana
May |
Evolutionary genomics of plant/pathogen interactions |
| Deborah Samac |
Functional genomics of plant-pathogen interactions
in Medicago |
| Carolyn
Silflow |
Chlamydomonas genome project |
| Kevin
Silverstein |
Bioinformatic analysis of gene expression
and regulation |
| Nathan Springer |
Molecular basis of epigenetic phenomena |
| Robert
Stupar |
Legume molecular genetics |
| Kathryn
VandenBosch |
Functional genomics of nodulation in Medicago |
| Nevin Young |
Genomic analysis of plant-pathogen interactions |
| David Garvin |
Molecular genetic and genomic dissection of wheat disease
resistance, and the analysis of genetic factors in wheat
that increase disease susceptibility |
| Plant-Microbe
Interactions |
| James M. Bradeen |
Host plant resistance/genomics/resistance
gene evolution |
| Anath Das |
Mechanisms of DNA transport across cell membranes |
| J. Stephen
Gantt |
Gene expression & function; nitrogen
assimilation in legume nodules |
| Jane Glazebrook |
Genomics of plant defense response |
| Peter Graham |
Biology and ecology of Rhizobium |
| Georgiana
May |
Coevolution of plant/fungal interactions |
| Fumi
Katagiri |
Systems biology of disease resistance mechanisms |
| Gary
Muehlbauer |
Barley
and wheat molecular genetics |
| Michael
Sadowsky |
Molecular genetics of plant-microbe symbioses |
| Kevin
Silverstein |
Bioinformatic analysis of gene expression
and regulation |
| Les Szabo |
Molecular biology of rust fungi |
| Kathryn
VandenBosch |
Functional genomics of nodulation in Medicago |
| Rodney
Venterea |
Nitrogen transformations in the rhizosphere |
| Nevin Young |
Genomic analysis of plant-pathogen interactions |
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