People who work in Plant Biology
Faculty
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Charles Anderson
- Assistant Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-863-4736 • Email address cta3@psu.edu
Research interests:Research interests: In vivo imaging of plant cell wall dynamics - Molecular genetic analysis of genes involved in cell growth - Cell wall biosynthesis in dividing cells - Cell wall engineering for sustainable bioenergy production.
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Richard Arteca
- Professor of Horticultural Physiology
Phone number 814-863-2252 • Email address rna@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant responses to externally applied stimuli with emphasis on plant hormones, touch and gravity.
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Sarah Assmann
- Waller Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-863-9579 • Email address sma3@psu.edu
Research interests:Molecular biology of plant G-proteins and kinases. Phytohormone regulation of signal transduction and RNA processing. Second messenger regulation of ion channels in plant cells.
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Michael Axtell
- Associate Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-867-0241 • Email address mja18@psu.edu
Research interests:Discovery and characterization of plant microRNAs and siRNAs. Functions of microRNAs and siRNAs in the evolution of plant development. Genomics and bioinformatics of microRNAs, siRNAs, and their targets.
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Robert Berghage
- Associate Professor of Horticulture
Phone number 814-863-2190 • Email address rdb4@psu.edu
Research interests:Environmental plant physiology. Controlled and modified environments for plant growth. Eco-roofs, rooftop greening, and other uses of plants in distributed stormwater management systems.
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Philip Bevilacqua
- Professor of Chemistry
- Co-Director, Center for RNA Molecular Biology
Phone number 814-863-3812 • Email address pcb@chem.psu.edu
Research interests:Roles of RNA-binding proteins in plant physiology. Plant ribonomics. Identification and characterization of functional RNAs in plants.
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Kathleen Brown
- Professor of Plant Stress Biology
Phone number 814-863-2260 • Email address kbe@psu.edu
Research interests:Ethylene biology. Regulation of root development. Root responses to edaphic stress. Identification and mapping of traits for adaptation to edaphic stress.
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Nicole Brown
- Associate Professor of Wood Chemistry
Phone number 814-865-7423 • Email address nrb10@psu.edu
Research interests:Adhesives; wood composites; cellulosic materials, bacterial cellulose, polymer science; chemistry of wood biopolymers; and other chemical treatments of wood.
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Donald Bryant
- Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Phone number 814-865-1992 • Email address dab14@psu.edu
Research interests:Photosynthesis, structure-function relationships of proteins, gene regulation, and microbial physiology. Cyanobacteria and green sulfur bacteria. Genomics of photosynthetic bacteria.
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John Carlson
- Professor of Molecular Genetics, School of Forest Resources
Phone number 814-863-9164 • Email address jec16@psu.edu
Research interests:Molecular genetics, genomics and biotechnology of woody plants related to development, environmental stress, carbon sequestration and genome organization.
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Jeffrey Catchmark
- Associate Professor of Ag and Bio Engineering
Phone number 814-863-0414 • Email address jmc102@psu.edu
Research interests:Cellulose synthesis and organization, cellulosic composites and coatings, microbial cellulose production, and chemically powered microfluidic and biological devices and sensors.
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Surinder Chopra
- Professor of Maize Genetics, Department of Plant Science
Phone number 814-865-1159 • Email address sic3@psu.edu
Research interests:Regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis during plant development and plant-pathogen interaction. Epigenetic regulation and allele specific patterns.
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Daniel Cosgrove
- Eberly Chair and Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-863-3892 • Email address dcosgrove@psu.edu
Research interests:Mechanism of plant growth. Function and evolution of expansins. Biochemistry and rheology of plant cell walls. Growth responses to light, hormones, and water stress and other stimuli.
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Wayne Curtis
- Professor of Chemical Engineering
Phone number 814-863-4805 • Email address wrc2@psu.edu
Research interests:Regulation and signal transduction in plant secondary metabolism. Phytoremediation of hydrocarbons. Commercial chemical production in plants and plant tissue culture.
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Richard Cyr
- Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-865-6416 • Email address rjc8@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant cell and developmental biology. Biochemical, genetic, molecular genetic and cell biology of the cytoskeleton. Mitosis, with emphasis on spindle assembly.
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Consuelo De Moraes
- Professor of Entomology
Phone number 814-863-2867 • Email address czd10@psu.edu
Research interests:Ecology. Chemical ecology. Tritrophic interactions. Chemical Communication. Plant signaling. Plant-insect-interactions. Plant-Plant interactions. Plant defenses.
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Claude dePamphilis
- Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-863-6412 • Email address cwd3@psu.edu
Research interests:Genomics, bioinformatics, and molecular evolution. Origin and diversification of flowers & developmental pathways. Comparative genomics of plants, organelles, & plant gene families. Genomics and evolution of parasitic plants.
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David Eissenstat
- Professor of Woody Plant Physiology
- Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology
Phone number 814-863-3371 • Email address dme9@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant physiological ecology. Root biology and physiology. Plant carbon and nutrient economies.
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Majid Foolad
- Professor of Plant Genetics, Department of Horticulture
Phone number 814-865-5408 • Email address mrf5@psu.edu
Research interests:Genetic characterization of resistance/tolerance to biotic/abiotic stresses, and genes/QTLs contributing to tomato fruit quality. Investigation of genes/QTLs for directed crop improvement and germplasm enhancement. Tomato cultivar development & release.
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John Golbeck
- Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
- Professor of Chemistry
Phone number 814-865-1163 • Email address jhg5@psu.edu
Research interests:Light reactions in photosynthesis. Structure and function of photosystem I and the heliobacterial reaction center. Regulation and bioassembly of iron-sulfur clusters in cyanobacteria and plants. Plant and bacterial metalloproteins. Generation using Photosystem I, hydrogenase, and molecular wire technology
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Ying Gu
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Phone number 814-867-3827 • Email address yug13@psu.edu
Research interests:Mechanism of cellulose biosynthesis in higher plants. Genetic modification of plant cell wall to scale-up biofuel production.
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Mark Guiltinan
- Professor of Plant Molecular Biology, Department of Horticulture
Phone number 814-863-7957 • Email address mjg9@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant molecular and developmental biology. Starch biosynthesis. Tropical plant biotechnology. Plant-pathogen interactions. Biofuel feedstock production.
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David R. Huff
- Professor of Turfgrass Breeding and Genetics, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Phone number 814-863-9805 • Email address drh15@psu.edu
Research interests:Population genetics. Plant evolution and ecology. Crop improvement. Physiological tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress.
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Seogchan Kang
- Professor of Plant Pathology
Phone number 814-863-3846 • Email address sxk55@psu.edu
Research interests:Genetic and cellular mechanisms underpinning plant-fungal interactions with Arabidopsis thaliana and Fusarium oxysporum as a model system. Molecular genetics and comparative genomics of fungal plant pathogens. Bioinformatics.
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Teh-hui Kao
- Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Plant Biology
Phone number 814-863-1042 • Email address txk3@psu.edu
Research interests:Molecular and biochemical bases of the S-RNase-based self-incompatibility system in flowering plants; molecular and biochemical characterization of cellulose biosynthesis in bacteria and plants.
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Dawn Luthe
- Professor of Plant Stress Biology, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Phone number 814-863-3542 • Email address dsl14@psu.edu
Research interests:Insect defense responses in maize. Functional genomics/proteomic approaches for studying Aspergillus flavus resistance in maize. Abiotic stress resistance.
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Jonathan Lynch
- Professor of Plant Nutrition
Phone number 814-863-2256 • Email address jpl4@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant adaptation to nutrient and water stress. Global change. World hunger. Root biology.
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Hong Ma
- Distinguished Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-863-6414 • Email address hxm16@psu.edu
Research interests:Molecular genetics and evolution of flower development. Anther cell differentiation, meiosis and pollen development. Comparative, genomic and bioinformatic analyses of eukaryotic gene functions.
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Siela Maximova
- Senior Research Associate and Associate Professor of Horticulture
Phone number 814-863-7286 • Email address snm104@psu.edu
Research interests:Molecular basis of plant - pathogen and plant-endophyte interactions;Biotechnology of tree crops; Development of Sustainable Energy Crops.
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Timothy McNellis
- Associate Professor of Plant Pathology
Phone number 814-863-7646 • Email address mcnellis@psu.edu
Research interests:Genetics, molecular biology and physiology of plant interactions with phytopathogenic bacteria. Signal transduction events involved in plant disease resistance. Genetic control of plant hypersensitive cell death.
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Mark Mescher
- Assistant Professor of Entomology
Phone number 814-865-4208 • Email address mcmescher@psu.edu
Research interests:Ecology and evolution of interactions among plants and insects. Chemical ecology. Disease ecology. Plant signaling.
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Gabriele Monshausen
- Assistant Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-867-3339 • Email address gbm10@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant cell signaling. Hormonal and mechanical signal transduction in plant growth regulation. Live cell imaging of subcellular microdomains of ionic signaling.
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Chris Mullin
- Professor of Entomology
Phone number 814-865-2435 • Email address camullin@psu.edu
Research interests:Toxicology of insect-plant interactions. Honey bee ecotoxicology. Mechanisms of insect taste chemoreception. Biopesticide action and resistance. Phytochemical ecology.
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B. Tracy Nixon
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Phone number 814-865-3679 • Email address btn1@psu.edu
Research interests:Structural and functional basis of two component signal transduction. Structural basis for how AAA+ ATPases perform mechanical work to activate transcription by remodeling the sigma54-form of bacterial RNA polymerase.
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Andrew Stephenson
- Distinguished Professor of Biology
Phone number 814-863-1553 • Email address as4@psu.edu
Research interests:The impact of inbreeding by plants on organic volatile production, herbivory and the establishment and spread of diseases. The effects of effects of disease on the foraging behavior of vectors and their natural enemies.
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Ming Tien
- Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Phone number 814-863-1165 • Email address mxt3@psu.edu
Research interests:Mechanism of fungal degradation of the plant polymer lignin. Modification of lignin biosynthesis to yield more readily hydrolyzed lignin. Mechanism of cellulose synthesis. Disimilatory iron reduction. Microbial reduction of metal oxides for respiration.
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Yinong Yang
- Associate Professor of Plant Pathology
Phone number 814-867-0324 • Email address yuy3@psu.edu
Research interests:Signal perception and transduction in rice-pathogen interactions; Molecular and genomic strategies for increasing disease resistance and drought tolerance in cereal crops.
Graduate students
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Lee Breunig
- Graduate student
• Email address lxb966@psu.edu
Research interests:Structural Role of Xylans in Primary Cell Walls of Monocots.
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Lina Castano-Duque
- Graduate student
• Email address lic5157@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant-insect interactions using corn, and two of its most devastating pests, fall armyworm and western corn root worm by focusing on the plant communication between roots and shoots.
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Ceyda Coruh
- Graduate student
• Email address cxc709@psu.edu
Research interests:Experimental identification of plant microRNA targets.
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Cody DePew
- Graduate student
• Email address cld5311@psu.edu
Research interests:Calcium-dependent hormone signaling in plants.
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Tim Gookin
- Graduate student
• Email address teg142@psu.edu
Research interests:Heterotrimeric G-protein signaling in plants.
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Jin Gu
- Graduate student
• Email address jxg983@psu.edu
Research interests:Cellulose-Polylactic acid nanocomposite.
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Meredith Hanlon
- Graduate student
• Email address mth14@psu.edu
Research interests:Root traits and growth and the relation to soil nutrient status.
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Joshua Herr
- Graduate student
• Email address jherr@psu.edu
Research interests:Metagenomics of plant associated fungi and bacteria; ectomycorrhizae and disease priming in poplar; comparative fungal and plant genomics
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Loren Honaas
- Graduate student
• Email address lah338@psu.edu
Research interests:Gene expression analysis of transfer cells in the haustorium of the parasitic angiosperm T. versicolor.
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Theresa How-Yew-Kin
- Graduate student
• Email address tph143@psu.edu
Research interests:Leave of absence.
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Shan Jin
- Graduate student
• Email address szj133@psu.edu
Research interests:Caterpillar and maize interaction.
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Lei Lei
- Graduate student
• Email address lol5119@psu.edu
Research interests:Mechanism of cellulose biosynthesis in plant primary cell wall.
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Shu Li
- Graduate student
• Email address swl5324@psu.edu
Research interests:Mechanism of S-RNase-based self-incompatibility.
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Xin Lin
- Graduate student
• Email address xxl153@psu.edu
Research interests:Identify gene expression markers in tomato.
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Qikun Liu
- Graduate student
• Email address qxl121@psu.edu
Research interests:Identification of complementary requirement of MicroRNA function.
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Wenhua Liu
- Graduate student
• Email address wxl182@psu.edu
Research interests:Signal perception and transduction in plant-pathogen interactions.
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Claire Lorts
- Graduate student
• Email address cml300@psu.edu
Research interests:Root traits beneficial for nutrient acquisition in low fertility soils.
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Dihong Lu
- Graduate student
• Email address dzl123@psu.edu
Research interests:Genetic regulatory network controlling Arabidopsis anther development.
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Qing Mao
- Graduate student
• Email address qxm101@psu.edu
Research interests:Evolution of the Poa annua L. Genome.
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Thomas McCarthy
- Graduate student
• Email address txm5136@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant cell walls.
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Daniel McClosky
- Graduate student
• Email address ddm190@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant cell wall dynamics.
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Bastian Minkenberg
- Graduate student
• Email address bum179@psu.edu
Research interests:Lab Rotation.
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Natali Ozber
• Email address nzo104@psu.edu
Research interests:Heterotrimeric G-protein signaling in plants.
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Swayamjit Ray
- Graduate student
• Email address szr146@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant-Insect interaction; plant defense to insect herbivory in Maize.
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Patompong Saengwilai
- Graduate student
Phone number 814-321-2163 • Email address pxs950@psu.edu
Research interests:Root traits for efficient nitrogen efficiency in Maize and association mapping of maize root anatomical traits
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Saima Shahid
- Graduate student
• Email address sxs1102@psu.edu
Research interests:Plant small RNAs and their targets.
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Han-Wei Shih
- Graduate student
• Email address hxs273@psu.edu
Research interests:Mechanical signal transduction in plants.
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Matthew Sullenberger
- Graduate student
• Email address mts5244@psu.edu
Research interests:Late blight resistance in tomato.
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Penglin Sun
- Graduate student
• Email address pzs128@psu.edu
Research interests:Studies of S-RNase based self-incompatibility system -
Feng Wang
- Graduate student
• Email address fzw5016@psu.edu
Research interests:Identification of complementary requirement for 24nt siRNA function.
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Ning Wang
- Graduate student
• Email address nxw152@psu.edu
Research interests:Functional studies of S-RNase-based self-incompatibility.
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Wanyan Wang
- Graduate student
• Email address wuw123@psu.edu
Research interests:Genetic diversity in forest trees and associated wildlife.
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Kameron Wittmeyer
- Graduate student
• Email address ktw5072@psu.edu
Research interests:Epigenetic regulation of gene expression using the Ufo1 mutant.
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Zhenzhen Yang
- Graduate student
• Email address zzy5028@psu.edu
Research interests:Functional and Genomic Analysis of Parasite-Host Interactions.
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Yunqing Yu
- Graduate student
• Email address yxy151@psu.edu
Research interests:Cell signaling in Arabidopsis.
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Yufan Zhang
- Graduate student
• Email address yzz126@psu.edu
Research interests:Genetic Engineering of Oil Biosynthesis.
