Our Research

Collection of trace DNA material from aquatic and terrestrial sources can give scientists a great deal of insight into the dynamics of flora and fauna and their ecological interactions in an ecosystem. A lot of our work involves isolation of trace quantities of DNA from soil or water samples collected in and around the Bay Area, as well as using molecular biology (PCR, RT-qPCR, and DNA sequencing) to identify trends in the samples we study.

One of the greatest challenges in crop resource management is tuning growth conditions for plants to ensure healthy growth patterns, ecological and domesticated sustainability, and suitability for human or environmental use. Our lab uses modern biochemical and biotech tools such as DNA sequencing, spectroscopy, and other molecular metrics to determine ways to optimize crop growth.

California's local ecology is heavily influenced by natural disasters such as wildfires. We employ geological tools such as satellite mapping and modeling in parallel with field work to uncover new knowledge about how California wildfires form and spread, and potential ways to mitigate their risk to our local ecology.

Anthropogenic activities such as farming impact the local ecology of the immediate wildlife, including impacts at the molecular level from small molecule pollution and runoff to macroscale levels with changing population dynamics or food chain interactions. We seek to establish more sustainable practices for human farming through scientific research of these activities and specific environmental impacts.

With the increased urbanization of cities in California and elsewhere in the United States, the need for urban farming has provided ways to steward previously underutilized land resources to be reimagined as places for crop growth to feed our local community. This is accomplished in collaboration with local urban gardens such as Fremont LEAF.

Bats, trout, and more... native and invasive species have become interwoven into the local ecology of the San Francisco Bay Area. We are interested in issues pertaining to conservation and to flora/fauna behavior patterns as a result of anthropogenic activities.