People & Training

PIs

Julia Bailey-Serres (PI)

Distinguished Professor of Genetics

Director, Center for Plant Cell Biology (CEPCEB)

Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside

The Bailey-Serres lab studies the sensing, signaling and acclimation responses to abiotic stresses in plants. Her team has characterized mechanisms of gene regulation and acclimation that enable survival of submergence and transient oxygen deprivations. The research includes the characterization of mechanisms involving transcription and translation that are key to survival of and recovery from stress.

Siobhan Brady (Co-PI)

Professor

Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, UC Davis

Brady Lab

Research in the Brady lab focuses on understanding how a network of transcriptional interactions regulates tissue development and function and how these networks respond to the environment.

Neelima Sinha (Co-PI)

Distinguished Professor

Department of Plant Biology, UC Davis

Sinha Lab

Neelima’s research projects include understanding the process of plant parasitism, the genetic and molecular basis of compound leaf development in tomato, and the evolution of leaf complexity. Her lab is also using genomics approach to understand the genetic programs controlling fundamental developmental processes, and how genetic networks regulating both environmental responses and morphological form are integrated.

Roger Deal (Co-PI)

Associate Professor

Department of Biology, Emory University

Website

The Deal lab studies gene regulation in the context of plant development and in response to the environment. We are particularly interested in understanding the role of chromatin components in establishing cell type-specific transcription patterns, as well as how such patterns are altered by environmental changes.

Uta Paszkowski (Co-PI)

Professor

Department of Plant Sciences, U of Cambridge

Cereal Symbiosis

Research in the Paszkowski lab focuses on molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and functioning of AM symbioses in rice and maize. It aims at developing knowledge to optimize the incorporation of the AM-symbiosis into sustainable yet modern agricultural practices.

Postdocs

Alex Canto-Pastor

Postdoc

Brady Lab

Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, UC-Davis

I am characterizing Physiological changes in the tomato root system during drought and arbuscular mycorrhiza symbiosis with expression studies in tomato, characterization of root apoplastic barriers in tomato using genetic and histological tools, and bioinformatics.
October 2024 - Assistant Professor Yale University

Tania Chancellor

Postdoc

Paszkowski Lab

Center for Plant Cell Biology and Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside

I am conducting arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM)-inducible TRAP and INTACT in rice to investigate gene expression in cell populations containing AM fungi at different stages of colonization. In addition, I am exploring spatial transcriptomics methods for the investigation of spatially resolved gene expression at cellular resolution. Together, these approaches aim to elucidation key regulatory pathways underpinning rice-AM symbiosis.

Garo Akmakjian

Research Scientist

Bailey-Serres Lab

Center for Plant Cell Biology and Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside

I am conducting gene expression profiling in rice (Oryza sativa) in specific root cell types during plant-microbial symbiosis and drought, extending TRAP and INTACT technologies to perform RNA-seq and ATAC-seq in arbuscular mycorrhiza-colonized cells, leveraging TRAP and INTACT to discover how AM symbiosis impacts root development and physiology, and exploring the interaction between AM symbiosis and drought

Adeel Zafar

Postdoc

Bailey-Serres Lab

I am studying transcription factors predicted to influence root traits under water deficit, including aspects of xylem development and barrier formation. The targets of my study were infered through the cell-population multiomics of the Plasticity Project.

Kazunari Nozu

Research Scientist

Sinha Lab

I am interested in how drought affects cell-type and organ specific responses to arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) (or vice versa) in tomato plants using transcriptomic approaches, and in collaboration with our colleagues working on rice, to find common and unique regulatory pathways between tomato and rice.

Hokuto Nakayama

Visiting Scholar from Tokyo University

Sinha Lab

Currently, Tokyo University

Graduate Students

Gabriel Ferreras Garrucho

Graduate Student

Paszkowski Lab

Crop Science Centre, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge

I’m a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, working on the spatiotemporal regulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal pre-symbiotic signaling in rice. I am currently working on the transcriptomic effects of mycorrhizal fungal exudates on rice roots and characterizing the spatial regulatory needs for D14L function, an essential receptor for the symbiotic competence of rice.

Alex Borowsky

PhD Candidate - Awarded

NSF NRT Plants3D Fellow / NIFA Predoctoral Fellow

Bailey-Serres Lab

Center for Plant Cell Biology and Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside

I am a student in the Plant Biology program at UC Riverside, working to develop computational methods to integrate multi-scale gene regulatory data across conditions and cell populations, characterize the responses of apoplastic barriers in the rice root to stresses, and engineer spatiotemporal gene regulation to improve crop resilience.
Currently - Postdoc Stanford University

Brianna Silver

Graduate Student

Deal Lab

Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Emory University

I am working to develop single cell methodologies compatible with INTACT nuclei isolation.

Angel Morris

PhD Candidate

Plants3D NRT Fellow

Bailey-Serres Lab

I am a student in the Plant Biology Graduate Program at UC Riverside. My project focuses on the influence of genes that controlling root architecture on the arbuscular mycorrhizal and water deficit interaction.

Ellen Krall

PhD Student - Awarded

Deal Lab

Genetics and Molecular Biology Program at Emory University

PhD graduate student at Emory University studying Genetics and Molecular Biology. I am currently developing inducible INTACT and TRAP systems to capture epigenome, transcriptome and translatome dynamics in plant cells responding to external stimuli. These novel methods will allow for a better understanding of plant response to environmental cues such as water deficit and microbial interactions.
Currently, Postdoctoral Researcher Donald Danforth Plant Science Center