PRL 60th Anniversary Celebration

Time: 1:10 - 2:00 pm

Bio: Mary Lou Guerinot was a postdoctoral researcher in Barry Chelm’s lab from 1981-1985. She is currently the Ronald and Deborah Harris Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College.

During her time at the PRL, Guerinot worked on the Bradyrhizobium-soybean symbiosis, investigating whether the bacteria supplied the host with heme to make leghemoglobin. Her work with a hemA mutant of B. japonicum showed that despite its inability to make heme, the mutant strain incited nodules that appeared normal, contained heme and were capable of high levels of nitrogen fixation.

Time: 2:00 - 2:50 pm

Bio: Scott Peck was a graduate student in Hans Kende’s lab from 1988 to 1995, where he received his Ph.D. in Botany and Plant Pathology. From 1995 to 1997, he continued his work in the Kende lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Peck is currently a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri. Additionally, he is a guest professor at the Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany, and an Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.

During his time at the PRL, Peck worked on the regulation and role of ethylene in plant growth and development. One of his main research areas was the feedback regulation of auxin and ethylene in the development of the apical hook in etiolated seedlings. 

Time: 3:20 - 4:10 pm

Bio: Roger Thilmony was a postdoctoral researcher in Sheng Yang He’s lab from 1999 to 2003. He is currently Lead Scientist and a Research Molecular Biologist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Albany, CA. His lab performs biotechnology-related research in a variety of crop plants.

While at the PRL, he performed research investigating how bacterial pathogens cause disease in plants. Specifically, he examined the global transcriptional responses that occurred in Arabidopsis in response to Pseudomonas syringae infection. Initially spotted DNA microarrays were created and used to investigate the plant gene expression responses elicited by disease, and later Affymetrix gene chips enabled the global identification of host genes that respond to bacterial infection. The roles that specific bacterial effectors play in virulence and plant pathogenicity were also examined.

Time: 4:10 - 4:35 pm

Bio: Eric Moellering was a graduate student in Christoph Benning’s lab from 2006 to 2010, where he received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is currently the CEO of Phykion Inc, an energy transition company focused on biofuels.

During his time at the PRL, his research focused on the molecular genetics and biochemistry of lipid metabolism in response to abiotic stresses. In plants (mostly Arabidopsis), he studied galactolipid remodeling under freezing stress. In algae, he studied lipid accumulation during nitrogen starvation.

Time: 4:35 - 5:00 pm

Bio: Malia Gehan was a graduate student in Mike Thomashow’s lab from 2007 to 2012, where she received her Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology. Gehan is currently an Associate Member and Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO.

During her time in the Thomashow lab, Gehan worked on the intersection of the plant circadian clock and mechanisms of cold acclimation. She also worked on a collaborative project that studied mechanisms of natural variation in the CBF pathway of cold acclimation.