Plant Growth and Development, BO/GN 733

Welcome to Plant Growth and Development Hi! Both of your instructors are new to web blogs but we thought that they would be a great way to have a discussion about plants. So bear with us if we make mistakes. One of the first things I found out is that Safari (Macintosh) doesn't support posting. Firefox is great.

We'd like to hear from you about why you want to take this course, what kind of research you're doing, and anything else you'd like to tell us.
 

Here's my spiel: I'm really looking forward to learning about development and thinking about all the levels of regulation and interaction that are important for plant growth. Francis Collins (former head of the Human Genome Project) has a new book on his personal resolution of science and religion. What do you think of his idea that DNA can be thought of as scripture? Well, it's an interesting idea but I think RNA rules! Is there a master regulator? Or does everything work together? (I don't want to get into a discussion about religion, BTW, just wanted to get the ball rolling on some ideas!)

As you'll find out, Bob is a real geneticist and I'm a real plant person. I try to think like a geneticist but sometimes it's hard. I do bow before the awesome power of Arabidopsis genetics.

I do research on virus-induced gene silencing and also on transgenic methods for increasing ER calcium stores. I hope that some day this research will lead to more sustainable agriculture. I like the research because it never goes in a straight line and what you think will happen often doesn't. It's the challenge of re-thinking and then getting a clue that maybe you're on the right track that is really rewarding.

I have a 16 year old daughter who is learning to drive and who plays mellophone in marching band. My husband is director of the Plant Transformation Lab across the street from my lab. And we have a very sweet 9 year old German Shepard dog who likes sticks more than anything else in the world.

Looking forward to hearing from you!