Graduate Thesis Project

Engineering a Genetic Circuit to Drive Plant Stem Cell Development

My main research project in Dr. Philip Benfey’s lab investigated how stem cells express genes to develop.

Plants have stem cells for their entire life, which eventually become specialized cells - my PhD thesis project is to discover how one stem cell at the tip of plant roots becomes two very different cells. Because gene networks control every biological process, my research benefits many other fields. For example, many human diseases are caused by impaired networks (ex. cancer).

Scientific specifics: My research looks into the SCARECROW plant gene, which forms two tissues – the cortex and endodermis. This is done by a certain kind of cell division, where one cell becomes a cortex cell and the other becomes an endodermal cell. Without the SCARECROW gene, the original cell never divides and is just one fat mutant cell that acts like BOTH a cortex and an endodermis at the same time. Just like how the SCARECROW in Wizard of Oz doesn’t have brain tissue, these plants are also missing a tissue. But we don’t know what the proper SCARECROW expression is to form these two tissues. My research is to determine what kind of SCARECROW gene expression–not just the amount but also at what time–is needed to form cortex and endodermis. By using existing gene modules, I can create different gene circuits to figure out what kind of SCARECROW expression will make the cell divide and get the proper tissues in plant roots. I can see this division in real time in living plants with a super powerful microscope in my laboratory.