Faculty Research Profiles

Faculty Research Profiles are listed below grouped by discipline. You will learn what is the primary focus of each faculty's research program and are encouraged to contact them if you are interested in collaboration or graduate studies. Visit their faculty page for more details about their research, teaching, and publications.

Plant Biology | Plant Pathology | Weed Science

Research Emphasis: to understand and solve fundamental and applied problems in plant and fungal growth and development, and disease and weed management in crop production systems. Research programs cover a broad range, including virology, plant and fungal biochemistry, molecular biology, cell and developmental biology, physiology, genetic engineering of crop plants, plant-microbe interactions, disease management, aquatic biology, and integrated weed management.

Plant Biology

Plant Gamete Biology and Fertilization. Leonor Boavida is interested in both cell surface and intracellular signaling pathways mediating gamete interactions, fertilization, and zygotic activation in plants

Dr. Zhixiang Chen’s research interests are in two related areas of molecular plant stress responses. The first area concerns transcriptional regulation of plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. The second research area deals with protein quality control, trafficking and degradation pathways including autophagy and multivesicular bodies in plant stress responses.

The Fields Research Group takes a multi-pronged approach to plant research and education.

Dr. Jeneen Fields conducts research in plant science in the areas of breeding and pathology. Her research program focuses on plant health and resilience against pathogens and insects. Her work focuses on the development of resistant varieties and quality trait improvement in legumes and herbs that benefit human health.

She is interested in how students learn in the area of STEM and techniques that strengthen learning, engagement, and retention. Her research in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning focuses on differentiated instruction and the impact of addressing multiple learning styles on student learning within the c structure of courses.

She leads an annual Study Abroad experience to explore plant life and their uses within cultures. Her current Study Abroad is to Peru where students travel the country, visit rainforests and indigenous fruit and vegetable production facilities to learn about agriculture in the country.

Dr. Morgan Furze’s lab is broadly interested in how plants, especially trees, interact with their environment. One main focus of our lab is understanding plant carbon storage and allocation and the implications for how plants and ecosystems will respond to global change. We use both fieldwork and laboratory approaches, and integrate tools from physiology, ecology, isotope biogeochemistry, and 3D imaging to explore plants in diverse environments from forests to agroecosystems.

Dr. Iyer-Pascuzzi’s research investigates the mechanisms that plant roots use to perceive and respond to the environment. There are two primary areas of research in the lab. The first is focused on understanding the molecular basis of plant resistance to bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Ralstonia is a devastating soil-borne pathogen that first infects root systems. Despite the devastation it causes, little is known regarding the networks that underlie resistance or susceptibility, and root responses to R. solanacearum are unclear. Using both tomato and Arabidopsis, we focus on understanding resistance responses at three levels of root development: root cell types, root developmental stages, and root architecture. Current questions include, what are the spatio-temporal dynamics of pathogen invasion in resistant and susceptible genotypes? How are different root cell types and developmental stages affected by bacterial wilt? What are the gene regulatory networks involved in the response to bacterial wilt within each cell type? We use a combination of cell biology, genetics, and genomics approaches to address these questions. The major goal of this research is to identify novel forms of resistance to bacterial wilt. Our second area of research is centered around the role of Nodule Inception-Like Proteins (NLPs) in root development. NLP proteins are a unique family of transcription factors found in a wide diversity of plant species. We are studying the molecular mechanisms through which these proteins mediate root development and stress responses in Arabidopsis.

There are two research foci of the Johal lab. The first is to explore mechanisms of disease and resistance in maize by employing real diseases, as well as a collection of mutants called disease lesion-mimic mutants. The second focus is to identify genes and genetic networks that regulate the architecture of the maize plant. A combination of genetic, genomic, molecular and physiological approaches is used for these explorations. In addition, the Johal lab is constantly in the hunt to improvise genetic tools needed to generate or detect agronomically important variation in diverse germplasms, both elite and natural.

The Kessler Lab studies the cell and molecular mechanisms that control pollination and seed yield in flowering plants.

Dr. Lisch is interested in the regulation and evolution of plant transposable elements and the role that transposable elements have played in the evolution of plant gene regulation. Transposable elements, or transposons, are, by far, the most dynamic part of the eukaryotic genome, and the majority, often the vast majority, of plant genomes are composed of these genomic parasites. Although they are an important source of genetic novelty, transposons can also be a significant source of detrimental mutations. Because of this, plants (and indeed all eukaryotes) have evolved a sophisticated “immune system” whose function is to detect and epigenetically silence them. Dr. Lisch’s research centers on determining the means by which transposons are detected and then maintained in a silenced state and the effect that this process has had on the trajectory of plant evolution.

Scott McAdam focuses on the evolution of drought tolerance and response in plants, from stomatal behavior to xylem physiology and hormones

Research in Mengiste lab focuses on molecular-genetics of fungal resistance in model and crop plants.

The goal of the Mickelbart lab is to identify and characterize genetic determinants and traits that allow plants to acclimate to low-water environments.

The Oakley lab is broadly interested in climatic adaptation and genotype by environment interactions in plants. We address questions such as: What are the traits and genes that allow plants to adapt to local environmental conditions? Does adaptation to one environment result in a fitness cost in other environments? and What are the constraints on adaptation and population persistence, particularly in the face of environmental change?

One research focus is the genetic and physiological mechanisms of cold acclimation. This is a common adaptation in temperate zone plants where responses to cool autumn temperatures condition winter freezing tolerance, but it is likely to be energetically costly and require precise adjustment based on predictable environmental cues. A trade-off for cold acclimation can limit where native species and crops can thrive, and climatic variability can disrupt the capacity of plants to “predict” their future environment. Current work in the lab uses locally adapted populations of Arabidopsis thaliana to examine the transcriptional, metabolic, and fitness consequences of a naturally occurring sequence polymorphism in CBF2, a gene that encodes a major regulator of cold acclimated freezing tolerance, and represents a genetic trade-off in this study system. This mechanism of regulating cold acclimation may be broadly conserved across plants because orthologues of CBF genes are cold responsive in many plant lineages. We have initiated projects to examine the costs of cold acclimation in the emerging perennial models Populus and Plantago.

A second research focus is the potential constraints on historical and contemporary adaptation. Small population sizes, spatial isolation, and inbreeding are all common in plant populations and limit beneficial genetic variation, and increase the chance fixation of deleterious alleles. Current projects in the lab use heterosis, or the increased fitness of crosses between lines/populations, to infer patterns of fixation of deleterious alleles in several different contexts and species. Some of these projects include: Mapping the genetic basis of heterosis and heterosis by environment interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana, Investigating the role of heterosis in maintaining outcrossing in the highly selfing Ruellia humilis, and using heterosis to evaluate seed sourcing strategies for prairie restoration using remnant populations of Silene regia.

Dr. Pruitt's research focuses on bacterial interactions with plants, with a particular focus on human pathogens that contaminate fresh produce and how that affects food safety. The goals of this research are to understand how pathogenic bacteria are introduced into the plant system and what bacterial, plant and environmental factors allow them to survive and proliferate.

The Staiger lab uses state-of-the art imaging and quantitative cell biology approaches to investigate how a dynamic network of cytoskeletal filaments coordinates cell growth and response to phytopathogens.

Dan Szymanski’s lab is trying to understand how protein complexes can function across wide spatial scales to control plant morphology. His research combines forward genetics, biochemistry, and quantitative live cell imaging. Recently, in collaborations with materials scientists and computational biologists, his team is learning how plant cells dynamically reorganize the cytoskeleton and the cell wall to program cell morphogenesis. Target traits for genetic improvement are cotton fiber quality and leaf anatomy. Another major project in the lab is the development and use of proteomic methods for systems level analyses of protein complex composition and dynamics.

Dr. Yoon’s research focuses on unraveling the molecular mechanisms that control plant hormone ethylene function and its role in plant stress responses.

We are looking for enthusiastic researchers to join the group. If you are interested in a postdoc / graduate student position in Dr. Zhou’s lab, please send your CV and a brief cover letter to Dr. Zhou at zhouyun@purdue.edu. We explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms in control of meristem development and stem cell homeostasis in Arabidopsis and in ferns, using both experimental and computational approaches.

Plant Pathology

The Aime Lab conducts research on the systematics, biodiversity, and evolution of Fungi focusing on: 1) the earliest diverging lineages of Basidiomycota (Pucciniomycotina, Ustilaginomycotina, and Wallemiomycetes); 2) rust fungi; 3) fungi in tropical ecosystems; and 4) fungal diseases of tropical tree crops. We apply a variety of tools and methods, from genomics to field studies in remote regions, to the study of these vastly underexplored Fungi. Dr. Aime is Director of the Purdue University Herbaria (Arthur Fungarium and Kriebel Herbarium).

Janna Beckerman's research seeks to provide practical disease management solutions for specialty crop growers in Indiana and the surrounding regions.

Guohong Cai's lab uses tools from genomics, molecular genetics to greenhouse and field research to study soybean diseases with serious economic impact in Indiana and the North Central region. Current focus is on Phytophthora root rot, soybean sudden death syndrome and frogeye leaf spot.

Dr. Cruz’s interdisciplinary research focuses on the integration of fungal biology, ecology, and epidemiology for plant disease management. His specialties include plant pathology, crop protection, risk assessment, ecology, epidemiology, emerging diseases, and phenomics.

The Fields Research Group takes a multi-pronged approach to plant research and education.

Dr. Fields conducts research in plant science in the areas of breeding and pathology. Her research program focuses on plant health and resilience against pathogens and insects. Her work focuses on the development of resistant varieties and quality trait improvement in legumes and herbs that benefit human health.

Stephen Goodwin's research focuses on the genetics of host-pathogen interactions between the fungal wheat pathogen, Zymoseptoria tritici, and its host, to understand mechanisms of pathogenicity and resistance, respectively. Ancillary projects are on the genomics and population biology of fungal pathogens.

Dr. Sue Loesch-Fries’ research is to determine the roles of virus genes in virus replication and in disease development, with the expectation that the results will lead to novel approaches for virus control. Loesch-Fries’ group works with alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), an important pathogen of legumes, with focus on host and virus proteins involved in the formation of replicase complexes, which are factories where AMV RNAs are synthesized. The yeast two-hybrid system was used to identify proteins in susceptible Arabidopsis plants that are potential interaction partners of the virus proteins. These proteins and the virus proteins have been tagged with fluorescent markers such as the green fluorescent protein to determine protein-protein interactions and localization of host and virus proteins in infected cells by confocal microscopy.

Research in the Mengiste lab focuses on molecular mechanisms of plant responses to economically important fungal pathogens which reduce crop productivity worldwide. Critical genetic components of plant resistance are identified through genetic and genomic approaches in the model plant Arabidopsis, and two crop plants tomato and sorghum. By applying genetic, molecular, and biochemical approaches, we seek to determine how these key components regulate plant immune responses required for resistance. Molecular and biochemical mechanisms of tomato resistance are studied with a focus on the role of tomato receptor like kinases, and their substrates to shed light on tomato immune responses to broad host fungal pathogens. In parallel, attempts are made to translate some of the findings into genetic improvement of crops for disease resistance. In sorghum, the natural variation in the germplasm is being explored to identify genes or genomic regions that confer broad-spectrum resistance to anthracnose and grain mold diseases. The overarching goal is to expedite genetic improvement of sorghum to increase productivity in disease prone sorghum producing regions.

Current research areas

Arabidopsis immune response signaling, including the role of receptor kinases, transcription regulators and co-regulators, and chromatin modification in fungal and bacterial resistance.
Molecular mechanisms of tomato resistance to fungal pathogens, with a focus on role of receptor like kinases, regulators of induced systemic resistance to gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea and early blight caused by Alternaria solani.
Genetic improvement of sorghum for resistance to fungal pathogens. Mechanisms of sorghum resistance to the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica.

Dr. Miller directs an extension and research program focused towards disease control in turfgrasses. Our research centers on the detection and quantification of turfgrass pathogens in the environment and the development of disease management strategies that require fewer inputs. Past and current research projects include fungicide resistance detection in dollar spot populations, fairy ring biology and prevention, spring dead spot management and cultural control, the effects of fertility and fungicide application methodologies on disease control, and detection of Pythium spp. in irrigation water.

Dr. Staiger's research leverages powerful genetic tools associated with the Arabidopsis-Pseudomonas pathosystem and combines these with advanced imaging and quantitative cell biology approaches to discover new signaling pathways associated with biotic stress.

Dr. Telenko conducts applied field crop pathology research to support her Extension responsibilities. She has an interdisciplinary plant pathology program involved in studying the biology, management, and distribution of field crop diseases and their potential impact on Indiana agriculture.

Jin-Rong Xu works with Fusarium graminearum and Magnaporthe oryzae on the regulation of infection-related morphogenesis, fungal-plant interactions, secondary metabolism and sexual development. We are also interested in characterizing the mechanism of RNA editing and its relationship with other sexual stage-specific genetic and epigenetic phenomena.

Dr. Zhang’s lab focuses on studying plant-nematode interactions with the aim of developing new tools for nematode management in agriculture.

Weed Science

Dr. Tommy Butts’s research and Extension efforts will focus on identifying novel weed management strategies through diversified methods including the use of precision agriculture and application technologies in a targeted, site-specific approach. Further emphasis will be placed on helping to increase herbicide application knowledge, safety, and effectiveness, while reducing off-target movement, both from ground-based and aerial (manned and remotely piloted) applications. His overall goal is to generate research-supported and effective weed management educational materials to be used by farmers and in the classroom to aid in battling complex weed problems.

Dr. Kevin Gibson’s research interests include developing weed management systems that increase crop competitiveness, reduce herbicide use, and provide sustainable weed control. He is also interested in the ecology and management of native and invasive plants in forests and grasslands. More recently, his lab assessed industrial hemp as a possible crop for Indiana and Midwest growers. Dr. Gibson is an Assistant Vice Provost in the Office of the Vice Provost of Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars, where he oversees efforts related to admissions, records, and student access and success. Dr. Gibson is not currently accepting applications to conduct research in his lab.

Dr. Johnson conducts an applied Weed Science research program to support his Extension responsibilities. His research priorities vary and are defined by needs of the Indiana grain and forage producers and the industry that advises and serves that clientele.

The primary goal of the Young lab is to provide a deeper understanding of herbicide efficacy and how to more efficiently utilize herbicides for weed management. This research includes the discovery and management of herbicide-resistant weed biotypes, leveraging knowledge of herbicide physiology to optimize herbicide activity, and mitigating off-target movement of herbicides.