Plant scientist wins award for early-career innovation

Above: Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, assistant professor of botany and plant pathology, is investigating how plant roots perceive and respond to the environment. Top: An image from her research shows a cross section from the root of a 2.5-week-old tomato plant.

Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, assistant professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, has received a New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. The award is given to scientists working on creative research projects that address the growing global demand for food by transforming the way food is grown, processed, and distributed.

Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, assistant professor of botany and plant pathology, is investigating how plant roots perceive and respond to the environment. These images from her research show cross sections from the roots of 2.5-week-old tomato plants. Iyer-Pascuzzi’s research investigates the mechanisms that plant roots use to perceive and respond to the environment. She will use funding from the award to study how plant roots mediate disease resistance, using tomatoes and a soil-borne bacterial pathogen as a model.

“Her fundamental work will help us better understand how plants respond to pathogenic microbes and has enormous potential for elucidating how crops might be engineered for durable resistance to pests,” said Chris Staiger, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences and head of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.

Photos provided by Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi.