First name,Last name,Preferred title,Overview,Position,Department,Individual
Lawrence,Griffing,Associate Professor,"I am testing the theory that the endoplasmic reticulum, ER is the circulatory network of the cell, connecting different organelles to each other, allowing them to share signals, lipids, and proteins.
I am particularly interested in how the cytoskeletal system of plants regulates the movement of the ER network. In interphase, the actinomyosin network drives movement of the ER, just as it drives the movement organelles through the cytoplasm in a process called cytoplasmic streaming, a phenomenon in plants, but not animal cells. Of the seventeen different myosin forms in plants, only six are involved in active cytoplasmic streaming. We are sorting out which of those six guide the different movements of the endoplasmic reticulum.
I am also interested in the nature of the nexus between the ER and other organelles, including the chloroplast, plasma membrane, and Golgi. I have recently shown that by photo-stimulating the nexus between the chloroplast and the ER, the directional flow within the ER can be reversibly altered. This ability to generate very localized ER stress may have application in a wide variety of fields - from finding cures for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's syndrome to developing crops that can better-tolerate physiological heat stress and drought.
Finally, I recently founded the company, Griffing Biologics LLC, which is based on the discovery of a novel, non-toxic pre-emergent herbicide that interferes with plant sterol metabolism. Other work examining the uptake of sterols indicates that it may get into the plant cells via plasma membrane-ER contact sites. We are pursuing the function of this transport in controlling the early stages of plant growth.",Associate Professor,Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nd558069a
Alan,Pepper,Associate Professor,"My laboratory uses genetic, molecular, and genomic tools to study how terrestrial plants adapt, both in a short-term sense (phenotypic plasticity) and in a long-term sense (adaptive evolution), to the vast diversity of environments found on our planet.
My laboratory is studying the molecular and physiological mechanisms of 'downstream' developmental responses to light using genetic and molecular tools available in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. In another project, we are using comparative genomics to investigate the genetic basis of the evolution-under-domestication of developmental processes in cultivated cottons (Gossypium spp.) and their wild relatives. Gossypium is in the Malvaceae family and, as such, shares a recent common ancestor with Arabidopsis and other plants in the Brassicaceae family.
We are also investigating the genetic mechanisms of plant adaptation to the stresses of extreme environments such as drought, low mineral nutrients (N,P,K) and heavy metals, in wild relatives of Arabidopsis, such as the rare endemic plant Caulanthus amplexicaulis (Brassicaceae.) This work has led us to become more broadly interested in the conservation and ecological genetics of rare plants, particularly geoendemics.",Associate Professor,Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ndc106a4d