Research Summary
I study how bacterial pathogens evolve and spread in plant host populations, and how hosts in turn evolve resistance. My current work aims to elucidate the genetic and population-level mechanisms that prevent the emergence of epidemics. My research touches upon several disciplines within the Biological Sciences including population genetics, microbial and plant genomics and classical microbiology.
Education
- B.Sc. (Honors) , Biological Sciences, Stanford University
- Ph.D., Genetics, Genomics & Systems Biology, University of Chicago
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
Biography
My research aims to understand the factors--genetic and environmental--that lead to pathogen outbreaks in plant populations. We approach this broad question by combining molecular, computational and field work to elucidate how pathogens evolve to colonize different hosts, and how hosts evolve to resist specific pathogens. Our current work uses functional genomics and statistical genetics of bacterial pathogens to identify genes important for host-specific colonization, and metabolomics to identify small molecules involved in plant-pathogen interactions.