Research Areas

We study both model systems biology in plants as well as translational research related to agricultural improvement. At the molecular level, our goals are to understand the structure, biological function, and regulation of transporter proteins that control trafficking into and out of the plant vacuole. Many of our molecular approaches use the standard genetic “tool kit”. Another major goal in our group is to learn how to manipulate the expression and function of these transporters to increase the nutritional content of crop plants, improve plant productivity, and cleanse polluted soils. For this second objective, we collaborate with clinical researchers at the Children's Nutrition Research here at Baylor and faculty at the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas AandM. Obtaining help from nutritional scientists, we perform clinical trials addressing how changes in plant architecture alter nutrient bioavailability.