Our research centers around studying spatial biology, or the spatial organization of genes, in plant systems. We use spatial and single-cell genomics, imaging, and molecular biology to uncover the spatial organization of genes in plants, with a core objective of unraveling the communication mechanisms within plant cells. The overall goal of my research program is to create a detailed “map” that pinpoints where genes are located to understand how they are regulated across plant organs and tissues. This will be investigated through two research areas of plant biology. The first area is through plant-microbe interactions to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics during pathogen infection and to uncover the gene networks plant cells use to defend themselves. The second area is employing duckweed plants as a model system to decode the spatial arrangement of the entire transcriptome in a whole organism.

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