Research Summary
Since joining the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 2000, my laboratories (Plant Biology Laboratory and Genomic Analysis Laboratory) have largely focuses on functional genomics studies using the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana with a biological focus on understanding of hormone signal transduction pathways. However, through collaborations with laboratories at the Salk and the University of Pennsylvania, we are also applying the tools that we have developed in Arabidopsis to large-scale studies of gene expression, virus integration and DNA methylation in the human genome.
Related to hormone signaling in plants, we have been most interested in the identification and biochemical characterization of components in ethylene gas signal transduction pathway. We are also developing new approaches such as whole genome tiling array technology and ultra-high throughput DNA sequencing to capture unbiased data sets and build maps for genome-wide transcription, DNA methylation and chromatin modifications. As the genome sequence for Arabidopsis has profoundly enabled plant research, this type of discovery science (hypothesis free research) and technology development are necessary perquisites to enabling the development and application of systems approaches understand growth and development in plants
