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Research Opportunities
The faculty members within the department conduct research in a broad array of plant biology disciplines, including plant cell and molecular biology, biotechnology, biochemistry, systems biology, synthetic biology, ecology, systematics, evolutionary biology, conservation and reproductive biology, computational biology and bioinformatics, and ethnobotany.
The department supports programs focused on transgenic plants and transgene expression, gene silencing, gene regulation, plant genomics, plant cell imaging, intercellular signaling, gravitational biology, plant development, plant-microbe interactions, plant metabolism, toxic dinoflagellates, aquatic ecology, wetlands biology, plant community ecology, physiological ecology, paleobotany, and plant systematics and evolution. Our faculty work with model organisms, with plants in natural ecosystems, and with agriculturally important crop plants. Departmental research programs enjoy national and international reputations, and contribute both to advancing basic understanding of fundamental questions in biology, as well as meeting applied needs in fields such as genetically modified plants, medicinal plants, environmental pollution, and endangered species.
We benefit at NC State from having a large number of plant biologists on campus in the Center for Integrated Fungal Research , Crop Science, Genetics, Horticultural Science,Forestry, and Plant Pathology. Collaborations with these faculty increase the breadth of our research efforts.
Information on individual research programs can be found through the links below.
Plant cell and molecular biology
- Nina Allen: Cell biology and cellular imaging
- Wendy Boss: Molecular approaches to study cellular signaling
- Rebecca Boston: Protein trafficking and degradation
- William Thompson: Transgene regulation and silencing
- Judy Thomas: Environmental impacts on plant growth and development
- Niki Robertson: Geminiviruses and RNAi
- Heike Sederoff: Plant sensory genomics
- Deyu Xie: Phytochemistry and metabolic engineering
- Candace Haigler: Cell wall biology and electron microscopy
- Margaret Daub: Plant-fungal interactions
- Imara Perera: Plant signaling and stress responses
- Larry Blanton: Undergraduate training opportunities in cell biology; cellular slime molds
- Wendy Boss: Synthetic approaches to improve survival in inhospitable environments
- Rebecca Boston: Genomics of seed quality
- William Thompson: Transgene regulation and silencing
- Niki Robertson: Geminivirus RNAi vectors/ embryo lethal genes
- Heike Sederoff: Plant nutraceuticals
- Deyu Xie: Phytochemistry and metabolic engineering
- Candace Haigler: Modification of fiber crops
- Margaret Daub: Engineering for disease resistance
- Jenny Xiang: Evolutionary developmental genetics in dogwoods
- Susan Carson: Biotechnology education; summer undergraduate research opportunities
- Wendy Boss: Biochemical mechanisms regulating phosphoinositide metabolism
- Rebecca Boston: Molecular chaperones and protein folding
- Heike Sederoff: Sterol transport
- Deyu Xie: Phytochemistry and metabolic engineering
- Candace Haigler:Metabolic control of cellulose synthesis
- Margaret Daub: Vitamin B6 biosynthesis in plants
- Imara Perera: Plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress
- Niki Robertson: ER Ca++ and drought tolerance
- JoAnn Burkholder:Aquatic ecology
- Jon Stucky: Wetlands ecology
- Thomas Wentworth: Plant community ecology
- William Hoffmann: Tropical ecology, ecophysiology, and global change
- James Mickle: Paleobiogeography
- Alexander Krings: Ecology of new world climbing plants
- JoAnn Burkholder: Aquatic plants and algae
- Jon Stucky: Endangered species
- Jenny Xiang: Plant phylogenetic systematics, biogeography, and evolution
- James Mickle: Paleobotany and plant morphology
- Alexander Krings: Systematics of New World plants and invasive weeds
- William Hoffmann: Evolutionary and comparative ecology
- James Mickle: Paleobotany
- Jenny Xiang: Population genetics, phylogeography and molecular evolution
Conservation/reproductive biology
- JoAnn Burkholder: Aquatic ecology
- Jon Stucky: Wetlands ecology and endangered species
- Thomas Wentworth: Inventory of natural communities
- Jenny Xiang: Conservation genetics of rare and endangered species
- William Hoffmann: Fire ecology
- Alexander Krings Species listing; application of systematics to conservation; phytoinventory of significant natural areas
- Deyu Xie: Medicinal plants
- Jenny Xiang: Study abroad program in China: Plant, People, and Religion