Ralph Dewey

Bio

Research in the Dewey Lab focuses on the application of the techniques of molecular biology toward crop improvement.
Current projects include:

• Reducing the levels of carcinogenic compounds found in tobacco products
• Developing ultra-low nicotine tobaccos that can be used in products designed to help smokers quit
• Utilizing genome editing tools to modify the mitochondrial genome in plants as a means of developing: (1) novel CMS-based hybrid seed production systems; and (2) new strategies for creating seedless fruit phenotypes

Dewey Lab Homepage

Publications

• Compositions and Methods for Minimizing Nornicotine Synthesis in Tobacco , (2025)
• Optimization of Adventitious Shoot Regeneration Protocols for Six Vaccinium corymbosum Cultivars , HortScience (2025)
• BBL enzymes exhibit enantiospecific preferences in the biosynthesis of pyridine alkaloids in Nicotiana tabacum L. , Phytochemistry (2024)
• Compositions and Methods of Minimizing Nornicotine Synthesis in Tobacco , (2024)
• Engineering Sclareol Production on the Leaf Surface of Nicotiana tabacum , Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2024)
• Genetic Approach for Achieving Ultra Low Nicotine Content in Tobacco , (2024)
• Nitrate assimilation pathway is impacted in young tobacco plants overexpressing a constitutively active nitrate reductase or displaying a defective CLCNt2 , BMC Plant Biology (2024)
• Alteration of Tobacco Alkaloid Content through Modification of Specific Cytochrome P450 Genes , (2023)
• Alteration of Tobacco Alkaloid Content through Modification of Specific Cytochrome P450 Genes , (2023)
• Cytoplasmic Male Sterility and Abortive Seed Traits Generated through Mitochondrial Genome Editing Coupled with Allotopic Expression of atp1 in Tobacco , (2023)