Ross Sozzani
Associate Professor
Synthetic and Systems Biology Cluster
University Faculty Scholar
Faculty
Thomas Hall 2552
Area(s) of Expertise
Our growing society faces new and dynamic challenges such as global climate change, the scarcity of arable land and the need for sustainable energy. Maximizing the utility of plants in each of these areas is key to meeting these challenges. Overall growth rate and biomass is largely regulated by the temporal and spatial control of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation of their progeny. When a stem cell divides it produces a copy of itself, and it produces a daughter cell that can develop into different types of cells. The means and mechanisms by which this occurs are poorly understood.
The Sozzani Lab research focuses on understanding how stem cells are organized and maintained in the root of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Our goal is to gain a coherent qualitative and quantitative understanding of stem cell maintenance at the systems-level. Our research leverages techniques derived from molecular, developmental and cell biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. In plant systems, stem cell regulation has clear implications for increasing the production of crops used for food, fiber and fuel. Our research will reveal a specific molecular pathway of plant stem cells, and provide broader insights into the fundamental properties of stem cells across the plant and animal kingdoms.
Publications
- BAM1/2 receptor kinase signaling drives CLE peptide-mediated formative cell divisions in Arabidopsis roots, PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2020)
- BioVision Tracker: A semi-automated image analysis software for spatiotemporal gene expression tracking in Arabidopsis thaliana, Methods in Cell Biology (2020)
- Editorial overview: Directionality and precision – how signaling and gene regulation drive plant development and growth, CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY (2020)
- Gene Regulatory Network Inference: Connecting Plant Biology and Mathematical Modeling, Frontiers in Genetics (2020)
- MAGIC: Live imaging of cellular division in plant seedlings using lightsheet microscopy, Methods in Cell Biology (2020)
- Novel Imaging Modalities Shedding Light on Plant Biology: Start Small and Grow Big, Annual Review of Plant Biology (2020)
- Protein complex stoichiometry and expression dynamics of transcription factors modulate stem cell division, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020)
- Automated Imaging, Tracking, and Analytics Pipeline for Differentiating Environmental Effects on Root Meristematic Cell Division, Frontiers in Plant Science (2019)
- Characterizing the involvement of
FaMADS9
in the regulation of strawberry fruit receptacle development, Plant Biotechnology Journal (2019) - Computational prediction of gene regulatory networks in plant growth and development, Current Opinion in Plant Biology (2019)
Education
Ph.D., Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Pavia, Italy (2006)
M.S., Biological Science, University of Pavia, Italy (2002)
B.S., Biological Science, University of Pavia, Italy (2000)