Matthew Austin Postdoctoral Fellow matthew.austin@wustl.edu Matthew is a postdoc with the Living Earth Collaborative studying how climate-induced flowering phenology shifts impact interspecific pollen transfer and the evolution of mating systems. Matthew is broadly interested in how pollination systems respond to environmental variability and graduated from the University of Missouri—Saint Louis. Website: https://matthew-w-austin.weebly.com/
Jordan Brock PhD Candidate brock@wustl.edu My interest is in understanding crop domestication and the role of polyploidy in many of our crops. I'm currently investigating the genetic basis of adaptation in wild relatives of the biofuel crop and flax mimic, Camelina sativa. Website: http://www.jordanrbrock.com
Emma Frawley PhD Student emma.frawley@wustl.edu I'm broadly interested in plant domestication and natural variation in crop wild relatives. Currently my research is focused on domestication and evolution little barley, a grass once used for subsistence by Indigenous communities in North America. The cultivated forms of little barley no longer exist, and it has since been dubbed a "lost crop."
David Goad PhD Candidate dgoad@wustl.edu I am interested in using population genomics and quantitative genetics to understand the evolution of interesting traits in wild species. For my thesis, I am investigating the evolution of salt-tolerance in the halophytic turf grass seashore paspalum by utilizing genome-wide SNP markers and tissue ion concentrations obtained from a diverse panel of turf cultivars and wild samples. In addition to my thesis project I am involved in mapping disease resistance QTLs in rice and using bioinformatics techniques to study the CLE gene family. Website: http://davidmgoad.com
Wen-Hsi Kuo PhD Candidate wen-hsi.kuo@wustl.edu I am a PhD candidate from Taiwan and interested in plant population genetics and their diversity. Currently, I am working on the molecular genetics of cyanide detoxification in white clover. Cyanogenesis (cyanide release upon tissue damage) is a natural polymorphic trait in white clover. Cyanogenic populations may have better herbivore defense but also need to develop an efficient detoxification pathway to metabolism excess cyanide, which is toxic to plant tissues at high concentrations. Therefore, the regulation of detoxification pathway should be considered as important as the synthesis pathway. The knowledge of the detoxification pathway can help us understand the tradeoff of being cyanogenic, which is now a popular topic in agriculture improvement.
Linda Small Lab Technician small@wustl.edu Linda is our lead technician. She works on several different research projects, trains new lab members, and basically keeps the lab running.
Marshall Wedger Ph.D. Candidate m.wedger@wustl.edu I am a grad student in EEPB working on a hodgepodge of projects in the weedy rice system. First, I am working on a project documenting evolutionary response to a shifting agricultural landscape. I am using whole-genome sequencing techniques to reveal regions of the weedy rice genome that have responded to selection imposed from the introduction of non-transgenic herbicide resistant cultivars. Second, I am investigating how the root system architecture (the spatial organization of roots in the soil) of seedling weedy rice plants alters the plants ability to uptake Nitrogen and there-for compete with cultivated rice. Lastly, I am working closely with an undergraduate researcher on an exciting project involving kin-recognition in weedy rice. Stay tuned!
Yu Feng Visiting PhD Student dorisfeng2@sina.com I'm interested in genome evolution and population genetics of the Tertiary relict genus Dipteronia. Using whole genome sequencing data, I'm investigating the pupulation structure, historical change of population size, and the mutation load of endangered species (D. dyeriana) and it's widely distributed relatives (D. sinensis and Acer species).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8338-3638
