Research Interests
Plant Beta-amylases
Plant Beta-amylases
My primary research interest is in the diversity of function and regulation observed within enzyme families, primarily through use of a family of starch degradation enzymes, β-amylases, in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Some research questions that stem from this interest include: (1) How are similar enzymes selectively regulated to restrict function to specific times and stress conditions; (2) How is degradation of starch in leaves altered throughout plant development to maximize growth and adapt to stress; (3) Are non-catalytic members within enzyme families serving regulatory roles
CUREs
Bacterial Protein Structures
A collaborative project with the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases (CSGID) that engages students in using bioinformatics tools to characterize crystal structures of proteins from pathogenic bacteria, pairing that information with in vitro activity assays to work towards publications about these new structures.
Cotton Genome Proteins
A collaborative project with the NC State and USDA that engages students in using bioinformatics tools to characterize proteins of unknown function and differential expression in the genome of cotton species.