- Proctor, collect, and grade exams- Answer students' inquiries about the class or the material

Dr. Patricia Santos's Research Lab- Grew and genotyped mutant Arabidopsis plants- Grew and cultivated Nicotiana benthamiana plants for use in transient assays- Executed transient expression of carrot and Arabidopsis genes in Nicotiana benthamiana > Infiltrated leaves with Agrobacterium containing transient genes > Inoculated leaves with necrotrophic pathogen > Performed DAB staining on leaves to analyze stress responses- Constructed phylogenetic trees to identify orthologous genes between species- Developed SOPs for various experimental procedures

Dr. Jeffrey Harper’s Research Lab- Studied calcium signaling patterns and kinase activity in Arabidopsis to better understand its relationship to pollen fertility and heat stress response- Identified segregation distortion and non-Mendelian inheritance in mutant gametes- Compared phosphorylation activities between mutant and WT kinase to look for in vitro evidence of an altered phenotypeDr. Christie Howard’s Research Lab- Collaborated with USDA on developing an oxidative-stress-resistant line of guayule- Determined whether a heterodimer is formed between two rubber synthesis-related enzymes in vitro to carry out polymer elongation/rubber synthesis- Analyzed solubilities and determined the volumetric ratio required to replicate this heterodimer in a lab setting

- Collaborated with the University of Nevada, Reno on developing an oxidative stress-resistant line of rubber-producing guayule- Transformed four overexpressed Arabidopsis tocopherol pathway genes into guayule with the aim of augmenting its tocopherol content and thus rubber quality- Validated and molecularly characterized independent transgenic lines, analyzed transgene expression levels and tocopherol content