Providing intellectual and practical expertise in molecular biology, genetics, gene editing, and plant biology to a stealth company advancing cutting-edge technology.

Lead a team of industry researchers to invent robust tissue culture and genome editing pipelines to generate improved crops for sustainable agriculture.

Advancing enabling technology and genome editing in monocot crops for disease resistance and sustainability.

Developed a CRISPR/Cas9 multiplex genome editing system for use in industrial, lab, and wild yeast. Applied the system to facilitate targeted editing for controlled evolution of proteins to utilize plant sugars in fermentation for biofuels.

Created, isolated, and studied Arabidopsis plant mutants for the purpose of understanding the specific effects of particular genes purported to encode acetyl-esterase enzymes. Studies were focused on acetylation because microbial fermentation of plant feedstock to bioethanol is inhibited by the presence of acetate

Performed studies on the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae with a focus on pilli and flagella to determine their roles as virulence factors. The studies included a variety of invasion and attachment assays on bean and tomato plants using wild type and mutant strains of Pseudomonas syringae.

Researched variants of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzyme and its role as a bio-scavenger that is effective against the toxic effects of organophosphates.Optimized and analyzed assays for quantification of BChE, including ELISA and quantitative Western blots

Studied superconductivity in single rare earth crystals grown out of flux: initiated crystal growth, extracted them from excess flux under a microscope, prepared the samples for tests in electrical resistivity, specific heat, and magnetic susceptibility, and calculated and analyzed data from the tests.