Plants provide us with food, oxygen, fiber, shelter, medicine, and fuel. Being autotrophic, sessile, and longest-living entities, plants have evolved fascinating strategies to cope with various environmental stresses. Our research interest is to understand the biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamic plant-microbe interactions and the signaling crosstalk that orchestrates plant responses to diverse extrinsic and intrinsic signals. Our ultimate goal is to decipher how the complex signaling networks cooperate to activate plant defense responses and apply the knowledge gained from model plants to economically important crops to facilitate the strategic development of stress-resilient crops in agriculture.
Funding: NIH, NSF, USDA, Cotton Inc., Welch, Agrilife
