Deane L. Falcone

B.A., Microbiology, University of Texas at Austin, 1985
M.A., Microbiology, University of Texas at Austin, 1987
Ph.D., Microbiology, Ohio State University, 1993

Research conducted in our laboratory is focused on the broad area of plant responses to stress. Specifically, studies are aimed at examining mechanisms of how plants perceive and respond to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a generalized type of cellular stress that is common to plants faced with a variety of adverse conditions such as drought, nutrient limitation, sub-optimal temperatures and light, as well as pathogen infection. We study these problems using genetic, biochemical and genomic approaches. Functional genetic approaches are used to produce plants that contain alterations in specific genes. Such plants are then studied to determine the extent and roles that distinct signaling pathways play among different forms of stress. These investigations have indicated that plants possess diverse signaling mechanisms in response to different stresses and may provide new approaches to enhance plant productivity under unfavorable environmental conditions.