Our sincere thanks to our funders:
Astrobiology:
We are interested in studying gene expression in microorganisms in planetary analog sites. Using RNAseq, and other tools of bioinformatics, we are studying differential expression of genes under various environmental stressful conditions, with the ultimate goal of exploring possibilities of life on Mars and Europa (Jupiter's moon).
Collaborator: Dr. Craig Everroad, NASA-Ames Research Center, Pasadena, California
Collecting microbiomes from Searles Lake, California for astrobiological investigations.
Plant abiotic stress:
Using RNAseq technology we are investigating on genes upregulated in the biofuel tree Paulownia elongata under various abiotic stressful conditions. View our publication in the Bioethanol journal.
Collaborator: Dr. Nirmal Joshee, Fort Valley State University, Georgia
This project is funded by United States Department of Agriculture
Collecting samples from a salt pond in Northern California with Dr. Everroad, Research Scientist at NASA-Ames. The red color is due to carotenoid production by the microbes.
Plant genomics:
We are interested in studying how turmeric plants respond to heat and salt stress. We are using next generation sequencing technique RNA-Seq to analyze gene expression in turmeric plants.
Collaborator: Dr. Rao Mentreddy. Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University
Biofuel:
We genetically transform microbes and plants to produce biofuel and biodiesel-like compounds. We transform microbes to metabolically engineer terpene biosynthetic pathway, which will lead to production of biodiesel in plants and microbes.