My lab has focused on two areas of plant molecular genetics and plant physiology.

The first is our long-standing interest in plant transformation and genetic manipulation. We have worked extensively on somatic cell fusion as a method for gene transfer between sexually incompatible plant species, and we pioneered the use of electroporation for the introduction of foreign DNA into plants. Our current work in this area is in the development of methods for gene targeting in plants. We are particularly interested in the identification of effective negative selectable genes and in the cloning of genes involved in DNA recombination repair, which probably control the integration of plasmids into plant chromosomes.

Our second general research focus is the hormonal regulation of plant growth and development. We are specifically interested in the regulation of cell division by auxins and cytokinins in leaves and isolated leaf cells grown in culture. Current work focuses on the transcription of cell-cycle-related genes and the developmental regulation of hormone receptors and signaling pathways.