Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research interests focus on studying the biosynthesis of natural plant products. These products have shown to display biological activity which encourages their use as pharmaceutical drugs, dyes, flavor and other industrial purposes. Most of the pathways leading to these natural products are regulated by cytochrome P450 enzymes, the largest families of proteins. Thus, taking advantage of genetic and metabolic engineering, my research goal is to reconstruct plant metabolic pathways by expressing P450 enzymes in heterologous hosts to further increase production of these economically valuable products. I'm currently working on the P450 enzymes catalyzing the paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway and the indigo-indirubin pathway.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  Sunflower (Helianthus annua), I admire the complexity of its seed spiral pattern that displays the Fibonacci sequence.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  The ability to communicate to students and community about science and my research. It is especially fascinating to conduct an experiment to nonscience majors and observe their reaction and interest towards science.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  Can you describe your attitude toward science when you were in high school?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  In high school, I believed science was magic and hence I aspired to be a magician.

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  1