Exact Science

Plasma Photonics for Extreme Optics

Jonathan Wurtele
Caterina Riconda
2022

Controlling and manipulating high-intensity laser pulses is crucial for many applications in various areas of basic physics and applications, such as inertial fusion. Traditionally, this control is achieved by using crystals with intrinsic optical properties that can be tuned and controlled to modify the a light pulse. Such properties include the focus, polarization, direction, polarization or length of the pulse. These conventional systems fail when exposed to intense pulses. Plasma photonics uses lasers to shape optical elements in a plasma medium (rather than a solid),...

Characterizing Molecular & Structural Determinants of Cytoskeletal Homeostasis

Eva Nogales
Carsten Janke
2022

Microtubules are essential cytoskeletal polymers with critical roles in cell division, cell shape, intracellular transport, and cell motility. To carry out all these biological functions, microtubules interact with numerous associated proteins (MAPs). Here explore how a multitude of different MAPs coordinates microtubules functions to assure cellular homeostasis. Our study has both cell biological and medical importance, as current advances in clinical genetics have resulted in the discovery of increasing numbers of disease-related mutations in MAPs, which most of the time are...

The Metabolic Interface of a Globally Important Plant Disease

Tiffany Lowe-Power
Caroline Baroukh
2022

Plant pathogens threaten global food security by causing significant crop losses. This project will investigate the chemical interface of plant disease to identify sustainable, effective solutions to managing pathogens. We will use advanced genetic, genomic, and modeling approaches to connect pathogen metabolism with pathogenesis

Tiffany Lowe-Power

UC PI:
Tiffany...

Harnessing natural variation in reproductive plasticity to drought in sunflower

Benjamin Blackman
Nicolas Langlade
2022

A major agricultural concern is the ongoing decline in pollinator services to crops due to climate change, pathogens, and chemical agents, and consequently, a better understanding of plant traits that attract pollinators and their impairment by environmental factors like drought is key to future agronomic improvements and global food security. Through field and genomic studies, our proposed research will assess how the quality and quantity of pollinator rewards (pollen and nectar) and floral morphology are affected by drought and test whether or not genetic variants related to...