The mission of our lab is to bridge gene-centric and cell-centric views of host–microbe interactions, with the goal of uncovering how plant and microbial cells collectively shape the holobiome (the collective entity of the host and surrounding microbes) as a dynamic multicellular system. We tackle this challenge by developing and incorporating new genomics & imaging technologies tailored for studying plant-microbe interactions. Our lab will (1) characterize the responses and functions of both plant and microbial cells at the single-cell and spatial resolution, (2) link single-cell plant-microbe interactions with holobiont traits, and (3) precisely manipulate cells in the holobiont to confer desirable traits.

[TSL website]

How do cells communicate within and between organisms? That is the core question in my research using plants and microbes. Plant-microbe co-evolution has given rise to various sophisticated genetic programs and molecular innovations, many of which remain elusive. I aim to elucidate genetic programs in plants and microbes that are critical for their interactions and to manipulate such programs to understand them further or control the outcomes of plant-microbe interactions, which will impact basic understandings of life and plant breeding.