James Meyer

My work focuses on understanding the cell wall composition, architecture, and controlling cellular mechanisms in tension wood, as it has been shown to have favorable structures for biofuel production. Tension wood is formed as a response to environmental conditions and it is thought that mechanosensitive ion channels detect the exterior conditions and control the modified cell wall formation.  To prove this, tension wood will be induced in both the wild type and mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana plants which have genetically modified mechanosensitive ion channels.

Jake is a student in the lab of Dr. Marcus Foston.