Morrris Lab @BGSU
Our plant research is focused on polyamine transport and biosynthesis because polyamines play essential roles in coordinating plant responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Polyamine metabolism is an unstudied area of plant biology, so we are either leading a trend, or hopelessly lost.
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Oomycetes are world wide pathogens of hundreds of species, and have an annual economic impact of Billions of dollars. While there now 19 genomes at Fungidb, most genes have not been functionally characterized. One of our current interests is bacteria that produce antibiotics that kill oomycetes. We are regular attendees of the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network which meets next year in Tai'an City, Shandong Province China.
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Contact info
pmorris@bgsu.edu
419 372 0481
rm 532B Life Sciences, BGSU
Master's thesis
Nilanjana Chakrabarti and Chandra Sarkar will be defending their Master's research in June.
Polyamines
Polyamines have never been accorded the status of hormones. Yet our research has shown that they can control the timing of flowering , and other research indicates that they affect the expression of ABA, Auxin, Ethylene and Gibberellin responsive pathways. Polyamines levels are higher, but due to compartmentation, we don't know what the bioavailable levels are or how they are perceived.
Oomycete Genomics
One of our current projects includes a collaboration with my colleague Dr. Hans Wildschutte to identify novel strains of Pseudomonas that may be useful as bicontrol agents against Pythium and Phytophthora pathogens of soybeans.
Kids' Tech University
Kids' Tech University is a Science outreach program that I run for children ages 9-12 in the Spring semester. Next year will be our 7th season. We bring children onto the campus for a real world University experience and introduce them to scientists talking about their work, and provide challenging hands-on activities in our afternoon sessions. We are always looking for undergraduate volunteers.
Dissertation
Latest Project
It's now Dr. Sheaza Ahmed. Sheaza defended her thesis on May 9th
It's now Dr. Sheaza Ahmed. Sheaza defended her thesis on May 9th
Shanklin Award
Menaka Ariyaratne won the BGSU Shanklin award for research excellence.
Arginine Decarboxylase (ADC2) and Arginase/agmatinase (ARGAH2) are both localized to the chlorplast. Together they form a previously unknown pathway for putrescine synthesis in plants. See our paper