Awarded in 2024
Home Department: Bioengineering
Faculty Advisors: Jennifer Brophy (Bioengineering) and Xiaojing Gao (Chemical Engineering)

Research Title: Engineering Inducible Synthetic Genetic Systems to Control Plant Development

Plant synthetic biology holds great promise for combatting the effects of climate change through bioremediation of environmental contaminants, carbon sequestration, and sustainable agriculture. However, the field currently lacks tools necessary to adequately engineer plants. Isabella’s project focuses on creating tools for inducible, tissue-specific control over gene expression in plants. She will use these tools to modulate root development and generate plants that can help elucidate the relationship between lateral root density and plant fitness across different environments. Ultimately, the tools and knowledge she generates can be applied to engineering plants for diverse sustainability applications, ensuring planet health and human health.