Molecular mechanisms underlying developmental plasticity

Plants grow continuously and make new organs throughout their lifetimes. This remarkable post-embryonic development allows plants to modulate their body plans in response to environmental cues. In the Shahan lab, we want to understand how decisions at the cellular level enable plants to produce new tissues and organs or even regenerate a whole new plant. We aim to understand fundamental principles underlying cell fate decisions and link them to cell behaviors. We think that combining imaging and single cell omics technologies will provide new insight into long-standing developmental questions. By studying the regenerative capacity of plant cells, our long-term goal is to enable fine-tuned manipulations of post-embryonic growth and development.