Principal Investigator:
Dr. Changbin Chen

Stefanie Dukowic-Schulze, Post Doctoral Associate
Phone: 612.624.3071
Email: sdukowic@umn.edu

Projects
• Examination of meiosis in Zea mays – epigenetic and transcriptional regulation
• Characterization of meiosis mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana – molecular and cytological analysis

About Me
I love doing research (mixed with some teaching, seminars and organizational stuff) and being around smart and enthusiastic people; that´s why I enjoy it here! Beside work, I like to spend some recreational time with fantasy books, movies, board games or outdoor trips and, of course with my wonderful husband.

Education & Occupation
• 2011 – present: Postdoc (meiosis), University of Minnesota
• 2009 – 2010: Postdoc (cancer research), University of Heidelberg, Germany
• 2009: Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology, University of Karlsruhe, Germany
• 2006: Diploma in Biology, University of Karlsruhe, Germany

Anthony Harris, Undergraduate Assistant
Email: harri828@umn.edu

Projects:
• General Lab Assistant (DNA Extractions, PCR, Tissue Sections.. and more to come!
• Greenhouse Caretaking
• Lab Maintenance

About me:
I’ve worked with plants since the age of fourteen and find them fascinating. It’s possibly because of plants that I’ve found my love of biology, particularly molecular biology. Some things I enjoy are cooking, baking, and taking in nature. I’ve recently returned from Glacier National Park (Aug 2012) and hope to visit more parks!

Education & Occupation:
• 2010-present: B.S. Biology, CBS, University of Minnesota

Jordan Jensen, Undergraduate Assistant
Email: jens1433@umn.edu

Projects:
• General Lab Assistant (DNA Extractions, PCR, Tissue Sections.. and more to come!
• Working towards a UROP on  Arabidopsis mutants with affected development

About Me:
I am a freshman planning to major in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, and minor in Chemistry. I am in the College of Biological Sciences here at the U and I absolutely love it. I am excited to see all that this University has to offer and to apply what I learn in classes to this position.

Education:
• 2012 - Present: Undergraduate Student, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Korbin Paul, Undergraduate Assistant
Phone: 715.977.0562
Email: paul0652@umn.edu

Projects
• General lab assistance
• Plant propagation and care of the Traditional Chinese Herb Garden
• UROP 2012 studying germination of different Chinese herbs
• Paper on design of the Traditional Chinese Herb Garden
• Manuscript of Chinese Herbal Institute

About Me
I am eager to apply the knowledge I gain in Chen's lab to my future goals of establishing a non-profit sustainable wild food and medicine system based on permaculture ideas. I enjoy foraging and processing wild foods, reading, hanging out with my niece, and playing in the Midway-Frogtown Arborator's band as a glockenspiel-ist!

Education & Occupation
• 2011 – present: Undergraduate in Horticulture, University of Minnesota
• 2010: Undergraduate in Biology, Broward College
• 2007 – 2009: Undergraduate in Anthropology, Florida Atlantic University

Charles Schafer, Undergraduate Assistant
E-mail: schaf398@umn.edu

Projects:
• General lab work
• Working towards a UROP on apomixis in different plants

About me:
This is my first year in college, and my first year working in Chen's lab. I am very interested in all aspects of biology - from genetics to plant biology. I can not wait to begin working in a laboratory, and expanding my knowledge to its limits.

Education:
• 2012 - Present: Undergraduate Student, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Bridget Kelly, Volunteer
612.751.1398
Email: kelly542@umn.edu

Projects:
• Generating transgenic rice lines, callus cultures
• General  lab assistance, e.g. Arabidopsis plant care

Education and Occupation:
• 2012: B.S. Horticulture Science
• 2012: Summer research assistant position with Chen Lab
• 2011--ongoing: Hort specialist with Bachman's Home & Garden
• 2012--ongoing: Specialized Hort. volunteering/mentorship at Marjorie McNeely Conservatory,


About Me:
• Extensively energetic
• Loves to eat, especially hot, spicy food
• Enjoys sponging up horticulture knowledge, and academics in general
• The Great Outdoors is her playground
• She's learning how to become a "professional" scientist
• Is slowly steering herself towards an academic career in plant pathology with a specialization in the coffee bean crop
• Has very poor knowledge on J.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," masterpieces

Ben Fink, Volunteer, Youth Program
Email: henryFi3@aol.com

Projects:
• Mary Hoover’s Chinese medicinal plant garden
• Codonopsis meiosis
• Lab Maintenance

About me:
I am a plant and garden lover and very interested in learning more about plants. I visited Kew Garden in the summer of 2012.

Education & Occupation:
• Well, I am a middle-schooler.

Junhau Li
Phone: 612.626.2217
Email: lij@umn.edu

Project:
Studying of the transcriptional regulation of homologous recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana – screening for meiocyte-specific promoters and characterization of transcription factor mutants

About Me:
I’m quiet and easy-going, enjoy the elegance of science by test an hypothesis step by step. I like sightseeing, raising small plants and animals, now my biggest project is raising my baby.

Education & Occupation
• 2009 – present: Postdoc (Meiosis), U of M
• 2009: Ph.D. in Botany (Plant Developmental Biology), Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
• 2004: M.S. in Botany (Plant Breeding and Molecular Biology), Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture & Forestry, China

Tao Li
Phone: 347.536.2905
Email: lixx0765@umn.edu

Projects
• General Lab Assisstance: Plant care
• MGI mutant screening and phenotype analysis
• Seed Database

Education & Occupation
• 2008 – 2011: Fisheries & Wildlife, University of Minnesota

Duane McDowell
Phone: 612.408.8561
Email: duanemcdowell@gmail.com

About Me
I have a background in production horticulture, a specialization in orchids as well as work experience in lending, commercial real estate, and health care administration. I am currently working on chromosome rearrangement in tomatoes, both through traditional breeding and induced polyploidy. It feels like I've come full circle with these tomato projects: When I was fourteen years old, I raised Roma tomatoes for our local grocery store, and now I'm raising them again. The difference is that now I'm happy if a plant doesn't make any fruit!

Education
• 2009 – 2011: Bachelor of Science in Food and Agriculture Business Management, CFANS, U of M
• 2009 – 2010 and 2010 – 2011: Recipient of Annette Dowell scholarship
• 2010 – 2011: Recipient of Gluek Memorial Fund in Agriculture Scholarship
• 2011: Recipient of National Grocer’s Association Internship to the N.G.A. convention
• 2011: Marketing Internship: Orchids and Social Media, Ecuagenera, Gualaceo, Ecuador

Author: The Orchid Picture Book 1995 Synpat Lithography

Ross Peterson
Phone: 320.491.9660
Email: pete6029@umn.edu

Projects
• UROP project studying the fertility defects in Arabidopsis thaliana

About Me
I completed research in Dr. Chen's lab in spring 2011, and my research will continue this year at the University of Illinois. I enjoy travel and international work that involves learning about biology and community nutritional status.

Education & Occupation
• 2006 – 2011: Undergraduate student, University of Minnesota

Noah Reimer
Email: reime080@umn.edu

Projects
• General lab assistance
• Arabidopsis mutant development
• Care of maize plants

About Me
I am looking forward to gaining knowledge in Chen's lab, and applying it to learn about the implications of maize and genetic processes relating to environmental policy. I enjoy reading, writing, philosophy, and massage.

Education & Occupation
• 2010 – present: Undergraduate in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of Minnesota

Huimei Wang
Email: whm0709@hotmail.com

Projects
• Functional analysis of homologous recombination-specific genes and promoters in rice and tomato

Education & Occupation
• 2007 – present: Research Associate Professor, Northeast Forestry University, China.
• 2003 – 2006: Lecturer, Northeast Forestry University, China.
• 2004: Ph.D. in Plant Biology, Northeast Forestry University, China.
• 2000: M.S. in Tree Genetics and Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, China

Aizhan Zhussupova
Phone: 612.624.3071
Email: zhuss001@umn.edu

Project
• Genetic and functional analysis of novel meiotic genes

About Me
Natural born geographer. I love science, especially molecular biology sightseeing and discovering. I enjoy dancing, cooking and cultural enrichment.

Education & Occupation
• 2009 – 2011: Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor, al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
• 2009: Ph.D. in Genetics, al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan