GREY MONROE

Assistant Professor

Grey completed a Ph.D. of Ecology in 2019 from Colorado State University with John McKay studying climate adaptation in diverse plant species. He was then a post-doc at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology with Detlef Weigel where he studied functional genomics and evolution of mutation bias. In 2020, he started The Genomics of Climate Adaptation (TGCA) lab at UC Davis to develop a deeper understanding of evolution and to address practical challenges confronting agriculture in the context of climate adaptation. He feels incredibly fortunate for the chance to ask exciting questions and work with creative scientists every day.

262 Robbins Hall | gmonroe@ucdavis.edu | Twitter | CV | Google Scholar

Kehan Zhao

Plant Biology Graduate Group PhD Student

Kehan received a Bachelor's degree in Plant Science and Technology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Plant Biology Graduate Group at UC Davis. He is interested in loss-of-function mutation and its role in plant adaptation to climate change.

Mariele Lensink

Integrative Genetics and Genomics PhD Student

Mariele graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2019 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in computational sciences. Before coming to UC Davis, she worked in a plant genomics lab at the Salk Institute where she contributed to projects such as the Harnessing Plants Initiative. She is now pursuing a PhD in the Integrative Genetics and Genomics graduate group studying gene networks and expression-related mutation as they relate to plant development and adaptation. Mariele is co-advised with Dan Kliebenstein.

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Google Scholar

Elton Kane

Plant Biology Graduate Group PhD Student

Recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB) with a BS in General Biology, philosophy minor. While at UMB I studied the population genetics and evolution of common dandelions. Currently, I am a first-year PhD student in the Plant Biology Graduate Group. My interests have expanded to include studying adaptive loss/gain-of-function mutations with a functional application towards plant breeding to generate biofortified and abiotic stress tolerant crops, with additional research interests in creating combined crop-climate models. Elton is co-advised with Christine Diepenbrock.

Forrest Lo

Rotating Integrative Genetics and Genomics Graduate Group PhD Student

Forrest is a first-year graduate student in the Integrative Genetics and Genomics group.  He previously graduated with a B.S. in bioengineering at UC Berkeley working with CRISPR-Cas9 in rice, before working at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory performing bioinformatic analyses in sorghum and sugarcane genomics.  His research interests are in genomics-assisted plant breeding to address abiotic stress resistance across different populations and climates.

Matt Davis

Rotating Integrative Plant Biology Graduate Group PhD Student

Matt graduated from the University of Florida (UF) in 2020 with a BS in Biology, specializing in Biotechnology and minoring in Entomology. At UF, he worked in the Blueberry Breeding Program characterizing parental genotypes for population breeding and determining the ideal in vitro lighting conditions for genetic transformation in southern highbush blueberry. He is a first year PhD student in the Plant Biology Graduate Group and is interested in studying plant genetics and adaptation to climate change.

Harrison Yu

Undergraduate Assistant

Harrison is studying Computer Science at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. He is transferring to San Jose State University in 2021 to pursue a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Bioinformatics. He is interested in applying bioinformatics and computational biology to analyze mutations and phenotypes in a variety of plants.

Sydney Wren

Undergraduate Assistant

I am an undergraduate at the University of California, Davis pursuing a degree in Forensic Chemistry with a minor in Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity. I am interested in evolutionary genetics and developing methods for DNA extraction and sequencing.

Ian Anderson

Guest Researcher

Ian works at the PAN Facility at Stanford University. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Genetics and Plant Biology where he worked with Dr. Benjamin Blackman and Dr. Jack Colicchio. He is interested in how plants respond to changing environments. Especially in how different genetic tools and constraints impact that response.

Camryn Morey

Undergraduate Intern

Camryn is an undergraduate currently studying Marine Biology at the University of California, San Diego. She is interested in learning about the application of bioinformatics to plant genetics and the study of mutation bias.

LEA BERG

Visiting Scholar

Lea is pursuing a master’s degree in Molecular and Applied Plant Sciences at the University of Heidelberg, Germany where she also graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biosciences in 2019.
She is interested in plants especially with a focus on their adaptation to abiotic stress in harsh environmental conditions.

Andrea Moron-Solano

Undergraduate Student

Andrea is pursuing an Environmental Toxicology B.S., with a minor in Plant Biology and Public Health at the University of California, Davis. She is interested in the genetics of how plants adapt to climate and the consequences of mutation biases.

Alissza Ali

Undergraduate Student

Alissza is studying Global Disease Biology and is currently working on an independent project to study genetic variation in mutation bias.