Dianella Howarth, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor,
Department of Biological Sciences, was recently awarded a major
grant from the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to conduct research based on her
abstract,
The Role of Gene Duplication in the Floral Symmetry in
Dipsacales.
The grant, which is worth $550,000, is a first for
Dr. Howarth, who has been interested in plant evolution ever since
she was a child. “My parents are both scientists, so I was always
exposed to evolution and things of that nature,” said Dr. Howarth,
a native of Hawaii. “I actually started with science fairs in
seventh grade. I soaked fruit in waters and discovered that it
could survive — even after floating in salt water.”
Dr. Howarth’s project uses Dipsacales (which includes honeysuckle)
to examine the genetic basis of evolutionary shifts in flower
symmetry. “Some flowers have nice little bells where all the petals
are the same and some are more complicated,” she explained. “I look
at floral symmetry – how a flower is going to be shaped – and the
genes that control that shift.”
“The main idea is to understand gene use,” she said. “If we
understand what exactly the genes are doing, then the sky’s the
limit in terms of what we can do and what kinds of flowers we can
make.”
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