The long-term goal of PSSB is to understand how environmental perturbations affect gene networks controlling growth, development and adaptive responses in plants. This will allow researchers to identify specific changes at the molecular level of these gene networks and to develop strategies to intervene them for biotechnological purposes such as improving plant growth and productivity.

• We seek to understand molecular mechanisms of environmental responses with temporal and spatial resolution in plants. We propose to take our
  systems-level efforts to the next level by integrating, interpreting and modeling new high-quality data we generate with available public datasets to explore gene function in cells and in whole organisms over developmental time and after specific environmental perturbations

• Some of the questions we seek to answer are:
  What are the cell-type specific molecular mechanisms that enable coherent organ responses?
  How do these mechanisms change over developmental time?
  How do plant:microbe interactions shape plant adaptation to abiotic environmental challenges?