Dr. Thomas Brutnell 129 Boyce Thompson Institute email: tpb8@cornell.edu phone: 607.254.8656

Through recent industry- and government-sponsored programs, plant scientists are developing new tools and techniques to understand key questions in plant biology. In our lab, research is underway to use maize (corn) transposable elements (or "jumping genes") to create mutations and identify genes throughout the maize genome. These lines will be a resource for the maize genetics community and will allow researchers to “knock-out” or disrupt any mapped gene in the maize genome. The primary targets for our lab are genes involved in light signal transduction pathways. These genes help the plant sense and respond to light. We have identified a number of transposon-induced mutants of maize phytochrome genes and have started characterizing these plants. For more information about our lab visit our website.

We have hosted summer interns for the past few years through the Plant Genome Research Program REU. This past year’s “crop” of students has included both undergraduates and high school students from across the US. Their biographies and descriptions of what they worked on are listed in our 2007 student’s page.