Micaela Bowers

Undergraduate student (SPUR)

In this lab, I want to gain a better understanding of historical plant adaptations to global change, and how these occurred on a molecular level. Over the last two hundred years, many plants have successfully adapted to rising CO2 levels, increased temperature, and other global changes. However, not all plants have been able to do so, including many important food plants that are now under stress with current climate conditions. In this lab, I am excited to develop an understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms that have allowed some plants to adapt already, and what these different adaptations look like. I hope to apply this knowledge to predict and even mirror these changes in modern plants to further increase crop resilience to climate change.

I am also interested in how current biotechnology methods can be applied to create crops that are better suited to global change, and how these methods fit into the broader food system frames of ecology, culture, social justice, and nutrition. Biotechnology and genomics are powerful tools to create more resilient, efficient, and productive crops. This can be extremely helpful for both specific communities and the general global food system. However, the products of these research projects might not reach maximum adoption rates if they do not match the social contexts of farmers, consumers, and other participating agents. Therefore, I want to learn not only how to create crops that are more climate resilient, but also how these projects can best understand and work with the communities they serve to maximize their potential benefit.