Graduate Students
Bronwyn Barkla. September 1987‑December 1989. Characterization and identification of the vacuolar sodium/proton antiport of Beta vulgaris. (M.Sc. Thesis).
Melanie Colclough. September 1988-January 1991. The Induction of Thermotolerance and Heat Shock Protein Synthesis in Picea mariana (Black Spruce) Seedlings by Heat Conditioning. (M.Sc. Thesis)
Rosario Vera-Estrella. June 1989-July 1991. Effect of race specific elicitors and non-specific elicitors of Cladosporium Fulvum on tomato cell suspension cultures. (M.Sc. Thesis.(V.J. Higgins, co-supervisor).
Angie Gelli. September 1990-June 1992. The characterization of vacuolar potassium and malate channels. (M.Sc. Thesis)
Bronwyn Barkla. January 1990-December 1993. Molecular characterization of a 170 kDa plant tonoplast Na+/H+ antiport- associated polypeptide (Ph.D. Thesis)
Pamela Plant. September 1992-June 1994. Regulation of an anion selective tonoplast channel by vacuolar chloride (M.Sc. Thesis)
Rosario Vera-Estrella. September 1991-1994. Characterization of signal transduction pathways mediating the development of the incompatible tomato/Cladosporium Fulvum interaction. (Ph.D. Thesis) (V.J. Higgins, co-supervisor).
Michael Mayne. January 1992 - October 1995. Changes in gene expression in roots during drought conditioning of jack pine seedlings. (Ph.D. Thesis).
Stephen J. Colombo. September 1989 - December 1995. Physiological responses of Picea mariana and Pinus banksiana to high temperature. (Ph.D. Thesis). (V. R. Timmer, co-supervisor)
Bernard Lam. September 1994- September 1996. Regulation of host-plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase activity during host-pathogen interactions. (M.Sc. Thesis).
Angie Gelli. September 1992 - December 1996. The electrophysiological characterization of plant calcium channels and their role in calcium homeostasis. (Ph.D. Thesis).
Maris Apse. September 1992-January 1998. Identification of the tonoplast-associated 170 kDa protein from Beta Vulgaris (M.Sc. Thesis).
Gilad Aharon. September 1996-January 1998. Biochemical characterization of TGa1 – a plant heterotrimeric G-protein a-subunit homologue (M.Sc. Thesis).
Sheyun Zao. March 1992 – January 1998. Induction of freezing tolerance in jack pine seedlings: changes in lipids, oxidation-reduction and antioxidants during cold acclimation. (Ph.D. Thesis)
Gregg Nyhus. September 1997 – December 1999. Investigation of a putative interaction between Tgalpha1, a heterotrimeric G-protein alpha subunit and a DnaJ homologue in Tomato. (M.Sc. Thesis)
Shili Duan, September 1999-July 2001. Molecular characterization of AtNHX3, a vacuolar sodium/proton antiport. (M.Sc. Thesis)
Bernard Lam. October 1996 – January 2002. Protein modules and their role in signal transduction in plants. (Ph.D. thesis).
Maris Apse. September 1997-June 2002. Role of vacuolar sodium/proton antiporters in salt tolerance and ion homeostasis (Ph.D. thesis)
Gilad Aharon. January 1997 – December 2002. Characterization of the role and regulation of the Plant AtNHX transporter family. (Ph.D. thesis)
Jordan Sottosanto, September 2001 – December 2006. The importance of vacuolar cation/H+ exchange: Impact of a functional mutation of AtNHX1 on the phenotyp and gene expression of Arabidopsis. (Ph.D. thesis).
Ellen Tumimbang, July 2003 – December 2007. Characterization of the tolerance mechanisms associated with Saltol, the major QTL associated with salinity tolerance in rice and identification of putative candidate genes. (Ph.D. thesis) (co-supervised with IRRI, Los Banos, Philippines)
Moshen Hanana (January 2004 – November 2007). Molecular characterization and functional analysis of a grapevine cation/proton antiporter.(Ph.D. Thesis) (co-supervised with the Laboratoire de Physiologie Moleculaire de la Vigne, Tunisia)
Mario G. Fon (September 2007 – June 2009) Acid and sugar homeostasis in citrus fruits. (M.Sc. Thesis)
Marina Large, June 2003 – October 2008. Structure/function analyses of ion transporters. (M.Sc. Thesis)
Rosa Jauregui, September 2007 – August 2009. Drought tolerance in wheat (M. Sc. Thesis).
Ardian Coku, Jan 2010 – June 2012. Function of NHX-type transporters in plant development (M.Sc. Thesis)
Viviana Maria Varajao Martins, September 2010-July 2014. Cooper Impacts in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L) – molecular, biochemical and biotechnological approaches. (Ph.D. thesis), (co-supervised with Dept of Biology, University of Minho, Portugal).
Cecilia Decima Oneto, March 2010 – June 2014. Estudio del comportamiento de plantas transformadas de maíz (Zea mays L.) con el gen ipt (isopentenil-transferasa) de Agrobacterium tumefaciens bajo la regulación del promotor sark (receptor proteína-kinasa asociado a senescencia) de Phaseolus vulgaris. (Ph.D. thesis) (Co-supervised with Instituto de Genetica EA Favret, INTA, Argentina).
Tyler McCubin, Sept 2013 –Dec 2014. Role of intravesicular pH homeostasis on root growth (M.Sc. Thesis).
Ho-Youn Kim, Sept 2009 – March 2015. Characterization of a Plum Bud Sport Mutant: From the Bench to Systems Biology Analysis. (Ph.D. thesis)
Macarena Farcuh, September 2013 – August 2018. Hormone balance and sugar metabolism reprograming in non-climacteric plums. (Ph.D. thesis)
Kamolchanok Umnajktikorn, September 2013-June 2018. Silencing of CHLOROPLAST VESICULATION (CV) promotes the tolerance of rice to water-deficit stress and high CO2 (Ph.D. thesis)
Shiqi Zhang, Sept 2012 – September 2018. Vacuolar cation/proton exchangers.(Ph.D. thesis)
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Dr. Omar Pantoja. 1988-1992. Patch-clamp studies in plant vacuoles.
Dr. Mohan Subramanian. 1990-1992. Stress resistance in conifers.
Dr. Roumiana Alexandrova. 1993 - 1995. Molecular characterization of ion transporters.
Dr. Ti Xing. 1993-1997. Plant-pathogen interactions.
Dr. Norbert Degousse. 1993-1995. Plant-pathogen interactions
Dr. John Marshall. 1994-1996. Cell wall binding proteins.
Dr. Wayne Snedden. 1997-2000. Signal transduction pathways.
Dr. Tao Xia, 1999 – 2001. Engineering salt tolerance in crops.
Dr. Xuejun Hua, 2000 – 2001. Engineering salt tolerance in crops.
Dr. Hong-Xia Zhang. 1999 – 2001. H+-coupled ion transporters.
Dr. Huazong Shi. 2001 –2003. transcriptional regulation of cation/proton antiports.
Dr. Juan Manuel Ruiz, 2001 – 2002. Plant Stress Tolerance
Dr. Maris Apse, 2001 – 2003. Proteomic analyses of ion transporters.
Dr. Rosa M. Rivero, 2003 – 2008. Drought tolerance in plants.
Dr. Gao Zhifang 2003. Cloning of citrate transporters
Dr. Toshio Yamaguchi, 2001 – 2006, Ion homeostasis in plants.
Dr. Lianhai Fu, 2001 – 2005, citrus proteomics
Dr. Hui Zhang, 2003 – 2004, Structure/Function analyses of ion transporters
Dr. Liancai Peng 2004-2005. Structure/Function analyses of ion transporters
Dr. Oliver Cagnac. 2005-2008. Membrane transport
Dr. Udi Katz. 2005-2009. Citrus Proteomics
Dr. Marina Leterrier. 2005-2008. Salt and Drought tolerance in wheat.
Dr. Masaaki Ohto. 2005-2008. Drought tolerance in crop plants.
Dr. Mohammad Arif. 2006-2007. Rice salt tolerance and QTLs.
Dr. Mark Szcerba, 2008 –2009. Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Drought.
Dr. Cinta Gimeno, 2008 – 2010. Switchgrass establishment in CA.
Dr. Tomoya Esumi, 2008-2009. Membrane Transport
Dr. Zvi Peleg, 2008-2011. Wheat Genetics
Dr. Lui Li 2008 – 2010. Transcription Factors
Dr. Elias Bassil, 2009-2017, Intravesicular trafficking.
Dr. Hiromi Tajima 2009-present. Vacuolar Na/H antiporters.
Dr. Martin Kottackal, 2010-2015. Plant Transformation
Dr. Indrajit Dutta, 2010-2013. Plant Transformation
Dr. Maria Reguera, 2010-2015. Source/Sink physiology
Dr. Maria Cristina Suarez, 2010. Stress signalling.
Dr. Suhaila Rahman, 2012 – 2013. Drought tolerance in Pearl Millet.
Dr. Songhu Wang, Chloroplast turnover. 2012-2014.
Dr. Maria del Mar Wilhelmi, 2012-present. Plant Resistance to Environmental Stresses.
Dr. Prasenjit Saha, 2013 – 2016. Drought tolerance in monocot crops.
Dr. Wagner de Souza, 2013-2015. Drought tolerance in crops.
Dr. Hiroaki Tamaki, 2013 -2014. Stress tolerance in crops.
Dr. Nir Sade, 2014 – 2018. Drought tolerance in crops.
Dr. Bosheng Li, 2014 – 2016. Drought tolerance in crops.
Dr. Violeta Zorraquino, 2015 – 2018. Nitrogen Fixation in Rice.
Dr. Dawei Yan, 2017 – present. Nitrogen Fixation in Rice.
Dr. David Toubiana, 2017-2020. Bioinformatics.
Dr. Avishek Banik, 2018 – 2019. Nitrogen Fixation in Rice
Research Associates and Visiting Scholars
Dr. Mahsen Al-Taie. (Canada) 1988-1989. Development of callus and regeneration of conifers.
Dr. Anna Moroni (Univ di Milano, Italy). 1988-989. Plant plasma mebrane H+-ATPases.
Dr. Emilia Ballesteros (Universidad de Granada). 1994. Membrane fractionation.
Pamela Noldner. 1996-1998. Role of host-plasma membrane redox in plant defense response against pathogens.
Prof. Ronald J. Poole. (McGill University) 1997. Cloning of Ca2+ channels.
Prof. Liliana Busconi (Univ. of Mar del Plata, Argentina), 1999. G-Proteins.
Dr. Mariana Martin, (Univ. of Mar del Plata, Argentina), 2000. Protein kinase interactors.
Dr. Megan Lindsay (CSIRO, Australia), 2000. Wheat Na+/H+ antiporters.
Prof. Dudi BarZvi (Ben Gurion University, Israel), 2002-2003. Transcriptional regulation.
Prof. Avi Zadka (Volcani Center, Israel), 2002-2003. Sugar to acid ratio in citrus fruits.
Prof. Anil Grover (New Dehli, India), 2002- 2004. Cation/proton transporters.
Dr. Anita Grover (New Dehli, India), 2002-2004. Host/pathogen interactions
Prof. Shimon Gepstein (Technion Institute, Israel). 20032004. Sink/source relations.
Prof. Takehiko Shimada (Nat’l Inst. Fruit Tree Sciences, Japan) (2005), acid balance in fruits.
Prof. Ryohei Nakano (Dept of Pomology, Okayama University) (2004-2005). Sugar synthesis and degradation in fruits.
Dr. Amira Gepstein (Technion Institute, Israel), 2003-2004. Fruit Proteomics .
Ellen Tumimbang (International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, 2005- 2020. Breeding salt tolerant rice.
Mohsen Hanana (University of Tunizia), 2005-2007. Salt tolerant grapes.
Prof. Ju-Kon Kim (Myongjii University, Korea), 2005 – 2007. QTLs and molecular markers in rice.
Prof. Yoshua Saranga (Hebrew Univ of Jerusalem, Israel) 2005 –2006. Breeding for stress tolerance.
Tomoya Esumi (Univ. of Nagoya, Japan) 2005-2006 – sugar transporters.
Anjuman Arif (NIbge, Pakistan), Breeding for drought tolerance. 2006-2007.
Prof. Haiyan Li (Julin Agricultural University, Julin, China), halophytes and tolerance to high salt in alkaline soils. 2006-2007.
Prof. Alex Levine (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) 2007. Redox and stress.
Prof. J.M Ruiz (University of Granada) – 2007. Biofortification in Lettuce.
Modassir Ahmed (NIBGE, Pakistan), 2008 – 2009. Drought tolerance.
Zhu Zhu (NE Normal Univ, China), 2007 –2008. Endosomal antiporters.
Prof. Mihal Oren-Shamir (2008). (Volcani Center, Israel) Fruit Genomics.
Prof. Josepha Shahak (2009). (Volcani Center, Israel), Light harvesting.
Prof. Sayeddali Peyghambari (2010) (Teheran, Iran), Genomics.
Prof. Yuval Cohen (2010-2011). (Volcani Center, Israel) Fruit Metabolomics.
Prof. Carla Delatorre (2010-2011) (Univ Fed. Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Promoter analysis.
Prof. Yesim Yalcin Mendia (2011) (Turkey), salt tolerance.
Prof. Yasser Abdel-Tawab (2011-2014) (Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt) Drough tolerance.
Prof. Sarah Eldessouky (2011-2014) (Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt) Cell Culture.
Prof. Hernani Geros (2012). Universidad de Minho, Braga, Portugal. Copper transport in grape cells.
Viviana Martins (2012), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. Copper transport in grape cells.
Francis Pereira Dias (2012). University of Sao Paolo, Brazil. Stress-inducible promoters.
Prof. Aviah Zilberstein (2012). Ion Homeostasis, University of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Prof. Yanni Zhang (2013). Harbin, China. Abiotic stress.
Dr. Marco dalla Rizza (2013). INIA, Uruguay. Expression of peptides in plants.
Dr. Maria Cristina Cordeiro (2013). EMBRAPA, Brazil. Drought tolerance in crops.
Prof. Hassan Saleri (2013). Shiraz University, Iran, Plant transformation.
Mathew Wright 2013-2016. Stress Tolerance in crop plants
Prof. Luming Yao (2014-2015) Shangai Jiao Tong University. Drought tolerance
Dr. Hiroaki Tamaki (2013-2015) Sumimoto Chemicals, Japan. Drought tolerance.
Prof. Qinghua Sun (2015-2016) Shandong Ag. University. Stress Tolerance.
Xiaojuan Ke (2015-2017). Nanjing Agricultural University. China. Stress Tolerance
Dr. Maasaki Oto (2016 – 2020).
Prof. Avi Sadka (2016-2017). Volcani Center, ARO, Israel. Fruit quality.
Haijung Gong (2016-2017). Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China. Salt tolerance
Fei Weng (2016-2018). Nanjing Agricultural University. Biofuels.
Qiaoping Qin (2016-2017). Zhejiang A&F University, Fruit quality
Imran Khan (2017). University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Stress Tolerance.
Jianrong Feng (2017-2018). Shihezi University, Xinjiang, China. Fruit ripening.
Xiaoqin Wu (2017-2018). Nanjing University, China. Nitrogen fixation.
Ehsan Ataii (2017-2018). Isafahan University, Iran. Water homeostasis.
M. A. Ashraf (2018). GC University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Stress Tolerance
Luciana Fleitas (2017), UdelaR, Montevideo, Uruguay, Chloroplast turnover
Matias Maidana Etcheverry (2018-2019), INIA, Uruguay. Antibacterial peptide production
Jinping Xiao (2018-2019), Zhejian Acad Agr Sci, China. Fruit maturation
Lei Zhang (2018-2019), China Agric. Univ., China. Stress tolerance
Faezeh Ghanati (2019), Iran., Plant transformation
David Montesinos Pereira (2019), Univ. Granada, Spain. Stress Tolerance
Undergraduate Fellows and undergraduate research projects.
1988.- Jeffrey Greenberg - Plasma membrane ion channels.
1988.- Richard Pierce - Isolation of chloroplast membranes.
1989.- Angie Gelli - Vacuolar ion channels.
1989.- Michael Richardson - Plasma membranes from conifers.
1990.- Randy Reuton - Plasma membrane ATPAses.
1991.- Nishan Jayawaedene - In vitro protein synthesis.
1992.- Pamela Plant - Patch-clamp studies.
1992.- Maris Apse - Vacuolar proton pumps.
1994.- Gilad Aharon - Drought stress in conifers.
1994.-95 Mara Schvartzstein - Patch clamp studies
1996.- Gregg Nyhus - Protein phosphorylation.
1997.- Lorraine Fleck. Plant Ca2+-ATPases.
1998.- Vanessa Kung. Protein-protein interactions.
1999.- Victoria Wong. Protein-protein interactions.
1999.- 2000 Stephanie Lan-lan Smith. Salt stress in plants.
1999. Kasthuri Sithamparanathan. Stress screens in Arabidopsis.
2000 Fabrizio Bianchi. Protein-protein interactions.
2000 Michael Lam, cation/proton transporters
2000 Edwin Make, plant transformation
2000 Renee Givari. Na+/H+ antiporters
2000 Katharine Kwok. Na+/H+ antiporters.
2002 Fernando Navarro. Molecular biology of stress.
2004 Bobby Medina (High School Student). Citrus Proteomics
2005 Dipan Patel (High School Student). Membrane Transport.
2005-6 Michelle Chan, vacuolar antiporters.
2006-9 Iana Kostina. Arabidopsis knockout plants.
2006 Linda Li. Phenotyping of tolerant rice varieties.
2006 Christina Yuen (UCD-Young Scholars Program).Plant Stress.
2007 Kenji Nishiyama. Drought tolerance in plants.
2007 Stephen Scharm. Vacuolar yeast ion transporters.
2007 Nghia Pham. Salt tolerance in rice varieties.
2007 Garrett Chavez. Proteomics
2008 Bernice Leung (abiotic stress)
2008-10 Zain Baharuddin (rice genomics)
2008- Allison Hutmacher (drought tolerance)
2010 Greyson Tarantino (biotechnology intern)
2011 Ching-Huang Lin (exchange student-GREAT Program)
2011 David Wang (Davis High School, biotechnology program)
2011 Russell Lewis (undergraduate summer project)
2012 Jasmine Hakim-Elahi (Davis High School, biotechnology)
2012 Angelica Reina Bassil (Lancaster High School, LA, CA)
2012 Lucy Cui (Modesto High School, CA)
2013 Mathew Wright (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2013-14 Jonas Rodriguez (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2013 Perry Natukunda (Undergraduate Research Project)
2013 Beatrice Dea (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2013-14 Kevin Coe (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2013 Ann Nguyen (Undergraduate Research Project)
2014 Cindy Lui (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2014 Robin Wu (Undergraduate Research Project)
2014 Anjali Kadakia (Undergraduate Research Project)
2014 Melinda Yin (Undergraduate Research Project)
2014 Kristan Jorde (Undergraduate Research Project)
2014 Mahmoud Jaber (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2014 Sandy Chen (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2014 Knight Aqueriolo (undergraduate research project)
2014 Jacky Lui (undergraduate research project)
2014 Trong Bui (undergraduate research project)
2014 Kareem Addasi (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2014 Arjun Natarjan Chen (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2014 Huy Thai (MURALS Program)
2014 Giang Nguyen (undergraduate research project)
2014 Jessica Sanchez (undergraduate research project)
2014 Christopher Cunanan (undergraduate research project)
2014 Ngoc Pham (undergraduate research project)
2015 Todd Hunt (undergraduate research project)
2015 Thanh Duong (undergraduate research project)
2015 Gregory Wing (undergraduate research project)
2015 Kristy Ly (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Huy Tai (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Nhu Throng (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Christopher Tran (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Sara Mohammad(Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Janet Tran (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Jocelyn Chaves (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Cindy Maria (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Hye Won Kim (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Avery Wang (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Kevin Abernathy (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Youn Jin Youn (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2015 Meixuan Chen (undergraduate research project)
2015 Serena Zhen (Biotech intern, UC Davis)
2016 Holly Chen (undergraduate research project)
2016 Smaresptha Burma (undergraduate research project)
2016 Yu Chan (undergraduate research project)
2016 Rosa Mateo (undergraduate research project)
2016 Lauren Duan (Biotechnology Program, Davis High School)
2016 Jacob Cominge (Biotech Program, Davis High School)
2016 Mitali Singh (undergraduate research project)
2016 Cari Young (undergraduate research project)
2016 Lin Song (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2016 Xu Tao (undergraduate research project)
2016 Andrea Argulo (undergraduate research project)
2016 Imran Meskienyar (undergraduate research project)
2016 Nicholas Szeto (undergraduate research project)
2016 Smia Sahebi (undergraduate research project)
2016 Liala Zaray (undergraduate research project)
2016 Rika Watanabe (undergraduate research project)
2016 Maleeha Burney (undergraduate research project)
2016 Fangyi Wang (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2016 Grabiela Superticioso (Biotech Intern, UC Davis)
2016 Edward Banas (undergraduate research project)
2016 Sana Fatima (undergraduate research project)
2016 Albert Lee (undergraduate research project)
2016 Jenny Arabit (undergraduate research project)
2016 Andrew Valero (Biotechnology Program, Davis High School)
2016 Koru Vu (undergraduate research project)
2016-8 Kelly Hofshneider (undergraduate research project)
2016-7 Serena Zhen (undergraduate research project)
2017 Mengxiao Wang (undergraduate research project)
2017 Shlok Bhalinge (undergraduate research project)
2017 Mitali Singh (undergraduate research project)
2017-8 Cari Young (undergraduate research project)
2017 Lin Song (undergraduate research project)
2017 Fangyi Wang (undergraduate research project)
2017 Korey Vu (undergraduate research project)
2017 Priscilla Nai (undergraduate research project)
2017 Chia Yu Kuo (undergraduate research project)
2018 Emily Chiang (Biotech Program, Davis High School)
2018 Erin Lovell (Biotech Program, Davis High School)
2018 Brittany Tam (undergraduate research project)
2018 Anahut Sandhu (undergraduate research project)
2018 Logan Kunkel (undergraduate research project)
2019 Elizabeth Ding (Biotech Program, Davis High School)