Organizers

2023 Organizing committee


Evan Groover – Chair

PhD Candidate, Savage Lab, UC Berkeley

I am a plant synthetic biologist working to improve agricultural sustainability and to engineer new and interesting things with plants. I am pursuing a PhD at UC Berkeley in the labs of David Savage and Brian Staskawicz at the Innovative Genomics Institute. I am currently working to develop new CRISPR/Cas gene editing tools for plants, and to improve crop carbon dioxide capture.

Nicholas Karavolias, PhD

PhD, Staskawicz Lab, UC Berkeley

Broadly, Nicholas’ research focuses on the applications of gene editing in agriculture focusing on climate change adaptation. In the lab, he uses CRISPR/Cas9 to understand the development of stomata in rice for improved drought resilience. Nicholas has experience teaching about gene editing around the globe. He is passionate about education as a tool for democratizing access to transformative technologies. Nicholas is hopeful that applications of gene editing can be empowering for growers and consumers worldwide. As a Kavli fellow Nicholas seeks to explore how gene editing technologies can be leveraged as a paradigm-shifting mechanism to support the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. He is interested in developing frameworks for how applications of gene editing in agriculture can be integrated into sociopolitical systems to meet the needs of marginalized stakeholders.


Jyoti Taneja, PhD

Assistant Project Scientist, Wildermuth lab, UC Berkeley

Jyoti is focused on understanding powdery mildew-host plant interactions and developing powdery mildew control strategies. She is currently developing topical RNAi fungicide for powdery mildew control in grapevines. 

During her doctoral research at National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India, she had worked to improve production of bioactive compounds in medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus. In her post doctoral research at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi,  she used genome engineering to develop resistance against yellow leaf curl virus in tomatoes. She has keen interest in developing environmentally friendly products for farmers. 


Lorenzo Washington

PhD Candidate, Scheller Lab, JBEI

His research is focused on how the plant cell wall and related signaling systems influence the host’s ability to establish and maintain symbiotic microbial relationships. A greater understanding of what influences plant-microbe interactions in concert with discoveries in genome editing can lead to advances in more sustainable approaches to improving plant fitness. He also is active in science communication programs such as Be A Scientist, Bay Area Scientists in Schools, & Cal: Future Advancement of Science and Technology.


Hang Xue

PhD Candidate, Wildermuth lab, UC Berkeley

Her research project focuses on improving crop biotic resistance to powdery mildew. Chloroplasts are the key battlefield in this plant – microbe interaction because 1) chloroplasts perform photosynthesis, which is directly linked to yields; 2) the synthesis of many compounds related to host defense begins in the chloroplast. Powdery mildew delivers virulence proteins into chloroplasts to manipulate host mechanisms. By understanding how powdery mildew alters host chloroplasts, we can mitigate disease impact on crop yields.


Gabriella Benko

PhD Candidate, Niyogi lab, UC Berkeley

Gabriella is a Plant Biology PhD candidate in the Plant and Microbial Biosciences Department. She studies the transcriptional regulatory networks that control non-photochemical quenching, the process in which green organisms dissipate excess energy as heat, in microalgae. Understanding how the green lineage responds to excess sunlight is crucial to improving energy capture, which is crucial for biofuel and crop improvement technologies. She is also an active member of UC Berkeley’s CLEAR Project (Communication, Literacy and Education for Agricultural Research).  


Jianqiang Shen, PhD

Post Doc, Lemaux lab, UC Berkeley


Past Committee Members

  • Eduardo González Grandío
  • Dhruv Patel, PhD
  • Wen Zhu
  • Simón Álamos, PhD
  • Daniel Westcott, PhD
  • Cindy Amstutz, PhD
  • Jeffrey Johnson
  • Michael Alberto Gomez
  • Monica Hernandez
  • Rebekah Kitto
  • Thomas Laughlin
  • Daniel Naylor
  • Benjamin Oakes
  • Patrick Shih, PhD
  • Srinidhi V Holalu, PhD