Juan Dong
OnSeptember1,2011,Dr.JuanDongbeganherjointappointmentasaPrincipalInvestigatoratWaksmanInstituteandasanAssistantProfessorfortheDepartmentofPlantBiologyandPathologyatSEBS.BeforejoiningRutgers,Juanwasapost-doctoralresearcherinDominiqueBergmann’slaboratoryintheDepartmentofBiologyatStanfordUniversity.JuanreceivedherPh.D.inPlantBiologywithDr.ElizabethLordattheUniversityofCaliforniaatRiverside.Juan'sresearchhasfocusedonmechanismsofasymmetriccelldivision,afundamentalprobleminmorphogenesis,whichisthebiologicalprocessthatcausesanorganismtodevelopitsshape.SheusedageneticapproachtoidentifyamutantphenotypeoftheplantproteincalledBASL(BreakingofAsymmetryintheStomatalLineage).ThecorrespondinggenecontrolsasymmetricdivisioninArabidopsis,asmallfloweringplantinthemustardfamily.