Doty, Sharon

*** FUNDING AVAILABLE*** (Position filled)   I received a $700K 4-year USDA/NIFA grant on The Use of Fungal and Diazotrophic Endophytes As a Means for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation in Agroecosystems.  I have funding for a PhD student interested in nitrogen fixation and plant-microbe interactions.  We have been studying N-fixing (diazotrophic) microbes that live within poplar and willow that can also colonize other plants including maize and rice, improving plant growth with less fertilizer.  This has profound implications for agriculture and biomass production for bioenergy.  Included in the grant is a teaching opportunity for the grad students (2) to help run a plant microbiology lab course once per year. 

Research Summary:  Bioresource sciences with an emphasis on plant-microbe interactions using the tools of molecular biology, biochemistry, and microbiology. The main areas of research in my lab are in remediation of environmental pollutants using plants and associated microbes, beneficial plant-microbe interactions with an emphasis on nitrogen fixation in non-legumes, and bioenergy/biochemical production using novel endophytic yeasts.  We have current grants from NSF Energy for Sustainability, McIntire-Stennis (phytoremediation and N fixation), AFRI/USDA (N fixation in poplar for biofuels), NIFA/USDA (N fixation for crop plants and forest trees), and NIH/SBIR (phytoremediation).  The Doty Lab currently has 5 graduate students but is still open for rotation students and new students