Sophia is a rising third year PhD Candidate in the Bagheri lab who studies lateral root development!
Sophia is interested in exploring how the collective actions of heterogeneous cells in developing organs yield consistent emergent morphologies, and how changes in morphology are decided, communicated, and executed amongst cells in a developing organ. She specifically studies the process by which dicot plants develop new lateral roots known as lateral root development.
For her dissertation work, Sophia is focusing on investigating the mechanisms regulating progression between developmental phases of lateral root development. Towards this goal, she is building an agent-based model of lateral root development that will enable her to ask “what if” questions about the process. By building a spatial model of the system and implementing different potential mechanisms of phase progression, she will be able to test the feasibility different potential regulatory mechanisms.
Sophia hopes her research will clarify the regulatory mechanisms underlying lateral root development. Her ultimate goal is to identify experimental methods for initiating or halting the formation of lateral roots. These methods could then be used to optimize the root system architectures of dicot crops like soybeans for field-specific conditions, maximizing production efficiency in drought conditions.
Excited about organogenesis, lateral root development, and/or agent-based modeling? Feel free to reach out to Sophia with questions about her work! You can also find Sophia on Twitter and Github!
Thanks for this profile!