Professional interests and goals: Since my undergraduate school and my incorporation to the Grotewold lab, I have had a deep interest in the combination of biochemistry and analytical chemistry to elucidate new phytochemical compounds from plants, which provide resources to human nutrition and bioenergy production. My goal is to characterize new genes involved in the production or biosynthesis of phenolic compounds in maize plants, such as tricin, which are included in the lignin production (lignin along with cellulose and hemicellulose make up the bulk of renewable biomass for production of biofuels and biochemicals), and flavonoids compounds; the latter play critical roles in many biological processes in the plants and have benefit for human health. For the confirmation and validation of the genes, I have used several systems, such as metabolic engineering in yeast, transformation in Nicotiana benthamiana plants, and transformation of maize protoplast. Finally, for the identification and quantification of phenolic compounds, I have used liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technique.
General interests: I enjoy reading fantasy books, dancing, and being in good company.