This letter by Beronda Montgomery is the 1st in our series on diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM disciplines. Read the editorial call for letters here: Sowing the seeds of equity and diversity in academia and STEM disciplines. Montgomery, BL (2020). Planting equity: Using what we know to cultivate…

Zachary Beamer, first author of Aquaporin Family Lactic Acid Channel NIP2;1 Promotes Plant Survival Under Low Oxygen Stress in Arabidopsis Current Position: Graduate Teaching Assistant, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Education: BSc in Biological Sciences and Chemistry (University of Tennessee,…

Luca Morelli, first author of Light signals generated by vegetation shade facilitate acclimation to low light in shade-avoider plants Current Position: pre-doctoral fellow with prof. Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion at IBMCP research centre in Valencia Education: Master’s degree in Plant and Microbe…

Cheng et al. explore how ethylene promotes the asymmetric growth of petal bases to promote flower opening in rose. The Plant Cell (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab031  By Chengchen Xia, Junping Gao, and Nan Ma  Background: Flowers are unique structures in angiosperms that are used for…

Noemí Ruiz-Lopez, co-first author of Synaptotagmins at the endoplasmic reticulum–plasma membrane contact sites maintain diacylglycerol homeostasis during abiotic stress  Current Position: Associate Professor at the University of Málaga. Education: PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology, B.S. in Biology…

Jessica Pérez Sancho, co-first author of Synaptotagmins at the endoplasmic reticulum–plasma membrane contact sites maintain diacylglycerol homeostasis during abiotic stress Current Position:  Postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Membrane Biogenesis (UMR 5200-CSIC-U.Bordeaux), France. Education: …

Shi et al. (2021). Plant Cell. Gene expression in diploid aneuploids and polyploids. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab030 By Xiaowen Shi and James A. Birchler Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 Background: A change in the number of chromosomes…

Rameez Arshad, first author of Revealing the architecture of the photosynthetic apparatus in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana  Current Position: PhD candidate, University of Groningen, The Netherlands and Palacky University Olomouc, Czechia Education: M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics Non-scientific…