Mingqin Chang: The Plant Cell First Author

Mingqin Chang, first author of “COPII Sec23 proteins form isoform-specific endoplasmic reticulum exit sites with differential effects on polarized growth”

Current Position: Postdoc scholar at University of California Davis, US

Education: Ph.D University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, US

Non-scientific Interests: hiking, camping, gardening

Brief bio:

After I finished my undergraduate study, I decided to focus on the very basic level, the molecular and cellular level, to understand how plants maintain their growth and development. I joined the Haiyun Ren lab at Beijing Normal University to study how actin cytoskeleton contributes to maintain the tip growth pattern of Arabidopsis pollen tubes. During this study, I learnt the challenges and difficulties of genetic modification in Arabidopsis thaliana. I would like to try an easier system to study scientific questions on plants. I joined the Bezanilla Lab at University of Massachusetts Amherst and worked on moss Physcomitrella patens. During my PhD study, my colleagues and I had developed CRISPR-Cas9 mediated genome editing and homology-directed repair for moss, which made moss even better for plant cell biological study. Taking advantage of the system, I conducted my research on COPII components Sec23 and Sec24, and investigated their roles on moss tip growth. After obtaining my PhD degree,  I joined the Drakakaki Lab at University of California Davis to explore my scientific journey in endomembrane trafficking.

 

姓名：常明钦

当前职位：加州大学戴维斯分校博士后

教育背景：麻州大学阿姆斯特分校理学博士，

兴趣爱好：爬山，露营，园艺

个人简历：

本科毕业后，我决定专注于从分子和细胞层面研究植物如何维持生长及其发育。同年，我加入北京师范大学任海云课题组，研究微丝骨架系统是如何帮助拟南芥花粉管确立其顶端生长的生长模式。在攻读硕士学位期间，我了解到拟南芥作为模式生物的挑战和困难，我希望尝试一种更容易的模式生物来研究植物学问题。带着这个想法，我加入了麻州大学阿姆斯特分校Bezanilla课题组并采用小立碗藓作为模式生物。在攻读博士学位期间，我和我的同事为小立碗藓中开发了CRISPR-Cas9介导的基因编辑和同源性定向修复，这些工作使得小立碗藓更适合用于植物细胞生物学研究。利用小立碗藓的这些优势，我研究了COPII成员Sec23和Sec24在小立碗藓顶端生长中的作用。取得博士学位后，我加入了加州大学戴维斯分校Drakakaki课题组来继续我在膜泡运输领域的科学之旅。