Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Charlotte Noelle Miller

Charlotte Noelle Miller, first author of Variation in expression of the HECT E3 ligase UPL3 modulates LEC2 levels, seed size and crop yield in Brassica napus

Current Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow

Education: BSc, MSc, PhD

Non-scientific interests: My main passion outside of science is music. In San Diego, I sing in a three-piece, dream-wave band called “EST”. I have recently been combining my love of plants and music using the “MidiSprout”, a device designed to transpose electrical signals from the leaves of plants into a MIDI output, allowing you to make music from biological data. Outside of music, I enjoy fossil hunting, photography, cycling and flower pressing. I am currently setting up workshops in San Diego, teaching children the art of flower pressing as a way to learn about and celebrate plants.

Bio: I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biosciences from Canterbury Christchurch University, Kent, UK, in 2008. During this time, I was lucky enough to be taught by a very inspiring professor, David Ponsenby, who had a huge passion for plants and agriculture. The direction he gave me led me to complete an MSc in Plant Genetics and Crop Improvement at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made and really helped me to realise that plants are my biggest passion and that any opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of them would be a privilege. I continued at The John Innes Centre for my PhD and first post-doctoral position. During my PhD, in the lab of Professor Ian Bancroft, I worked to understand the genetic control of stem mechanical properties in Oilseed rape and wheat. I completed my first post-doctoral position in the lab of Professor Michael Bevan where we worked together to uncover a novel mechanism underlying seed filling in oilseed rape. We are incredibly happy to have this work published by The Plant Cell. In 2018 I moved to San Diego, CA, where I started my second post-doctoral position in the lab of Dr Wolfgang Busch at The Salk Institute of Biological Sciences. Here I am working to understand root development in response to iron deficiency.