Recognizing Plant Physiology authors: Andrew Guzman

Andrew Guzman, first author of Tomato Atypical Receptor Kinase1 is involved in the regulation of pre-invasion defense

Current Position: Graduate Student in Dr. Mary Beth Mudgett’s laboratory at Stanford University

Education:

PhD Candidate, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, USA;

BS Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology; University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Non-scientific interests: My interests include reading, hiking, kayaking, strength training, music and spending time with friends and family.

Brief Bio: During my undergraduate research experiences, I became fascinated by the intricacies of host-pathogen interactions which led me to pursue a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology. At the start of my PhD, I had the privilege of rotating in Dr. Mary Beth Mudgett’s lab where I learned about the myriad of ways that pathogenic strains of Xanthomonas use effector proteins to manipulate stress pathways in tomato to promote infection. Once joining the lab, I focused my interests on uncovering the ways in which tomato plants defend against bacterial attack. My thesis project investigates the role of tomato plasma membrane immune complexes that regulate early defense responses that control bacterial invasion into leaf tissue and post-invasion defenses in response to bacterial infection in tomato leaves.