Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Dorota Kawa

Dorota Kawa, first author of SnRK2 protein kinases and mRNA decapping machinery control root development and response to salt

Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher, Plant Biology & Genome Center, University of California, Davis

Education: PhD University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2017); MSc Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland; BEng, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland

Non-scientific Interests: hiking, bike touring, backpacking, swimming, jigsaw puzzles

Brief bio: My main research interest is how roots interact with their environment. During my PhD I was investigating root system architecture responses to salinity and phosphate starvation, and the signaling pathways inducing these changes. Our latest publication in Plant Physiology describes how subclass 1 SnRK2 protein kinases and their phosphorylation target VARICOSE control root development and responses to salt stress. Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Siobhan Brady, I investigate how soil microbiome affects sorghum roots. In particular I’m interested in changes in root system and cellular architecture as well as root exudate compositions that could result in resistance to the parasitic weed, Striga hermontica.