Recognizing The Plant Cell author Andrea Berardi

Andrea Berardi, first author of Complex evolution of novel red floral color in Petunia

Current Position:  Harvard University Herbaria Research Fellow

Education: PhD in Biology at University of Virginia, B.A. in Biology at Colgate University

Non-scientific Interests:  yoga, baking, botanizing

Brief bio: I did my graduate research and doctoral dissertation at the University of Virginia with Dr. Doug Taylor working on the influence of the flavonoid pathway on local adaptation within a single widespread species, Silene vulgaris. I then moved on to study how changes in floral anthocyanin pigmentation across species affect the production of other compounds of the flavonoid pathway in leaves the Iochrominae in a postdoc with Dr. Stacey Smith (CU Boulder). Most recently, I completed a postdoc with Dr. Cris Kuhlemeier at the University of Bern, Switzerland where this study was completed. At Bern, I focused on the genetic mechanisms of two independent re-gains of floral color in sister species of Petunia. I recently began a fellowship at the Harvard University Herbaria to return to the Silene system, where I am starting a new project on the role of floral color in North American Silene speciation.