Soujanya Akella: Plant Physiology First Author

Soujanya Akella, first author of “Co-targeting strategy for precise, scarless gene editing with CRISPR/Cas9 and donor ssODNs in Chlamydomonas“

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Biological Sciences and Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Education: PhD in Genetics, Iowa State University (USA); BS in Biomedical Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (India)

Non-scientific Interests: Tennis, crosswords, history

Brief bio: At Iowa State, I studied the CO₂ Concentrating Mechanism in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in Dr. Martin Spalding’s lab and worked on identifying a second-site suppressor of a low CO₂-lethal (air dier) mutation. As a postdoc at UNL, I have worked primarily on optimizing precise gene editing in Chlamydomonas using RNPs and the CRISPR/Cas9 system, and on targeting putative miRNAs involved in gene regulation. My broad scientific interests are in gene editing and sustainable energy research, and in the long term I would like to be more involved in teaching and working towards an equitable society.