Name: Charlotte Miller, PhD
Hometown: Norwich, UK
Hobbies: writing music and playing guitar and piano, cinema, reading, painting and watching live bands.
Lab: Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory of Dr. Wolfgang Busch
Lab website: https://busch.salk.edu
What do you study?
I have a few projects that I am working on in the lab. I am working to understand how plants can be used to combat climate change. I am also trying to understand how plants can survive nutrient deficiency.
Why is it important?
Of all of the options out there for combatting climate change – making use of plants is the most promising because they are already professionals when it comes to sucking carbon out of the atmosphere! For the nutrient deficiency project, I mainly focus on iron. If we can understand how plants cope with iron deficiency, we could have much healthier plants. Also, if we can increase plant iron content, this could really help with human and animal nutrition.
What piqued your interest in science?
I inherited my love of plants from my mum. I have always loved being outdoors surrounded by plants and have always just wanted to learn about them!
What do you like about being a scientist?
Being a scientist is like being a detective! I love waking up excited about an idea I have had and then designing experiments to explore it further. Being given the opportunity to put new facts into the world is a privilege.
What are 5 general vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Gene, gene expression, protein, carbon dioxide, cell signaling
What are some specific vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Genetic variant, model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana, genome wide association studies (GWAS)