My first experience in Lacey Samuels lab was in 2006 during my second year at UBC. I was lucky enough to be one of 5 participants that year to take part in the BIOL200 Scanning Electron Microscope project where I studied the role the cytoskeleton plays in trichome development in Arabidopsis thaliana. I followed this experience with a directed studies project in 2009 co-supervised by both Lacey and Shawn Mansfield from UBC Forestry (who are also my current co supervisors). Soon after, I continued on in Lacey’s lab working as an undergraduate academic research assistant focusing on vesicular trafficking at the Trans-Golgi Network.
After graduating from the Dual Degree program here at UBC, completing both a BSc in Cell Biology and Genetics and a BA in Human Geography, I was initially unsure about which direction in research I wanted to move towards. It would take a two-month volunteer excursion to South Africa to help me realize that my interests were truly within Botany (I often cite seeing the massive Baobob trees with their spongy wood right next to the rock hard lead wood trees, as the fuel that reignited my interest in plant biology)
Currently, my research interests are in trying to understand the processes involved in the formation of secondary cell walls, a major component of wood fibers. Celluose is important for a large number of industries such as paper, pulp and more recently biofuels, however the cellular and molecular processes for its formation and deposition still remain poorly understood. Through the NSERC CREATE funded network, Working on Walls (WoW – not World of WarCraft) here at UBC, I will be using various microscopy techniques to help characterize these processes. Specifically I will using various confocal and electron microscopy techniques to characterize how the cell properly organizes and deposits cellulose fibres by tracking the cellulose synthase (CesA) enzymes, the enzymes responsible for cellulose synthesis.
Publications
Chou, E.Y., Schuetz, M., Hoffmann, N., Watanabe, Y., Sibout, R., Samuels, A.L. (2018). Distribution, Mobility and Anchoring of Lignin-Related Oxidative Enzymes in Arabidopsis Secondary Cell Walls. Journal of Experimental Botany. accepted [view abstract]Meents, M.J., Watanabe, Y., Samuels, A.L. (2018). The Cell Biology of Secondary Cell Wall Biosynthesis. Annals of Botany. published online [view abstract]
Schuetz, M., Benske, A., Smith, R.E., Watanabe, Y., Tobimatsu, Y., Ralph, J., Demura, T., Ellis, B., Samuels, A.L. (2015) Laccases direct lignification in the discrete secondary cell wall domains of protoxylem. Plant Physiology. First Published on August 25, 2014. Ahead of print [view abstract]
McFarlane, H.E., Watanabe, Y., Yang, W., Huang, Y., Ohlrogge, J., and Samuels, A.L. (2014) Golgi- and trans-Golgi network-mediated vesicle trafficking is required for wax secretion from epidermis. Plant Physiology 164: 1250-1260. [view abstract]
Watanabe, Y.*, McFarlane, H.E.*, Carruthers, K., Lesvesque-Tremblay, G., Haughn, G.W., Gendre D., Bhalerao, R.P., Samuels, A.L. (2013) Cell wall polysaccharides are mislocalized to the vacuole in echidna mutants. Plant & Cell Physiology 54: 1867-1880. [view abstract]
Gendre, D., McFarlane, H.E., Johnson, E., Mouille, G., Sjödin, A., Oh, J., Levesque-Tremblay, G., Watanabe, Y., Samuels, L., and Bhalerao, R.P. (2013) Trans-Golgi Network localized ECHIDNA/Ypt interacting protein complex is required for the secretion of cell wall polysaccharides in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell 25: 2633-2646. [view abstract]
Kwan, D.H., Chen, H.M., Ratananikom, K., Hancock, S.M., Watanabe, Y., Kongsaeree, P.T., Samuels, A.L., and Withers, S.G. (2011) Self-immobilizing fluorogenic imaging agents of enzyme activity.Angewandte Chemie International Edition 50: 300-303. [view abstract]
