The Samuels Lab

Welcome to the Samuels Lab

2011-12-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

We are a plant cell biology laboratory in the Department of Botany at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Research in our lab focuses on plant cell wall secretion, i.e. how the plant cell produces and exports the macromolecules of the cell wall.

News Update, December 10th, 2011

2011-12-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

This week, Teagen is at the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America on the Kohala Coast of Hawai‘i. She will be giving a talk entitled “The Arabidopsis ABCG26 transporter: a tool for investigating the nature of sporopollenin” on Tuesday afternoon.

News Update, November 4th, 2011

2011-11-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Rebecca’s NSERC award has been upgraded to a CGS-D – congratulations Rebecca!

News Update: October 31st, 2011

2011-10-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Samuels Lab has claimed victory in the Botany Graduate Students’ Association annual Halloween pumpkin carving contest – the Cucurbita Cup is ours at last!

News Update: September 15th, 2011

2011-09-15T20:16:00.001-07:00

Teagen is off to Purdue University for a period as a visiting scientist in the lab of Clint Chapple in the Department of Biochemistry.

News Update: September 12th, 2011

2011-09-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Teagen has been elected present of the UBC Botany Graduate Students' Association. Other Samuels Lab members are also involved: Yoshi will be the new social coordinator of the BGSA, Heather will be the association's representative at faculty meetings and she and Teagen will plan the annual BGSA symposium, and Rebecca will coordinate orientation activities for new students to the Department of Botany.

News Update: September 9th, 2011

2011-09-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

Once again, Rebecca has been named the principal flute of the UBC Concert Winds Band. Check out their schedule of performances at the Chan Centre, including their free lunchtime concerts, here.

News Update: September 2nd, 2011

2011-09-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Samuels Lab welcomes our newest graduate student, Yoshi Watanabe. Yoshi completed his undergraduate degree here at UBC and was an outstanding undergraduate work-study student in the Samuels Lab. Welcome back Yoshi!

News Update: August 29th, 2011

2011-08-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Today is the official reopening of the renewed Biosciences Building. The day will start with a short ceremony and a series of speeches. Rebecca will represent the graduate students at the ceremony and will give a short speech. Later, university and government officials will tour the facilities, including the BioImaging Facility and the Samuels Lab.

News Update: July 15th, 2011

2011-07-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Our collaboration with the Bhalerao Lab at the Umeå Plant Science Centre has been featured on Faculty of 1000. Clara Sanchez-Rodriguez and Staffan Persson at the Max Planck Institute recognize this paper as a new finding that ECHIDNA is required for maintenance and function of the Trans Golgi network. See the whole review and other comments here.

News Update: June 15th, 2011

2011-06-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Heather will visit the Max Planck Institute for Plant Molecular Biology in Golm, Germany. She will give a talk at 2pm entitled “Plant lipid export and recycling”.

News Update: May 31st, 2011

2011-05-30T05:01:00.000-07:00

This week is the Working on Walls (WoW) conference at UBC. As part of the NSERC-CREATE collaborative grant, WoW members have organized a plant cell wall conference at UBC. Invited speakers are:

Simon Turner from the University of Manchester

Debra Mohnen from the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia

Taku Demura from RIKEN and NAIST

Clint Chapple from Purdue University

Several Samuels Lab members will also be giving talks:

Teagen Quilichini: "A perplexing biopolymer: how autofluorescence is uncovering clues to sporopollenin composition and assembly"

Mathias Schuetz: "Monolignol export and plant cell wall lignification"

Rebecca Smith: "Good neighbours: the co-operative model during lignification"

News Update: May 17th, 2011

2011-05-17T01:28:00.000-07:00

Today, Samuels Lab PhD candidate Allan DeBono will present his PhD exit seminar to the department. Allan's talk, entitled "Getting out: Lipid transfer proteins are involved in cuticular wax export" will be at 12:30 today in the Michael Smith Lab auditorium.

News Update: May 10th, 2011

2011-05-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Lacey has accepted the department's offer to be the new head of the UBC Department of Botany for the next 5 years. Congratulations Lacey!

News Update: May 10th, 2011

2011-05-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

Lacey and Samuels Lab undergraduate student Jacob Best, in collaboration with Rishikesh Bhalerao at the Umeå Plant Science Centre, have just published a paper in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gendre, D., Oh, J., Boutté, Y., Best, J.G., Samuels, A.L., Nilsson, R., Uemura, T., Marchant, A., Bennett, M.J., Grebe, M., and Bhalerao, R.P. 2011. Conserved Arabidopsis ECHIDNA protein mediates trans-Golgi-network trafficking and cell elongation. PNAS 108: 8048-8053. [view abstract] [full text]

News Update: May 1st, 2011

2011-05-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Samuels Lab has moved! We are still located in the Biological Sciences Building at UBC's Point Grey campus, but we have moved to the newly renovated side of the building. We now share a large new lab with our friends in the Wasteneys and Ellis labs.

News Update: April 23rd, 2011

2011-04-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Heather has been awarded an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship - Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement to undertake a period as a visiting research scientist at Göteborg University in Göteborg, Sweden. She will be working with Dr. Mats Andersson and Dr. Anna Staina Sandelius in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences from mid-April until mid-July

News Update: April 13th, 2011

2011-04-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Lacey and Heather will be attending the Royal Microscopy Society’s 2011 Botanical Microscopy Meeting from April 16^th to April 21^st at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Heather will give a talk on Monday, April 18^th in the morning, entitled “Endoplasmic reticulum to plasma membrane contact sites in lipid recycling” and Lacey will give a talk on Monday afternoon entitled ”Lipid traffic and the dynamic plant plasma membrane"

News Update: April 8th, 2011

2011-04-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the annual Botany Graduate Students’ Symposium. Teagen, Heather, Rebecca, and Kim will all give talks about their research throughout the day.

Update: Teagen won first prize for her talk, and Rebecca won third prize! Congratulations; this makes it three years in a row that Samuels Lab members have won the prize for best talk at the BGSA symposium!

News Update: March 21st, 2011

2011-03-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Rebecca has been awarded a Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS-D3) from NSERC.

Congratulations Rebecca!

News Update: March 17th, 2011

2011-03-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Lacey has been invited by the Biology Graduate Students’ Association at the University of Alberta, to deliver the keynote address at their Dr. Richard E. Peterson Biology Conference. Her talk, “Building a diverse plant cell wall: how plant cells use an array of export strategies to produce their extracellular matrix” will be today at 5pm.

News Update: March 3rd, 2011

2011-03-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Lacey, Mathias, and Minako published a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany: “ABC transporters coordinately expressed during lignification of Arabidopsis stems include a set of ABCBs associated with auxin transport”

Kaneda, M., Schuetz, M., Lin, B.S.P, Chanis, C., Hamberger, B., Western, T.L., Ehlting, J., and Samuels, A.L. 2011. ABC transporters coordinately expressed during lignification of Arabidopsis stems include a set of ABCBs associated with auxin transport. Journal of Experimental Botany 62: 2063-2077. [view abstract] [full text]

News Update: January 31st, 2011

2011-03-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Lacey has been invited to visit the Department of Biology at McGill University in Montreal as an invited seminar speaker. She will present an overview of current research in the Samuels Lab.

News Update: January 3rd, 2011

2011-01-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

Lacey and Samuels Lab undergraduate student Yoshi Watanabe, in collaboration with Stephen Withers at the Department of Chemistry, have just published a paper in the latest issue of Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

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]

News Update: December 7th, 2010

2010-12-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

Lacey's latest paper, a collaboration with the Szymanski lab at Purdue University, has been published in the most recent issue of Current Biology:

Zhang, C., Kotchoni, S.O., Samuels, A.L., and Szymanski, D.B. 2010. SPIKE1 signals originate from and assemble specialized domains of the endoplasmic reticulum. Current Biology 20: 2144-2149. [view abstract]

News Update: October 27th, 2010

2010-10-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Heather’s latest paper, “Arabidopsis ABCG transporters, which are required for export of diverse cuticular lipids, dimerize in different combinations” has been published in this month’s issue of The Plant Cell.

McFarlane, H.E., Shin, J.J., Bird, D.A., and Samuels, A.L. 2010. Arabidopsis ABCG transporters, which are required for export of diverse cuticular lipids, dimerize in different combinations. Plant Cell 22: 3066-3075. [view abstract]

News Update: October 19th, 2010

2010-10-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

We have updated the research section of our website to reflect our growing lab population and our expanding research interests. Check out the cool Euler diagram of the overlapping research interests of all of the members of the Samuels Lab, which was generated using Set Visualiser.

News Update: October 4th, 2010

2010-10-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Teagen’s latest paper, “ATP-binding cassette transporter G26 (ABCG26) is required for male fertility and pollen exine formation in Arabidopsis”, has been published in this month’s issue of Plant Physiology.

Quilichini, T.D., Friedmann, M.C., Samuels, A.L., and Douglas, C.J. 2010. ATP-binding cassette transporter G26 (ABCG26) is required for male fertility and pollen exine formation in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 154: 678-690. [view abstract] [full text]

News Update: October 1st, 2010

2010-10-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Lacey, Allan, and Heather will all be participating in a Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies workshop on cellular nanospaces. The goals of the Nanospaces Biophysics Workshop are to assess current knowledge of cellular nanospaces and the tools that we use to study them, to identify limiting factors in studying these nanospaces, and to collaboratively generate new questions to guide future research.

Lacey will give a talk about nanospaces in biosynthesis and secretion of the plant cell wall, and Allan and Heather will both present posters.

News Update: September 22nd, 2010

2010-09-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Botany Techinars resume today! These short technical seminars are given by graduate students and post docs for graduate students and post docs within the department. The fall schedule of Techinas resumes today with several presentations, including one by the Samuels Lab’s own Allan DeBono, who will discuss techniques for cloning recalcitrant promoters.

News Update: September 13th, 2010

2010-09-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Rebecca has been named the principal flute for the UBC Concert Winds Band. Check out their schedule of performances at the Chan Centre, including free lunchtime concerts, here.

News Update: September 7th, 2010

2010-09-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

The Samuels Lab welcomes our newest graduate student, Kimberly Carruthers. Kim comes to us from the Department of Biology at McMaster University. At UBC, Kim will be joining the Working on Walls collaborative training network under the joint supervision of Lacey and Dr. George Haughn.

News Update: August 16th, 2010

2010-08-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Samuels Lab welcomes Laura van Bezouwen, a visiting MSc student from the Wageningen University and Research Centre in The Netherlands. Laura will work with Heather to investigate the mechanisms of plant lipid secretion.

News Update: July 26th, 2010

2010-07-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Lacey, Mathias, and Heather will be attending the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists and American Society of Plant Biologists joint annual meeting, Plant Biology 2010, in Montréal, Québec from July 31^st to August 4^th.

Lacey will speak in the Martin Gibbs medal winner symposium: Building extracellular polymers; lignin, cell walls, cutin and suberin, and polysaccharides. Her talk is entitled “The elusive export of extracellular polymer components.” and will occur on Saturday, July 31^st at 3:45 pm.

Heather has been awarded a CSPP Duff Travel Award to attend the conference, and she will present a poster entitled “Cuticular lipid export in Arabidopsis thaliana requires dimer combinations of ABCG11 and ABCG12.” (P03050). Mathias will also present a poster, entitled “Elucidating the roles of ABC transporters in Xylem specification and maturation” (P08079).

Update: Heather has been awarded the CSPP Presidents’ Award for best graduate student poster presentaion.

News Update: July 7th, 2010

2010-07-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Heather has been awarded an ISPL studentship to attend the 19^th International Symposium on Plant Lipids from July 11^th to July 16^th in Cairns, Australia. She will be giving a talk on Thursday, July 15^th, entitled “Cuticular lipid export in Arabidopsis thaliana requires dimerization of ABC transporters, ABCG11 and ABCG12.”

News Update: June 17th, 2010

2010-06-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

Lacey has been made a full professor in the Department of Botany, here at UBC. Congratulations Professor Samuels!

News Update: May 9th, 2010

2010-05-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Lacey, Mathias, Rebecca, Li, Teagen, and Grant will all attend the CSPP Western Regional Meeting/UVic Forest Biology Symposium tomorrow at the University of Victoria.

News Update: April 27th, 2010

2010-04-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Lacey has joined the Faculty of 1000 Biology as a faculty member in the plant cell biology section. As part of F1000, Lacey will recommend and comment upon recent papers that may be particularly interesting to other plant biologists.

Check out her first review, which discusses “A Comprehensive Toolkit of Plant Cell Wall Glycan-Directed Monoclonal Antibodies.” by Pattathil et al. here.

Mathias, Allan, Heather, and Li have also joined F1000 as associate faculty members. They will recommend papers for review by F1000 members and contribute to Lacey’s reviews.

News Update: April 19th, 2010

2010-04-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today is the annual UBC Botany Graduate Students Symposium. Heather will give a talk about her work on ABCG11 and ABCG12 dimerization and cuticular lipid export at 10:15 am and Teagen will give a talk about her work on the role of ABCG26 in sporopollenin export at 2 pm.

Update: Heather has been awarded the prize for best oral presentation!

News Update: April 8th, 2010

2010-04-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Allan, Lacey, and David have contributed to the new Arabidopsis Acyl Lipid Metabolism website. This site, hosted by the Michigan State University Plant Biology Group, is an excellent tool for any researcher or student who is interested in acyl lipid metabolism. It has a very user-friendly interface and includes a detailed list of genes involved in acyl lipid metabolism, a summary of the lipid composition of a variety of Arabidopsis tissues, and (best of all!) aesthetically pleasing, hyperlinked metabolic pathways. Researchers are encouraged to participate in keeping the site up to date by submitting new results via the forum.

News Update: March 26th, 2010

2010-03-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Teagen has been awarded a Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS-D2) from NSERC which will fund her PhD research for the next two years.

Congratulations Teagen!

News Update: March 25th, 2010

2010-03-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Allan and Chris Ambrose of the Wasteneys Lab have organized a seminar series of “techinars”. These short talks by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are intended to share the wealth technical knowledge that exists within our department and to foster discussion about a variety of techniques.

This week at the inaugural techinar, the Samuels Lab own Grant McNair will give a short talk about practical considerations when designing plant microRNA constructs.

Check out the UBC Botany Techinar website for a schedule of upcoming talks, as well as online discussions about the techniques that have been presented in past techinars.

News Update: February 18th, 2010

2010-02-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

Teagen has been awarded a FEBS studentship to attend the 3^rd FEBS Special Meeting on ABC Transporters from February 27^th to March 5^th in Innsbruck, Austria. She will be giving a talk about her research on March 1^st at 5pm, entitled “Examining the role of ABCG26 in Arabidopsis pollen wall formation: A putative sporopollenin monomer transporter”.

News Update: February 11th, 2010

2010-02-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

This week, both Rebecca and Teagen passed their comprehensive PhD candidacy exams. Congratulations Rebecca and Teagen!

News Update: February 10th, 2010

2010-02-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Minako, Kim, and Lacey have published their latest paper “Secondary cell wall deposition in developing secondary xylem of poplar” in the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology Special Issue on the Plant Cell Surface.

Kaneda, M., Rensing, K., and Samuels, A.L. 2010. Secondary cell wall deposition in developing secondary xylem of poplar. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 52: 234-243. [view abstract]

News Update: December 15th, 2009

2009-12-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

Today, Heather passed her comprehensive PhD candidacy exam. Congratulations Heather!

News Update: December 1st, 2009

2009-12-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ljerka and Lacey's newest review of plant cuticular lipid synthesis and export, "Plant cuticles shine: advances in wax biosynthesis and export" has been published in this month’s issue of Current Opinion in Plant Biology. [Abstract] [Fulltext]

News Update: October 12th, 2009

2009-10-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

The website for the Working On Walls (WoW) collaborative grant is now online here. Check it out to learn more about exciting new opportunities in the Samuels Lab, and in other labs in the Department of Botany at UBC, the Centre for High Throughput Biology (CHiBi) at UBC, the Faculty of Forestry at UBC, the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC, and the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria.

From the WoW website: “Working on Walls (WoW), launched in 2009, is a six-year NSERC CREATE training program focused on graduate student and postdoctoral training in an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and international environment. The scientific focus of WoW is the biosynthesis of plant cell walls and the practical implications of cell wall research. The training focus of WoW is to offer a small group of students and post-doctoral fellows a rigorous and effective post-graduate experience anchored in an integrated set of cell wall research projects balanced with development of a wide array of transferable professional skills. WoW alumni will be prepared to pursue excellence in a number of professional careers.”

News Update: September 3rd, 2009

2009-09-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Samuels Lab welcomes our new postdoctoral researcher, Mathias Schuetz. Mathias has recently completed his PhD in Jim Mattsson’s laboratory in the Biology Department at Simon Fraser University. In the Samuels Lab, Mathias joins the WoW grant in collaboration with Brian Ellis. Welcome Mathias!

News Update: August 19th, 2009

2009-08-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

Allan’s latest paper has been selected as an outstanding paper in biology by Faculty of 1000. Gwyneth Ingram at the University of Edinburgh recognizes the paper as both a confirmation of long-standing hypotheses about the role of lipid transfer proteins in cuticle biogenesis, as well as a new finding that LTPG is specifically involved in this process. See the whole review and other comments here.

News Update: July 25th, 2009

2009-07-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

This week, Lacey will be attending the annual Microscopy and Mircoanalysis meeting in Richmond, Virginia, as an invited speaker. Her talk, entitled “Integrating Cryo-Fixation and Electron Microscopy with Molecular Tools to Understand How Plants Secrete their Cell Walls” will be given in the morning on July 28^th.

News Update: July 8th, 2009

2009-07-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

Today, Robin successfully defended her PhD thesis: “Secretion of Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharides by the Golgi Apparatus in Arabidopsis thaliana Seed Coat Cells”

Robin now beings her post-doctoral position in Dr. Sheryl Bisgrove’s lab in the Department of Biology at Simon Fraser University.

Congratulations, and good luck in your future research, Dr. Young!

News Update: June 24th, 2009

2009-06-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Rebecca and Teagen have both decided to transfer to the PhD program and continue their studies in the Samuels Lab. Both of them join the collaborative WOW grant; Rebecca will conduct her research in both the Samuels Lab and in Brian Ellis’ Laboratory in the Michael Smith Laboratories, where she will continue studying lignification of secondary cell walls. Teagen will continue her research on pollen wall formation in Carl Douglas’s laboratory, and will become co-appointed in the Samuels lab.

We’re glad to have you both, ladies.

Rebecca joins the WOW grant because she successfully defended her MSc. thesis proposal today. Congratulations, Rebecca!

News Update: June 9th, 2009

2009-06-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we will all be attending the Canadian Society for Plant Physiologists 2009 Annual Meeting at Simon Fraser University, where Allan and Heather will both be giving talks.

Allan will discuss his isolation and characterization of LTPG and its involvement in cuticular wax export.

Heather will talk about our work to characterize the roles of ABCG11 and ABCG12 in wax and cutin export.

Both talks will be on Sunday afternoon; stop by and say hello!

News Update: May 26th, 2009

2009-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Allan's latest paper "Arabidopsis LTPG Is a Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchored Lipid Transfer Protein Required for Export of Lipids to the Plant Surface" has been published in the current issue of The Plant Cell:

"It has long been hypothesized that extracellular transfer of lipids across the epidermal cell wall to the waxy cuticle would require lipid transfer proteins (LTPs). An LTP with a GPI-anchor, LTPG, is required for export of wax to the cuticle in the stems of Arabidopsis. LTPG is primarily localized to the plasma membrane, and recombinant LTPG displays binding affinity for a lipophilic analog."

DeBono, A., Yeats, T.H., Rose, J.K.C., Bird, D., Jetter, R., Kunst, L., and Samuels, A.L. 2009. Arabidopsis LTPG is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored lipid transfer protein required for export of lipids to the plant surface. The Plant Cell 21: 1230-1238. [abstract] [full text]

News Update: April 15th, 2009

2009-04-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

Lacey has been awarded a UBC Faculty of Science Killam Prize for Excellence in Teaching for 2008-2009.

In 1990 UBC instituted a tradition of University Teaching Prizes adjudicated within each Faculty and recognized university-wide. In 1996 the name was changed to the UBC Killam Teaching Prizes. The prizes are awarded annually, from the Killam Endowment Fund, to faculty nominated by students, colleagues, and alumni in recognition of excellence in teaching.

Congratulations Lacey!

News Update: March 20th, 2009

2009-04-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Heather's cryo scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the essential oil glands of mint leaves has been selected as the UBC Botanical Garden's photo of the day. Check out the photo and description here.

Site Feedback

2009-03-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

This website is maintained by Heather McFarlane.

Please e-mail us with comments, suggestions, or technical problems.

Yoichiro (Yoshi) Watanabe

2009-03-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Research

2009-03-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Plant cells synthesize and secrete their cell walls, including specialized cell wall components such as cuticle and lignin. Despite the critical importance of cell walls, there is a gap in our understanding of cell wall biosynthesis: how are cell wall components that are made inside the cell exported to specific cell wall regions/domains?

Our lab studies the cellular machinery that supports the production of polysaccharides of the plant cell wall such as pectins and hemicelluloses. These cell wall components are produced by the Golgi apparatus, which in plants consists of hundreds of scattered Golgi stacks streaming around the cell. Using advanced microscopy tools, such as cryo-fixation, immuno-gold localization, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron tomography, we can track production and the controlled secretion of polysaccharides.

An essential cell wall domain is the cuticle, made up of protective lipid components covering the primary plant body. Using a combination of molecular biology and advanced microscopy techniques, we are exploring the secretion of cuticular lipids by ABC transporters and lipid transfer proteins.

Another important type of cell wall domains are lignified cell walls, where lignin makes the wall strong and waterproof, as in wood. In developing wood, both the polysaccharides secreted by the Golgi and the lignin precursors secreted by unknown mechanisms are investigated.

At UBC, we have cutting-edge microscopy infrastructure, allowing us to do correlative live cell and electron microscopy, cryofixation, electron tomography and low temperature autoradiography. Our combination of infrastructure and expertise gives us a unique niche in the field of plant cell wall biology.

Allan DeBono

2009-03-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

Please visit my website for more details about my research and projects: www.allandebono.com

In January 2006 I started my Ph.D. in Lacey Samuels' lab at UBC. I have been a part of her cuticle project studying the role of lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) in cuticular lipid export. Through a reverse genetics screen of T-DNA insertional mutants I have isolated a GPI-anchored LTP by the name of LTPG that is required for cuticular lipid export.

My areas of expertise include molecular biology and live cell imaging.

Kimberley Carruthers

2009-03-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

How I ended up in botany was a complete fluke. Back in my second year of my undergrad, when I was still planning on medical school, I had built my schedule around a Greek history course I was interested in. As a result, I ended up (quite against my will) into taking intro to botany – I ended up loving it. I graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario with my Bachelor’s in Biology where my course load was focus on plant physiology. During my undergrad program I completed an NSERC-USRA/undergrad thesis in plant stress physiology. During this project, I studied root morphology modifications of Arabidopsis and a salt-tolerant relative Thellungiella in response to high salinity and phosphate stress. As well, I looked at phosphate stress in relation to iron toxicity. I had the pleasure of doing this work in the Weretilnyk Lab at McMaster where plant responses to osmotic stress are being studied using this halophyte Thellungiella.

When I graduated, I decided to try out a new area of botany and thus chose to do a Master’s in plant cell biology. Upon visiting the UBC campus during a summer vacation, I had decided I wanted to apply to UBC. This was, in part, due to the fact that there was an actual botany department here (which was exciting coming from a school where plant bio was extremely minor)!! After looking into the botany program, I found Lacey’s lab. Her work sounded exactly like the change I was looking for. It provided me with a new area of plant bio to learn as well as the opportunity to gain experience with new techniques.

The project I am now working on for my Master’s involves looking at cell wall component secretion. More specifically, I am looking at pectin secretion using seed coat cells as a model. This is due to the fact that seed coat cells secrete a large amount of pectinaceous mucilage during development. I am using a mutant with a novel mucilage phenotype which is a putative mislocalization of this mucilage, allowing us to study the proper secretion pathway. I am currently working on characterizing this mutant using various microscopy techniques.

Prospective Students

2009-03-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

The Samuels lab is part of the "Working on Walls" [WOW] network funded by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council to promote excellent graduate student training. WOW students work collaboratively with another cell wall lab at UBC and have opportunities to interact with our international collaborators in Sweden, France and the USA.

In addition, Canadian students interested in graduate studies should see the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council website for information on fellowships.

Publications

2009-03-08T17:12:00.001-07:00

2011

Gendre, D., Oh, J., Boutté, Y., Best, J.G., Samuels, A.L., Nilsson, R., Uemura, T., Marchant, A., Bennett, M.J., Grebe, M., and Bhalerao, R.P. 2011. Conserved Arabidopsis ECHIDNA protein mediates trans–Golgi-network trafficking and cell elongation PNAS 108: 8048-8053. [view abstract] [full text]

2010

Kaneda, M., Rensing, K., and Samuels, A.L. 2010. Secondary cell wall deposition in developing secondary xylem of poplar. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 52: 234-243. [view abstract]

2009
Kunst, L. and Samuels, A.L. 2009. Plant cuticles shine: advances in wax biosynthesis and export. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 12: 721-727. [view abstract]

DeBono, A., Yeats, T.H., Rose, J.K.C., Bird, D., Jetter, R., Kunst, L., and Samuels, A.L. 2009. Arabidopsis LTPG is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored lipid transfer protein required for export of lipids to the plant surface. The Plant Cell 21: 1230-1238. [view abstract] [Faculty of 1000]

Courtois-Moreau, C.L., Pesquet, E., Sjödin, A., Muñiz, L., Bollhöner, B., Kaneda, M., Samuels, A.L., Jansson, S., and Tuominen, H. 2009. A unique program for cell death in xylem fibers of Populus stem. Plant Journal 58: 260-274. [view abstract]

2008
Coleman, H.D., Samuels, A.L., Guy, R.D., and Mansfield, S.D. 2008. Perturbed lignification impacts tree growth in hybrid poplar--a function of sink strength, vascular integrity, and photosynthetic assimilation. Plant Physiology 148: 1229-1237. [view abstract]

Li, F., Wu, X., Bird, D., Zheng, H., Samuels, A.L., Jetter, R., and Kunst, L. 2008. Identification of the wax ester synthase/acyl-coenzyme A: diacylglycerol acyltransferase WSD1 required for stem wax ester biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 148: 97-107. [view abstract]

Kaneda, M., Rensing, K.H., Wong, J.C., Banno, B., Mansfield, S.D., and Samuels, A.L. 2008. Tracking monolignols during wood development in lodgepole pine. Plant Physiology 147: 1750-1760 [view abstract]

Young, R.E., McFarlane, H.E., Hahn, M.G., Western, T.L., Haughn, G.W., and Samuels, A.L. 2008. Analysis of the Golgi apparatus in Arabidopsis seed coat cells during polarized secretion of pectin-rich mucilage. Plant Cell 20: 1623-1638. [view abstract]

Samuels, A.L., DeBono, A., Lam, P., Wen, M., Jetter, R., and Kunst, L. 2008. Use of Arabidopsis eceriferum mutants to explore plant cuticle biosynthesis. Journal of Visualized Experiments 16: 709. [view abstract]

McFarlane, H.E., Young, R.E., Wasteneys, G.O., and Samuels, A.L. 2008. Cortical microtubules mark the mucilage secretion domain of the plasma membrane in Arabidopsis seed coat cells. Planta 227: 1363-1375. [view abstract]

Verrier, P.J., Bird, D., Burla, B., Dassa, E., Forestier, C., Geisler, M., Klein, M., Kolukisaoglu, U., Lee, Y., Martinoia, E., Murphy, A., Rea, P.A., Samuels, A.L., Schulz, B., Spalding, E.J., Yazaki, K., and Theodoulou, F.L. 2008. Plant ABC proteins--a unified nomenclature and updated inventory. Trends in Plant Science 13: 151-159. [view abstract]

Samuels, A.L., Kunst, L., and Jetter, R. 2008. Sealing plant surfaces: cuticular wax formation by epidermal cells. Annual Review of Plant Biology 59: 683-707. [view abstract]

Kaneda, M., Rensing, K.H., Wong, J.C., Banno, B., Mansfield, S.D., and Samuels, A.L. 2008. Tracking monolignols during wood development in lodgepole pine. Plant Physiology 147: 1750-1760 [view abstract]

2007
Greer, S., Wen, M., Bird, D., Wu, X., Samuels, A.L., Kunst, L., and Jetter, R. 2007. The cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP96A15 is the midchain alkane hydroxylase responsible for formation of secondary alcohols and ketones in stem cuticular wax of Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 145: 653-667. [view abstract]

Bird, D., Beisson, F., Brigham, A., Shin, J., Greer, S, Jetter, R., Kunst, L., Wu, X., Yephremov, A., and Samuels A.L. 2007. Characterization of Arabidopsis ABCG11/WBC11, an ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter that is required for cuticular lipid secretion. Plant Journal. 52: 485-498. [view abstract]

Coll, E.P., Kandt, C., Bird, D.A., Samuels, A.L., and Tieleman, D.P. 2007. The distribution and conformation of very long-chain plant wax components in a lipid bilayer. Journal of Physical Chemistry: B 111: 8702-8704. [view abstract]

2006
Downing, W.L., Galpin, J.D., Clemens, S., Lauzon, S.M., Samuels, A.L., Pidkowich, M.S., Clarke, L.A., and Kermode, A.R. 2006. Synthesis of enzymatically active human alpha-L-iduronidase in Arabidopsis cgl (complex glycan-deficient) seeds. Plant Biotechnology Journal 4: 169-181. [view abstract]

2005
Suh, M.C., Samuels, A.L., Jetter, R., Kunst, L., Pollard, M., Ohlrogge, J., and Beisson, F. 2005. Cuticular lipid composition, surface structure, and gene expression in Arabidopsis stem epidermis. Plant Physiology 139: 1649-1665. [view abstract] [Faculty of 1000]

Ehlting, J., Mattheus, N., Aeschliman, D.S., Li, E., Hamberger, B., Cullis, I.F., Zhuang, J., Kaneda, M., Mansfield, S.D., Samuels, A.L., Ritland, K., Ellis, B.E., Bohlmann, J., and Douglas, C.J. 2005. Global transcript profiling of primary stems from Arabidopsis thaliana identifies candidate genes for missing links in lignin biosynthesis and transcriptional regulators of fiber differentiation. Plant Journal 42: 618-640. [view abstract]

2004
Pighin, J.A., Zheng, H., Balakshin, L.J., Goodman, I.P., Western, T.L., Jetter, R., Kunst, L., and Samuels, A.L. 2004. Plant cuticular lipid export requires an ABC transporter. Science 306: 702-704. [view abstract] [Faculty of 1000]

Rensing, K.H., and Saumels, A.L. 2004. Cellular changes associated with rest and quiescence in winter-dormant vascular cambium of Pinus contorta. Trees – Structure and Function 18: 373-380. [view abstract]

Western, T.L., Young, D.S., Dean, G.H., Tan, W.L., Samuels, A.L., and Haughn, G.W. 2004. MUCILAGE-MODIFIED4 encodes a putative pectin biosynthetic enzyme developmentally regulated by APETALA2, TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1, and GLABRA2 in the Arabidopsis seed coat. Plant Physiology 134: 296-306. [view abstract]

2003
Kunst, L., and Samuels, A.L. 2003. Biosynthesis and secretion of plant cuticular wax. Progress in Lipid Research 42: 51-80. [view abstract]

2002
Samuels, A.L., Rensing, K.H., Douglas, C.J., Mansfield, S.D., Dharmawardhana, D.P., and Ellis, B.E. 2002. Cellular machinery of wood production: differentiation of secondary xylem in Pinus contorta var. latifolia. Planta 216: 72-82. [view abstract]

Rensing, K.H., Samuels, A.L., and Savidge, R.A. 2002. Ultrastructure of vascular cambial cell cytokinesis in pine seedlings preserved by cryofixation and substitution. Protoplasma 220: 39-49. [view abstract]

Li Xi

2009-03-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

Education

PhD, UBC, in Canada (2010/01 - present)
MSc, Nanjing Agricultural University, in China (2006/09 - 2008/12)
BSc, Jilin Agricultural University, in China (2002/09 - 2006/07)

Research

For my PhD program, co-suprevised by Dr. Lacey Samuels in Botany and Dr. Shawn Mansfield in the Department of Wood Science in Forestry, I will elucidate the role of arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) in secondary cell wall biosynthesis. It is an interesting project. AGPs are currently divided into two classes depending upon their core protein: ‘classical’ and ‘nonclassical’ AGPs. Classical AGPs are defined by the core protein and contain Hyp, Ala, Ser, Thr and Gly as the major amino acid constituents, whereas nonclassical AGPs have their carbohydrate moieties attached to core proteins which are different from the classical ones in any number of ways. AGPs may have roles in secondary cell wall initiation and lignification, acting as matrices for the orderly addition of nascent wall precursors to the growing wall matrix. AGPs are also thought to be involved in cell expansion. They may also play a role in programmed cell death, cell adhesion and signalling pathways through glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchors.

For my Master program, my research project was ferritin genes expression patterns in pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai.) and apple micrografts, the scion is the transgenic Malus domestica Borkh, the stock is the genetic transformation of Malus robusta Rhed. with rolC. All of them are cultivated by tissue culture. Ferritins are iron-storage proteins involved in the regulation of free iron levels in the cells. Abiotic stress could affect the expression of ferritins and is crucial for developing any transgenic strategy. I learned different ferritin genes expression pattern in pear and micrografting apple. Also, I had studied in depth on the establishment of in vitro and the plant regeneration system of capsicum, in order to establish and increase a high rate of regeneration systems for improving transgenic efficiency.

Funding

China Scholarship Council, and NSERC Working on Walls (WoW) grant.

Other Interests

Growing flowers
Reading and writing essays
Light music
Cooking
Knitting
Walking

Grant McNair

2009-03-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

I completed my undergraduate and M.Sc degrees at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. My M.Sc was undertaken in the Forest Molecular Genetics Programme and was completed in 2009 under the supervision of Prof A.A. Myburg. The focus of my research was determining the abundance profiles of novel and conserved Eucalyptus miRNAs. This was done to identify miRNAs potentially involved in wood formation. The selected miRNAs were first profiled at the whole-tree level and then the xylogenic tissues of trees in a time trial bending (tension wood inducing) experiment.

I began my PhD (Forestry) in September 2009 in the Shawn Mansfield Lab and will be completing a portion of my research in the Lacey Samuels Lab. The co-supervisors for my PhD are Shawn Mansfield and Lacey Samuels. My research is centred on secondary growth in trees. I am investigating cell expansion during secondary growth though the characterisation of a GPI-anchored protein. I’m also interested in identifying the genetic mechanism and regulators of xylem differentiation from the vascular cambium. The research is in part funded through the Working On Walls (WoW) CREATE grant from NSERC.

Other research interests are miRNAs and their role in plant development, specifically in wood development and disease resistance.

Teagen Quilichini

2009-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

In 2008, I earned a B.Sc. in Botany from the University of Calgary. There, I had the pleasure of working in Dr. Douglas Muench’s lab where I learned about dynamic subcellular trafficking processes required for translational autoregulation and peroxisomal protein import in plant cells. This lab gave me excellent exposure to a variety of techniques and sparked my interest in plant cellular and molecular biology and live cell imaging.
I am currently at UBC under the joint supervision of Dr. Carl Douglas and Dr. Lacey Samuels, as part of the “Working on Walls” network funded by NSERC. For my Ph.D., I am studying the formation and composition of the Arabidopsis pollen wall using reverse genetics, light and electron microscopy, molecular biology and biochemistry. The outer pollen wall (exine) is composed primarily of sporopollenin, a structurally robust bpolymer that serves to protect pollen from terrestrial stresses. Despite its importance in plant life, our understanding of the components, structure, biosynthesis, transport and polymerization of sporopollenin remains largely incomplete. I am interested in understanding how the components of the outer pollen wall are exported from their site of synthesis in the tapetum to the anther locule for polymerization on the surface of developing pollen grains.
When I moved to Vancouver, I joined an program for promoting science education in children and young adults, called Let’s Talk Science. I recommend this program to anyone interested in discussing science with an audience of enthusiasts. When I’m not busy doing science, you’ll likely find me outside, running, biking, scuba diving and enjoying this beautiful city. I also like jamming with the UBC botany band on my cello and all-you-can-eat sushi.

Quilichini, T.D. and Muench, D.G. (2008) The microtubule proteome: A role in regulating protein synthesis and import into organelles? In: The Plant Cytoskeleton: a Key Tool for Agro-Biotechnology. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series. Springer Publishing. Eds. Blume, Y.B, Baird, W.V., Yemets, A.I., Brevario, D. pp. 267-281. [abstract]

Mathias Schuetz

2009-03-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

I completed a PhD in plant developmental genetics in July 2009 at Simon Fraser University where I worked with Jim Mattsson in the department of Biological Sciences. My thesis research explored the role of the plant hormone auxin in the formation of leaves from the shoot apical meristem and subsequent leaf vascular tissue patterning (Schuetz et al., 2007; Wenzel et al., 2007; Schuetz et al., 2008).

Working on Walls (WoW) is a NSERC CREATE training program which will establish a plant cell wall research center at the University of British Columbia. The scientific focus of the WoW research program is the biosynthesis of plant cell walls and the practical implications of cell wall research. I aim to continue my work on vascular cell specification and differentiation as member of the collaborative WoW research program working with Lacey Samuels’ (Botany) and Brian Ellis’ (Michael Smith Labs) research groups.

The formation of the plant secondary cell wall is a developmentally regulated and highly coordinated process which is most evident in woody plants like trees. The plant hormone auxin has been shown to be required for the specification of undifferentiated parenchyma cells to procambial cells from which either xylem or phloem cells differentiate (Sachs, 1981; Aloni et al., 2003; Mattsson et al., 2003). A prominent feature of xylem vessels is a thick secondary cell wall that provides mechanical strength to withstand the negative pressure associated with water transport. These secondary cell walls are rich in cellulose and hemicellulose but also contain the strong waterproof polymer lignin. Monolignols are produced at the endoplasmic reticulum inside the cell and are subsequently polymerized into lignin at the cell wall but mechanisms for monolignol export from the cell are unknown. My research goals are to dissect key developmental steps in xylem formation using both Arabidopsis and Poplar plants and include the following:

1. To understand how auxin gradients are established and maintained in cambial regions undergoing xylem specification.

2. To elucidate mechanisms of monolignol export during secondary cell wall deposition.

3. To identify novel proteins interacting with key transcription factors which have previously been shown to regulate xylem formation.

Aloni R, Schwalm K, Langhans M, Ullrich CI (2003) Gradual shifts in sites of free-auxin production during leaf-primordium development and their role in vascular differentiation and leaf morphogenesis in Arabidopsis. Planta 216: 841-853 [view abstract]

Mattsson J, Ckurshumova W, Berleth T (2003) Auxin signaling in Arabidopsis leaf vascular development. Plant Physiol 131: 1327-1339 [view abstract]

Sachs T (1981) The control of patterned differentiation in vascular tissues. Adv Bot Res 9: 151-262 [view abstract]

Schuetz M, Berleth T, Mattsson J (2008) Multiple MONOPTEROS-dependent pathways are involved in leaf initiation. Plant Physiol 148: 870-880 [view abstract]

Schuetz M, Haghighi-Kia A, Wenzel CL, Mattsson J (2007) Induction of xylem and fiber differentiation in Populus tremuloides. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique 85: 1147-1157 [view abstract]

Wenzel CL, Schuetz M, Yu Q, Mattsson J (2007) Dynamics of MONOPTEROS and PIN-FORMED1 expression during leaf vein pattern formation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J 49: 387-398 [view abstract]

Rebecca Smith

2009-03-06T21:39:00.001-08:00

I graduated with my B.Sc. (Honours) from the University of Manitoba in 2008. Through my undergraduate studies, I became interested in plant biochemistry, specifically plant secondary metabolism. I did my honours project under the supervision of Dr. David Bird and I examined the ultrastructure of the glandular secretory trichomes of Artemisia annua. Artemisia annua is an important medicinal plant because it produces and sequesters the antimalarial secondary metabolite artemisinin within its glandular secretory trichomes. This research initiated my interest in microscopy, cell biology and the connections between plant cell biology and biochemistry.

I recently transferred to the PhD program after completing my first year of graduate studies as a Masters student. I am now involved in the “Working on Walls” network funded by NSERC and I am co-supervised by Dr. Lacey Samuels and Dr. Brian Ellis. I will continue to study plant secondary metabolism for my PhD project as I study the lignification of plant secondary cell walls.

Lignification of plant cell walls is essential for the maintenance of cell structure and function, especially if the lignified cell undergoes programmed cell death during development, as is the case for water conducting tracheary elements. Lignin plays an important role in plants, but causes problems in industry because it is very difficult, and costly, to degrade or extract from cell walls. The degradation or extraction of lignin from cell walls is integral to the pulp and paper industry, to the development of forage crops, and to the development of ethanolic biofuels. In order to successfully decrease or alter cell wall lignin content to ease lignin degradation without affecting plant survival, all stages of lignification must be studied. I am investigating a putative stage of lignification called the “good neighbour”, or co-operative, model. Studies in the Zinnia cell culture system have indicated that the lignification of tracheary elements continues even after programmed cell death, prompting speculation that parenchyma cells surrounding the tracheary elements may be contributing to the lignification of the tracheary elements in a co-operative manner. I will be using a technique called autoradiography to examine the distribution of radiolabeled lignin precursors within Arabidopsis thaliana roots and stems to determine if the parenchyma cells surrounding tracheary elements are contributing to lignification.

Heather McFarlane

2009-03-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

Education

PhD (in progress) Botany, UBC (2008-present)
MSc Cell Biology, McGill University (2006-2008)
BSc (honours) Cell and Developmental Biology, UBC (2002-2006)

Research
In a broad sense, I am interested in intracellular trafficking and secretion. I am particularly interested in polarized secretion and in the factors governing the establishment and maintenance of organelle identity.

My previous work, both my MSc in Tamara Western’s lab at McGill University, and my undergraduate honours thesis in Lacey Samuels’ lab at UBC, were focused on polarized pectin secretion in the seed coat of Arabidopsis.

Currently, I am studying lipid export from plant cells. My model systems include the cuticular wax-secreting epidermal cells of Arabidopsis thaliana and Sorghum bicolor, and the essential oil-secreting glands of peppermint. All three of these plant cell types secrete extraordinarily large volumes of lipids during particular time-points in their developments. However, the mechanisms of this transport have not yet been elucidated. I am using a combination of approaches including light and electron microscopy, reverse genetics, and biochemistry to characterize the molecular mechanisms behind plant lipid export.

Publications
Samuels, A.L. and McFarlane, H.E. 2012. Plant cell wall secretion and lipid traffic at membrane contact sites of the cell cortex. Protoplasma - in press. [view abstract]

Harpaz-Saad, S.*, McFarlane, H.E.*, Xu, S., Divi, U.K., Forward, B., Western, T.L., and Kieber, J.J. 2011. Cellulose synthase via the FEI2 RLK/SOS5 pathway and CELLULOSE SYNTHASE 5 is required for the structure of seed coat mucilage in Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 68: 941-953. [view abstract]
* SHS & HEM contributed equally to this work.

McFarlane, H.E., Shin, J.J., Bird, D.A., and Samuels, A.L. 2010. ABCG transporters, which are required for export of diverse cuticular lipids, dimerize in different combinations. The Plant Cell 22: 3066-3075. [view abstract]

Young, R.E., McFarlane, H.E., Hahn, M.G., Western, T.L., Haughn, G.W. and Samuels, A.L. 2008. Analysis of the Golgi apparatus in Arabidopsis seed coat cells during polarized secretion of pectin-rich mucilage. The Plant Cell 20: 1623-1638. [view abstract]

McFarlane, H.E., Wasteneys, G.O., Young, R.E. and Samuels, A.L. 2008. The cortical microtubule cytoskeleton in Arabidopsis seed coat cells marks a plasma membrane domain of high vesicle fusion. Planta 227: 1363-1375. [view abstract]

Funding

My research is funded by an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship D3, a Canadian L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Postgraduate Scholarship, a Four Year Graduate Fellowship from UBC, and a UBC Botany entrance scholarship.

Other Interests
Outside of the lab, I play ice hockey and soccer and I am a keen knitter. I am also involved in a variety of mentoring and science outreach activities; I am a coordinator for UBC Let's Talk Science, and I volunteer with Actua mentoring and the L'Oréal-UNESCO Foundation for Women in Science.

Find Heather: [email] [LinkedIn] [Google Scholar]

Previous Lab Members

2009-03-06T19:18:00.001-08:00

Robin Young (PhD)

Robin studied how plants make pectin. The plant cell uses the Golgi apparatus as the primary site of pectin production. Using Arabidopsis seed coat cells, Robin used advanced microscopic techniques to show that all of the scattered Golgi stacks work together to produce cell wall polysaccharides.

Next position:
Post-doctoral Fellow in Dr. Sherryl Bisgrove Lab
Department of Biology
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver BC

Minako Kaneda (PhD)

Minako studied how trees produce wood in order to understand mechanisms of cell wall precursor flows at the subcellular level. Her work made a significant contribution to our understanding how trees export lignin, one of the most abundant biopolymers on earth.

Next position:

Post-doctoral Fellow in Dr. Anja Geitmann lab

Institut de recherche en biologie végétale

Département de sciences biologiques

Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC

David Bird (Postdoc)

Kim Rensing (Postdoc)

Jamie Pighin (MSc)

Contact Us

2009-03-06T18:50:00.000-08:00

2312 Biological Sciences Building

Department of Botany

University of British Columbia

6270 University Blvd

Vancouver, BC

CANADA

V6T1Z4

e-mail

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