Blake's work focuses on genome-scale studies of RNA and components of RNA silencing pathways, emphasizing plant reproductive biology and the evolution of plant small RNAs. Blake has been involved with next-generation DNA sequencing since its earliest days, and he has developed a number of applications of this technology, including computational methods, that have had a deep impact on plant genomics.
Past PMB Seminars
For a schedule of all Plant & Microbial Biology events, seminars, and lectures visit our calendar.
Joan Strassmann: Who wins in bacteria - amoebae symbioses?
Strassmann’s work investigates cooperative alliances that have occurred at several important steps in the evolution of life, and have proven evolutionarily and ecologically very successful. Studying how these alliances came to be, how conflicts are subsumed into cooperation, what conflicts remain, and how they influence sociality comprise her dominant research interests.
Jenny Mortimer: Sweet stories: characterizing and engineering plant glycans
My major research interest is plant cell wall biosynthesis and sphingolipid glycosylation. In particular my group is interested in understanding the function og glycosyltransferases, the regulation of nucleotide sugar metabolism and nucleotide sugar transporters, as well as developing tools for glycobiology.
Nina Salama: Kustu Lecture: Bacterial body building: mechanisms and consequences of Helicobacter pylori morphology
Nina Salama studies Helicobacter pylori, a stomach bacterium that infects half the world’s population and is associated with ulcers and gastric cancer — the third leading cancer killer worldwide. Her team found that H. pylori’s unique corkscrew shape allows the bug to colonize the stomach by burrowing into the mucus lining where it is protected from the acidic environment. They found a set of...
Dr. Fan Dai: ERG Colloquium: Fan Dai
California and China have a long-standing history of climate and environment partnership through the dozen MOUs between the governments, as well as policy exchange and joint research initiatives, ranging from air-quality, carbon market, energy efficiency, renewable energy innovation to long-term climate goal setting. What motivates and what has worked in such bilateral collaboration? What can the...
Peggy Hellweg: Earthquakes in our Backyard
The Hayward Fault, in our East Bay backyard, is a big earthquake hazard. What have we learned recently? What are we doing to improve earthquake outcomes? What can you do to be prepared?