Research
I got my Bachelors degree from the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia.
While at UdeA I joined the Plant Evo-Devo lab and worked on my senior thesis titled "R2R3-MYB Gene Expression Underlies Floral Color And Variation In the Perianth-Bearing Piperales" under the supervision of Dr. Natalia Pabon-Mora.
My honors thesis explored the expression patterns and evolutionary history of the R2R3-MYB genes responsible for anthocyanin production regulation in selected species of the Aristolochiaceae family
This work was published in April 2021
In September 2021 I started my Masters at University of Connecticut under the supervision of Dr. Cynthia Jones and Yaowu Yuan. In my time there, I researched the formation of color patterns using two different approaches:
1) Understanding the formation of a vein-associated pattern in Mimulus pictus flowers by following the development of pigment and R2R3-MYB genes expression in different developmental stages
2) Learning how pigments are spatially organized in petals using a synthetic biology approach
in Mimulus parishii
In August 2023 I joined the CapituLab at Auburn University as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Jones
My first project focuses on studying the morphological and transcriptomic changes associated with the reproductive transition in staminate and pistillate florets of Baccharis halimifolia. This species is exciting because it is an example of dioecy, where staminate (pollen) and pistillate (ovules) inflorescences are produced in different plants.
