About

Adrienne Roeder is a professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section at Cornell University. Her research focuses on understanding how beautiful and complex patterns form during plant development, particularly how cell growth, division, and patterning contribute to the development of specialized cell types in plants. She employs a three-pronged computational morphodynamics approach that combines live imaging with confocal microscopy, collaboration with image processing experts, and computational modeling to analyze development in space and time. Her laboratory investigates the molecular networks underlying cell patterning, such as the formation of giant and small cells in Arabidopsis sepals, and how regulation of the cell cycle influences cell identity and patterning. Her work aims to elucidate the coordination of growth, division, and patterning to inform efforts in engineering better crop plants and biofuels. Additionally, she is actively involved in outreach activities, engaging middle school girls in science through hands-on workshops that demonstrate DNA extraction and gene translation, emphasizing the relevance of genetics in everyday life.

Research topics

• Cell biology
• Biology
• Genetics
• Botany

Selected publications

• Fifteen compelling open questions in plant cell biology

  The Plant Cell · 2021 · 56 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Genetics

  As scientists, we are at least as excited about the open questions-the things we do not know-as the discoveries. Here, we asked 15 experts to describe the most compelling open questions in plant cell biology. These are their questions: How are organelle identity, domains, and boundaries maintained under the continuous flux of vesicle trafficking and membrane remodeling? Is the plant cortical microtubule cytoskeleton a mechanosensory apparatus? How are the cellular pathways of cell wall synthesis, assembly, modification, and integrity sensing linked in plants? Why do plasmodesmata open and close? Is there retrograde signaling from vacuoles to the nucleus? How do root cells accommodate fungal endosymbionts? What is the role of cell edges in plant morphogenesis? How is the cell division site determined? What are the emergent effects of polyploidy on the biology of the cell, and how are any such "rules" conditioned by cell type? Can mechanical forces trigger new cell fates in plants? How does a single differentiated somatic cell reprogram and gain pluripotency? How does polarity develop de-novo in isolated plant cells? What is the spectrum of cellular functions for membraneless organelles and intrinsically disordered proteins? How do plants deal with internal noise? How does order emerge in cells and propagate to organs and organisms from complex dynamical processes? We hope you find the discussions of these questions thought provoking and inspiring.

  DOI

• Robust organ size requires robust timing of initiation orchestrated by focused auxin and cytokinin signalling

  Nature Plants · 2020 · 91 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Botany
  DOI

• Nitrate Defines Shoot Size through Compensatory Roles for Endoreplication and Cell Division in Arabidopsis thaliana

  Current Biology · 2020 · 54 citations

  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Botany
  DOI

Recent grants

• URoL:EN: Convergence of biology and architecture: how emergent system dynamics generate adaptable, robust, and resilient forms

  NSF · $3.0M · 2022–2027

• Feedback of cell cycle on cell type in Arabidopsis organogenesis

  NSF · $517k · 2013–2016

• CAREER: Initiation of Cell Size Patterning in Arabidopsis

  NSF · $1.0M · 2016–2024

• NSF-ANR: The Biophysical Basis of Flat Organ Morphogenesis From Fluctuating Cellular Growth (GrowFlat)

  NSF · $515k · 2022–2027

• Mechanisms of robustness in organogenesis

  NIH · $1.5M · 2020–2025

Frequent coauthors

• Olivier Hamant

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  52 shared

• Arezki Boudaoud

  Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement

  50 shared

• Mingyuan Zhu

  33 shared

• Elliot M. Meyerowitz

  33 shared

• Lilan Hong

  Zhejiang University

  24 shared

• Chris Somerville

  University of California, Berkeley

  18 shared

• Shuyao Kong

  17 shared

• Karen S. Osmont

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  16 shared

Labs

• The Roeder LabPI

Education

• PhD

  University of California San Diego

  2005

• B.S.

  Stanford University

  1999

Similar researchers at Cornell University

• Edward Bucklerh-182
• Robert Sternbergh-168
• John P. Mooreh-153
• Olivier Elementoh-150
• Andy Clarkh-142