Marissa Nicole Roghair Stroud

I am a PhD Candidate in the lab of Dr. Larry Halverson. I am interested in discovering the genetic and molecular mechanisms of maize rhizosphere colonization. My work involves studying bacterial interactions between rhizosphere isolates, measuring production of excreted metabolites used for cell-cell communication or competition, and designing a CRISPR interference system for our model rhizosphere colonist, Pseudomonas putida. We plan to use this system to identify genes that P. putida uses to colonize the maize rhizosphere, as well as which genes are important when different organisms are present in the community.