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Graduate Student

Prof. Laura Bogar

Laura was a PhD student in the Peay Lab from 2013-2019. Her dissertation research focused on understanding the ecological, physiological, and genetic mechanisms that allow plant roots and soil fungi to cooperate in ectomycorrhizal mutualism, using stable isotope enrichment and gene expression analysis to explore resource exchange and symbiotic communication. Prior to the PhD, she was introduced to the wonderful world of ectomycorrhizas while working with Prof. Peter Kennedy as an undergraduate at Lewis & Clark College. She continued this line of inquiry as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Holly Moeller at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she focused on how environmental stress (e.g. drought) can affect mycorrhizal functioning and diversity. In July 2022, Laura will join the faculty of the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, Davis, as an assistant professor. Her lab will examine mycorrhizal symbioses from molecular, physiological, and ecological perspectives, with the goal of understanding how these diverse symbioses work and how their functions may shift as the climate changes.