Feng Zhang

A critical challenge we face today is to produce sufficient food and plant-derived products for a growing population.  This challenge is further complicated by an ever-changing and unstable climate.  In the past 20 years, a substantial effort has been made in understanding plant gene function and the basic mechanisms of plant growth, development and interaction with the environment.  The knowledge gleaned from these studies has paved the way to design better plant varieties by modifying, editing and rewriting their genetic code.  The primary goal of my research program is to improve plant productivity and quality through highly efficient, large scale genome editing and synthetic biology approaches.