The Team

The Gehan Lab

2022 Gehan Lab (Plus Josh, Data Science/Bart Lab)

Research Scientists and Postdoctoral Researchers

Lucia Acosta-Gamboa, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. She received her bachelor’s degree in Agronomy at the University of Costa Rica. She continued her education at Arkansas State University, where she completed her Master’s in the Department of Soil Science working on nitrogen use efficiency of switchgrass, high-biomass and gamagrass, as well as her PhD in the department of Molecular Biology, working on ascorbic acid production in Arabidopsis. She then moved to Cornell University to continue with her postdoctoral research where she worked on a DARPA project using Setaria viridis as a model plant for sensing and responding to various DoD compounds of interest. At the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, she received the NIFA postdoctoral fellowship and is currently working on using phenomics, transcriptomics, and ionomics to examine the combination of salt and high night temperature stress effect in Chenopodium quinoa. Dr. Acosta-Gamboa’s research has focus on using high throughput phenotyping and abiotic stress to understand plant tolerance and adaptation. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, travelling and spending time with her husband (Gustavo), and miniature dachshund (Tika).

Joe Ballenger, Ph.D. is a plant scientist working in Malia Gehan’s lab. He is a core member the team, studying how plants respond to high and low temperatures in order to create plants which can be used to make jet fuel. When not at work, he enjoys spending time in his kitchen using his knowledge of chemistry to create amazing dishes.

Leonardo Lima, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral associate in Malia Gehan’s lab. He is particularly interested in understanding how plants respond to abiotic stress. His previous work focused on Selenium hyperaccumulator. The research aims to improve our understanding of plant Se metabolism, with important implications in agriculture, medicine, and industry. Leonardo received his undergraduate degree in Biology, and his Master of Science degree in Crop Science from São Paulo State University (UNESP-Jaboticabal) in 2010 and 2014, respectively. His previous work focused on the effects of Selenium on plant metal stress resistance.

Computational Scientists

Jorge Guterriez, Ph.D. is a data scientist in the Gehan Lab and the Data Science core at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Jorge’s work focuses on developing plant phenotyping tools and techniques using image processing and computer vision. He also contributes to the open-source Python package PlantCV. Jorge earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Polytechnique Montreal working on generative models for synthetic 2D and 3D texture images. He proposed new texture synthesis models based on variational methods and deep learning.

Haley Schuhl, M.S. is a data scientist working in both Dr. Malia Gehan’s and Dr. Noah Fahlgren’s labs. She is part of the core developers team for PlantCV, which is an open-source Python package geared towards lowering the bar to entry for high-throughput plant phenotyping. Some of her favorite projects to date include creating a suite of morphological analysis tools and building cross compatibility with Gator Sense’s open-source hyperspectral tool-kit. Haley performed as an aerialist in the Gamma Phi Circus while studying biostatistics and modeling at Illinois State University. She enjoys getting outside with her dog Xabi for nearby hikes as well as camping, snowboarding, and swimming.

Post-Baccalaureate Researchers

Ella Ludwig

Technicians

Sam Kenney, is a Laboratory Technician at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Sam’s work revolves around supporting the talented researchers and their exciting projects in the Gehan Lab. His role involves image analysis, experimental set-up and design, and data collection. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology at Truman State University. Sam has previous experience in plant phenotyping at Bayer Crop Science and science communication as an educator at the Saint Louis Science Center. In his spare time Sam enjoys reading, playing various tabletop games, birdwatching with his wife (Emily), and spending time with his cat (Bosley).

Jared Gordon, is a Laboratory technician at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Missouri. His work at the Center is in support of the awesome researchers and their projects in the Gehan lab. This support can take many forms such as planting, harvesting, and imaging. Outside of the lab he enjoys spending time with his daughter Nora and wife Becca.

Administration

Michelle Richards, Grants Manager- Joined the Danforth Center in July 2016. She earned her B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is organized, detail oriented, and generally helps to keep us scientists sane.

Malia Gehan, Ph.D. is an Assistant Member and Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, who focuses on improving resistance to temperature stress. Most recently, she was a Research Scientist in the Mockler Lab (Danforth Center) and a NSF-PGRP Postdoctoral Fellow. During her Postdoctoral research she focused on developing tools for high-throughput phenotyping. Through work on phenotyping, she and colleagues started a Maker Group at the Danforth Center that focuses on developing low-cost phenotyping tools, and fun outreach events (Raspberry Jams!). Malia earned her Ph.D. in Plant Biology at Michigan State University Plant Research labs with Dr. Mike Thomashow examining natural variation in freezing tolerance and the integration of the circadian clock with cold signaling. As an undergraduate researcher in Biology at Willamette University she studied thermoinhibition of growth and development of guard cell protoplasts with Dr. J. Gary Tallman. Malia grew up in Kaneohe, Hawaii where there is very little change in temperature, which is probably why she is so interested in temperature signaling. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband (Jackson), daughter (Aiko) and sassy cat, Meowming.

The Gehan and Fahlgren Labs 2019

The Gehan Lab 2018

Lab Alumni

Postdoctoral Researchers:
Dr. Sarah Powers (co-mentor with Allen), Currently,
Dr. Katie Murphy (co-mentor with Allen), Currently Director of Phenotyping, Danforth Center
Dr. Anna Casto, Currently Macroalgae Research Scientist II, Running Tide
Dr. Jose Tovar, Currently Bayer Crop Sciences
Dr. Sanaz Jarolmasjed, Currently Director of Machine Vision, Agnetix
Dr. Steven Callen, Currently Crop Protection Strategy Manager, Bayer Crop Sciences

Computational Researchers:
Hudanyun Sheng, Currently Data Science Researcher UT Southwestern Medical Center

Research Technicians:
Elizabeth Castillo, Currently Bayer Crop Sciences
Anastasia Shamin, Currently Technician, Covercress

Undergraduate Researchers:
Alexus Sanders, WashU
Ella Ludwig, WashU
Anastasia Shamin, UMSL
Paige Pearson, SLU

REU and Summer Undergraduate Researchers:
Taraya Dwight, Currently, Currently Delaware State University
Michael McGrone, REU, Currently Bradley University
JJ Wheeler, REU, Currently Tufts University
Eileen Kosola, Summer Intern, Currently University of Minnesota
Ellen Von Zur Muehlen, REU, Currently applying to graduate programs
Seren Villwock, REU, Currently Graduate Student, Cornell University
Miranda McLaughlin, REU, Currently Graduate Student, Auburn University.
Monica Tessman, REU, Currently Software Developer, Bayer Crop Sciences
Michael Miller, REU, Currently Graduate Student, UNL

Meowming, lab mascot, enjoys 'singing', snoozing, and paper bags