The Gehan Lab 2025
Research and Data Scientists
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Research ScientistKeely Brown is a research scientist in Data Science and the Gehan Lab, and has been at Danforth since January, 2024. She did her undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, and both her PhD at the University of Kansas and postdoc at University of California, Riverside focused on understanding evolutionary forces that maintain genetic variation in plant populations. She currently works on the development of PlantCV and its subpackage PlantCV-geospatial for image analysis of UAV and satellite data. In her free time, Keely likes to knit while listening to horror audiobooks, bike around Tower Grove park, and play video games.
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Research ScientistAnna Casto is a research scientist and has been in the Gehan Lab since 2019. Her research focuses on understanding temperature stress in sorghum and maize, using image-based phenotyping and gene expression. She also contributes to PlantCV. She received her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University where she worked to identify genes involved in stem development and flowering time in sorghum. Anna enjoys reading science fiction, drought stressing her house plants, and running.
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Data ScientistHaley works jointly in the Gehan lab and the Datascience Core facility and she is one of the core developers for the opensource image analysis package PlantCV. Her role at the Danforth Center includes the development of new image analysis approaches, and leveraging parallel trait extraction from high throughput phenotyping experiments for answering plant science questions from single cell, whole plant, and now even field level scales.
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Lab Manager and Technicians
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Laboratory TechnicianAutumn Brown, M.S is a laboratory technician at the Donald Danforth Center. In the Gehan lab she helps with all the different experiments in the lab, and specifically works on pollen germination studies in Quinoa under heat and salt stress. She received her Bachelors at the University of Arkansas and her Masters at the University of Wisconsin. She has worked with a wide variety of crops before coming to Danforth including Muscadines, Grapes, Blackberries, Raspberries and Cannabis. She enjoys reading, hanging out with her family and cat (Stevie), crafting and learning new things.
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Laboratory TechnicianAnnika is a laboratory technician at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Annika’s project is looking at the natural variation in heat stress response of different Brachypodium distachyon accessions. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biology at Harris-Stowe State University and worked on a study about food security in urban areas and intercropping during her undergrad. In her free time she enjoys playing soccer, biking, playing video games and reading.
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Lab ManagerSam is the lab manager of the Gehan Lab 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 organizing the lab and its equipment, 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 daughter (Robin).
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Fellows and Graduate Assistants
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Pivot to Plants FellowSunita Lama is from St. Louis, MO. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree from Tribhuvan University, Nepal from the Department of Microbiology. Joining the Pivoting to Plants Fellows program, she knew she would have the opportunity to gain hands-on research experience after taking a break in her career. Recently she completed a data analysis course from Launchcode, St. Louis. In her free time, you can find Sunita painting (acrylic), baking and gardening at her home or at various chess tournaments/events including St. Louis Chess club accompanying her son.
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Administrative Staff
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Jenny Kezele
Scientific Administrative AssistantJenny Kezele is a Scientific Administrative Assistant supporting the Gehan Lab at the Danforth Center. In this role, Jenny manages scheduling, coordinates meetings, and oversees administrative tasks to ensure seamless operations for the lab. In her free time, she likes to spend time traveling with her husband, trying new craft breweries, and listening to live music
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Gehan Lab/Phenotyping/Data Science Craft Day
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The Gehan Lab and Data Science with 2024 REU students at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Symposium
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Gehan Lab/Phenotyping/Data Science Craft Day
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