José R. Dinneny

José R. Dinneny, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Plant Biology. One of our greatest challenges in the next 50 years will be to realize a global society that is fully sustainable. Water is the most limiting resource for plant growth while agriculture uses between 70-80% of the fresh water supply. Despite its critical importance, key questions remain regarding how plants sense, transport and efficiently use water (Monshausen and Gilroy, 2009). My research aims to understand plant-environment interactions using a holistic approach that emphasizes the importance of developmental pathways and molecular genetic mechanisms in guiding acclimation and homeostatic processes (Dinneny, 2015a). This work has led to the exploration of water-stress responses in plants at unparalleled spatial and temporal resolution (Duan et al., 2013; Geng et al., 2013; Dinneny et al., 2008), the discovery of novel adaptive mechanisms used by roots to capture water (Bao et al., 2014) and the invention of imaging methods that enable multidimensional studies of plant acclimation (Rellán-Álvarez et al., 2015). Today’s research goals focus on understanding the signaling mechanisms plants use to sense water availability and the characterization of the molecular-genetic basis for naturally occurring adaptive innovations that allow plants to survive water-limiting environments.