Joel Sharbrough, a former biology graduate student, received a five-year, $1.2 million CAREER Award in 2022 from the National Science Foundation to lead a cutting-edge plant genomics research project. Dr. Sharbrough received his Ph.D. in Integrated Biology from the University of Iowa in 2016 under the direction of Maurine Neiman, Professor of Biology. He has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT) since 2020.
The project, titled “Genomic, cellular, and physiological effects of whole-genome duplications on organismal energy production,” aims to study how plants adjust cellular energy production to compensate for a history of genome duplication. The project will provide opportunities for NMT undergraduate and graduate students to participate in laboratory research, and students from two high schools will experience DNA sequencing first-hand.
Dr. Sharbrough teaches genetics and evolution and leads two Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) in bioinformatics and functional genomics at NMT.