Professor Edgar Spalding has two noteworthy achievements.
First, he was selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biology (ASPB), a professional society of over 5,000 members devoted to the advancement of the plant sciences.
Second, he received a 3-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the molecules that enable seedlings to respond appropriately to light as they transition from an embryo within the seed to an established, independent plant.
The work is being done with Arabidopsis thaliana, the 'lab rat' of plant biology research.
The molecules being investigated include cryptochrome, a photoreceptor that detects light signals in plants (and also in human eyes), and a multidrug resistance transporter, which moves the hormone auxin across cellular membranes.