Christopher Strock
Education
- Ph.D. candidate, Plant Biology, The Huck Institute of the Life Sciences, Penn State University (2013-current)
- B.S. Biology, B.S. Environmental Studies, Gettysburg College (2009-2013)
Adviser: Jonathan Lynch
Research:
I investigate anatomical root traits in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and their effect on water and nutrient acquisition using in silico modeling, laser ablation tomography, and laboratory physiology techniques. Anatomical traits of interest include secondary growth, which has effects on metabolic costs of roots and radial transport of nutrients, as well as metaxylem vessel morphology, which has impacts on water transport and use under drought stress.
Publications:
Strock CF, de la Riva LM, Lynch JP (2018) Reduction in Root Secondary Growth as a Strategy for Phosphorus Acquisition. Plant Physiology 176: 691-703 https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.17.01583
Olson-Manning CF, Strock CF, Mitchell-Olds T (2015) Flux Control in a Defense Pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana Is Robust to Environmental Perturbations and Controls Variation in Adaptive Traits. G3-Genes Genomes Genetics 5: 2421-2427 https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.115.021816