Achievement

The EIGER Fellow (Megan LeBlanc, Plant Physiologist) collaborated with a Physics graduate student to develop a method for optoperforation of plant cells in vivo. This technique uses a two-photon laser to create transient holes in plant cells for the uptake of materials such as transgenes or fluorescent tracers. Involvement in this IGERT program has propelled her research lab program into interdisciplinary areas for the first time. The collaboration between plant scientists and physicists resulted in two grant awards from a Virginia Tech institute (ICTAS – Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science) geared towards promoting interdisciplinary research. The second award was made in 2012 to facilitate the work of the IGERT fellow into using nanotechnology for studying mRNA trafficking in plants.