Research in our lab aims to understand how plants perceive and integrate environmental light and temperature changes to reprogram gene expression, development, and photosynthetic capacity.

Our current projects focus on signaling by phytochrome B (phyB), which functions as both a photoreceptor and thermosensor. Using environmentally regulated seedling developmental transitions in Arabidopsis thaliana as a genetic model, we investigate two broadly relevant principles of cell signaling.

First, we ask how subnuclear membraneless organelles (photobody condensates) organize signaling outputs and control nuclear gene regulation.

Second, we dissect nucleus-to-plastid anterograde signaling mechanisms that coordinate nuclear programs with plastid gene expression.

The outcomes of our work illuminate the molecular basis of plant phenotypic plasticity and provide general insights into nuclear organization and nucleus–organelle communication in eukaryotic cells.