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Hello everyone! My name is Kristen Van Gelder, and I am a PostDoc at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. My research area is in synthetic biology with a focus on “plantizing” microbial enzymes through continuous directed evolution. I am currently working on evolving enzymes of thiamin biosynthesis. During my graduate studies at the University of Guelph, Canada, I studied plant specialized metabolism, with an emphasis on isoprenoid biosynthesis in tomato. I have also studied specialized metabolism in Cannabis sativa and Mitragyna speciosa.
I look forward to sharing and discussing plant science with everyone in the Plantae community!