Center for Molecular Agriculture

Laurie G. Smith

Assistant Professor
Division of Biological Sciences,
 University of California at San Diego
Phone (858) 822-2531
Fax (858) 534-7108
lsmith@biomail.ucsd.edu

 
Dr. Smith received her Ph.D. from the University of London (University College), U.K. in 1988. As a Burroughs Wellcome Fund postdoctoral fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation, she carried out postdoctoral work at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley.Prior to joining the Department of Biology at UCSD in 1998, she was a faculty member for 3 years in the Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Research Focus:

Spatial control of cytokinesis and cell morphogenesis in maize and Arabidopsis.

Research in the Smith lab is aimed at understanding cytoskeleton-dependent mechanisms governing the orientation of cell division and cell expansion during plant development.

Recent Publications:

  • Smith, L.G., Gerttula, S., Han, S., and Levy, J. (2001). TANGLED1: A microtubule binding protein required for spatial control of cytokinesis in maize.  J. Cell Biol. 152:231-236.
  • Frank, M.J., and Smith, L.G. (2002). A small, novel protein highly conserved in plants and animals promotes the polarized growth and division of maize leaf epidermal cells. Curr. Biol 12:849-853.
  • Frank, M.J., Cartwright, H.N., and Smith, L.G. (2003). Three Brick genes have distinct functions in a common pathway promoting polarized cell division and cell morphogenesis in the maize leaf epidermis.  Development 130:753-762.
  • Frank, M., Egile, C., Dyachok, J., Djakovic, S., Nolasco, M., Li, R., and Smith, L.G. (2004). Activation of Arp2/3 complex-dependent actin polymerization by plant proteins distantly related to Scar/WAVE. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 101:16379-16384.
  • Smith, L.G. and Oppenheimer, D.G. (2005). Spatial control of cell expansion by the plant cytoskeleton. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 21:271-295.
  • Djakovic, S.N., Dyachok, J., Burke, M.P., Frank, M.J., and Smith, L.G. (2006). BRICK1 acts with SCAR and the Arp2/3 complex to regulate epidermal cell morphogenesis in Arabidopsis. Development, in press.

More details on research in the Smith laboratory