User:Mgcrutch/sandbox

Scientific Contributions

Chory focuses her research on finding a way to optimize plant growth to sustain a growing human population. She uses Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism, but her purpose is to optimize all plant growth and not just that of A. thaliana itself. She mutates the genes of the model organism and uses the results to understand the effects that these mutations have. She approaches this information from various directions including using genetics, genomics, cell biology, x-ray crystallography, biochemistry, and ecology. She has made strides in understanding light sensitivity and hormones in these plants. She uses this knowledge to optimize growth in other plants in hopes that we can better sustain a fast and ever-growing population.

Biography

Joanne Chory was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her Lebanese parents raised her along with her four brothers and one sister. She began her upper-level education at Oberlin College in Ohio where she graduated with a degree in biology with honors. She then continued her postgraduate education at the University of Illinois. It is here where she received her PhD. Chory eventually married her husband, Stephen Worland, with whom she has two adopted children. In 2004, Chory was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She has struggled with the disease for well over a decade, but with the help of medications and a brain implant to help regulate her movement, she has continued her genetic research. Along with her passion for genetics, Chory strives to inspire young women to become scientists and is constantly working to improve the field for women.

Chory was not always interested in genetics. Her early career interests were centered in microbiology. Through her research in that field, she developed a deeper interest in genetics, specifically research that was being done on Arabidopsis plants. Through her lengthy career in genetics she has been awarded numerous prestigious awards for her many contributions to the field.