Dhruv P
- Research Program Mentor
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Expertise
Plant biology, sustainability, agriculture, genetic engineering
Project ideas
Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.
What makes a weed, a weed?
We've all seen weeds growing in the weirdest of places. How come it's so hard to take care of a house plant, but these pests can grow without any care in the world? In this project we look into what lessons we can learn from these sneaky hitchhikers, while trying to figure out how they're so good at what they do.
Microscopic friends for food
Our bodies carry one (!) bacterial cell for every human cell in our body. These little bugs support all kinds of essential processes, and it turns out, the soils we grow our food on are no different. In this project, we investigate how the native microbiome of different soils helps support happy and productive plants.