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Horticultural Sciences

Horticultural Sciences

Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul

Research Professor

Mailing Address:
Fifield Hall
2550 Hull Road
PO Box 110690
Gainesville, Florida 32611

Office: 2111 Fifield Hall
Phone: (352) 273-4855
E-mail: alp@ufl.edu

  • Areas of Research

    My research interests focus on the regulation of plant gene expression in response to abiotic stress and extreme environments, with a particular interest in chromatin structure, genome organization, and epigenetic change. Venues associated with spaceflight provide an opportunity to explore plant genomic responses to an environment that is outside the evolutionary experience of terrestrial organisms.  This unique platform presents a background by which adaptive metabolisms can be observed as they are crafted to cope with a stress de novo; providing a window into the origins of adaptive processes.

  • Educational Background
    • B.A., Botany, University of South Florida (1980)
    • M.S., Plant Phys. / Physiological Ecology, University of South Florida (1984)   
    • Ph.D., University of Florida, Molecular Genetics / Epigenetics (1989)
    • Postdoctoral, UF and Northwestern University, Chromatin Architecture (1990-95)
  • Work Experience
    • 2015 – present, Research Professor, Horticultural Sciences
    • 2018 – present, Graduate Faculty, Genetics and Genomics
    • 2012 – present, Graduate Faculty, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • 2009 – present, Graduate Faculty, Horticultural Sciences
    • 2008 – 2015, Research Associate Professor,  Horticultural Sciences, UF
    • 2005 – 2008, Associate Scientist, Horticultural Sciences, UF
    • 1996 – 2004, Assistant In, Horticultural Sciences, University of Florida
  • International Experience
    • 2016 – present, German Space Agency (DLR), Bremen Germany - The EDEN ISS project, including deployment to Neumayer Research Station, Antarctica
    • 2004 – present, University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario, Canada – hypobaric Mars analog habitats
    • 2006 – 2011, Arctic Research in the Canadian High Arctic – the Haughton Mars Project on Devon Island
  • Honors and misc. Academic Experience
    • President, American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, 2017-2018
    • University of Florida Designated Representative to the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in 2017
    • Award for most compelling results on the International Space Station (awarded jointly to A-L Paul and R.J. Ferl), 2015
    • NASA GeneLab, Science Council, 2013 - present
    • NASA GeneLab KSC Science Element Lead –  IPA October 2013 - 2016
    • Governing Board, American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology 2005-2008, 2013-present
    • Board Member, Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG), 2012 - present
    • Editor in Chief, Journal: Gravitational and Space Biology, 11-2010 – present
    • Graduate Coordinator, Program in Plant molecular and Cellular Biology, Jan 2013 - present
    • Lead IFAS Cohort Member, March 2012 through March 2013
    • Board Member, international Space Station Standing review Board (ISS SRB) 2012-2013
    • Science Writing Academy Participantand UF /HOS representative to National Association of Science Writers and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing in November 2013
  • Current Graduate Students
    • Natasha Sng, PhD  (Chair) – Graduated December, 2017
    • Collin LeFrois, MS  (Co-Chair) – Graduated December, 2017
    • Brandon Califar, PhD (Co-Chair)
    • Nicole Beisel, PhD (Co-Chair)

Selected Publications

AuthorsYearTitle / DescriptionPublication
Paul A-L, Sng NJ, Zupanska AK, Krishnamurthy A, Schultz ER, Ferl RJ 2017 Genetic dissection of the Arabidopsis spaceflight transcriptome: Are some responses dispensable for the physiological adaptation of plants to spaceflight? PLoS One 12: e0180186
Zupanska AK, Schultz ER, Yao J, Sng NJ, Zhou M, Callaham JB, Ferl RJ, Paul A-L  2017 ARG1 Functions in the Physiological Adaptation of Undifferentiated Plant Cells to Spaceflight.  Astrobiology 17: 1077-1111 
Paul A-L, Zhou M, Callaham JB, Reyes M, Stasiak M, Riva A, Zupanska AK, Dixon MA, Ferl RJ   2017 Patterns of Arabidopsis gene expression in the face of hypobaric stress.  AoB Plants 9: plx030 
LeFrois CE, Zhou M, Amador DM, Sng N, Paul A-L, Ferl RJ   2016 Enabling the Spaceflight Methylome: DNA Isolated from Plant Tissues Preserved in RNAlater™ Is Suitable for Bisulfite PCR Assay of Genome Methylation.  Gravitational and Space Research 4: 28-37 
Ferl RJ and Paul A-L.  2016 The effect of spaceflight on the gravity-sensing auxin gradient of roots: GFP reporter gene microscopy on orbit. Nature Microgravity 2, 15023.
Schultz E. R., Paul A.-L., and Ferl R. J.  2016  Root Growth Patterns and Morphometric Change Based on the Growth Media. Microgravity Sci Technol: 1-11.
Ferl RJ, Koh J, Denison F, Paul A-L  2015  Spaceflight Induces Specific Alterations in the Proteomes of Arabidopsis. Astrobiology 15: 32-56.
Paul A-L and Ferl RJ  2015  Spaceflight exploration in plant gravitational biology. Methods in Molecular Biology 1309:285-305.
Paul A-L, Zupanska AK, Schultz ER, Ferl RJ  2013 Organ-specific remodeling of the Arabidopsis transcriptome in response to spaceflight. BMC Plant Biology. 13:112.