Associate Professor; Departmental Chair BA, MS (Stockholm) PhD (Illinois)

Dr. Stromvik combines her bioinformatics and molecular biology/genomics expertise to research functional anatomy as a result of cell or tissue specific gene expression in crop and forest plants. Martina V. Stromvik collageEach plant species is considered to have between 20,000 and 60,000 genes. Expression of each gene at the correct time and in the correct cells is made possible by the composition of the associated gene cis-acting regulatory sequences, the promoters. Diversity in plant promoters and regulatory elements is the primary basis for the development of functional organisms. Promoters are also recognized as an incredible source of tools for correctly expressing genes in crop improvement and metabolic engineering such as for the development of new bio products (medicines, vaccines, industrial oils, paints, lubricants, adhesives, plastics, alternative energy sources, and plants for industrial decontamination). However, to date little is known about promoters, and especially about plant promoters. Dr. Stromvik's research program elucidates plant gene expression and promoters on a global scale, using bioinformatics and microgenomics methods in the important crop plant soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), but also in other species such as Oxytropis spp., and Arabidopsis thaliana.