John Browse
John Browse, right, Regents Professor of molecular plant sciences and member of WSU's Institute for Biological Chemistryleads a research team that investigates how to produce biofuels from crop plants. Dr. Browse's team works with Arabidopsis thalia, the small mustard-family plant that serves as the workhorse organism of most plant researchers. These scientists have discovered a gene that transforms the castor bean's desirable oil into Arabidopsis, which then becomes desirable fat, and serves as an excellent model system for oil-seed crop species.