Dr. Feng Zhang

Genome editing holds the promise for plant researchers to make precise genetic modifications in their favorite genome. A key characteristic of current genome editing technologies is the use of sequence-specific nucleases. In the past few years, RNA-guided programmable nucleases, such as CRISPR/Cas9, have become the reagent of choice to achieve efficient genome editing in many plant species. While the genome editing technologies have been greatly improved, numerous challenges still need to be overcome to achieve plant genome editing with high precision and in a large-scale manner. This research program focuses on tackling these technological barriers to improve efficiency, precision, and throughput in plant genome editing.