Benjamin A. Babst

Goldhaber Postdoctoral Fellow

Brookhaven National Laboratory
BLDG 901 - P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

Research Interests

My research focuses on plant natural products, plant responses to stress, especially herbivory, and plant improvement for bioenergy, bioproducts, and carbon sequestration. I have a particular interest in the regulation of long-distance vascular transport, and the implications of regulated changes in carbon and nitrogen allocation for plant growth, form, and chemical composition. A combination of biochemical, molecular and physiological techniques, as well as stable and radio-isotope tracers are critical to elucidating the means by which different plant organs share resources, communicate changes in environmental and internal conditions, and regulate allocation of resources at a whole plant scale. Over the long term, understanding the regulation of resource partitioning to different classes of biochemicals and resource allocation to different plant organs will contribute to plant improvement strategies to optimize biomass production for bioenergy, and the development of plant substitutes for petroleum-based products, to be grown in sustainable low-input systems.

Education

• B.S. University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 1996
• M.S. University of Maryland College Park Horticulture, 2000
• Ph.D. Tufts University Biology, 2006

Selected Publications

• Babst B.A., Harding S., and Tsai C.J.
  Biosynthesis of phenolic glycosides from phenylpropanoid and benzenoid precursors in Populus.
  Journal of Chemical Ecology, 36:286-297 (2010).  PubMed
• Payyavula R.S., Babst B.A., Nelsen M.P., Harding S.A., and Tsai C.J.
  Glycosylation-mediated phenylpropanoid partitioning in Populus tremuloides cell cultures.
  BMC Plant Biology, 9:151 (2009).  PubMed
• Babst B.A., Sjödin A., Orians C.M., and Jansson S.
  Local and systemic transcriptome responses to herbivory and jasmonic acid in Populus.
  Tree Genetics and Genomes, 5: 459-474 (2009).
• Babst B.A., Ferrieri R.A., Thorpe M.R., and Orians C.M.
  Lymantria dispar herbivory induces rapid changes in carbon transport and partitioning in Populus nigra.
  Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. 128:117-125 (2008).
• Babst B.A., Ferrieri R.A., Gray D.W., Lerdau M., Schlyer D.J., Schueller M., Thorpe M.R. and Orians C.M.
  Jasmonic acid induces rapid changes in carbon transport and partitioning in Populus.
  New Phytologist, 167:63-72 (2005). PubMed
• Ferrieri R.A., Gray D.W., Babst B.A., Schueller M.J., Schlyer D.J., Thorpe M.R., Orians C.M. and Lerdau M.
  Use of carbon-11 in Populus shows that exogenous jasmonic acid increases biosynthesis of isoprene from recently fixed carbon.
  Plant, Cell & Environment, 28:591-602 (2005). 
• Orians C.M., Babst B.A. and Zanne A.E.
  Vascular constraints and long-distance transport in dicots.
  In Vascular Transport in Plants. (eds. Holbrook, N. M. & Zwieniecki, M.) Elsevier-Academic Press, Amsterdam. pp. 355-371 (2005).
• Orians C.M., van Vuuren M.M.I., Harris N., Babst B.A., and Ellmore G.
  Differential sectoriality in long distance transport in temperate tree species: Evidence from dye flow, 15N transport and vessel element pitting.
  Trees: Structure and Function, 18(5):501-509 (2004).

Last Modified: March 10, 2011
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