InterConnections: Get to Know Kamesh Regmi
Three-Dimensional Ultrastructure of Arabidopsis Cotyledons Infected with Colletotrichum higginsianum
Name: Kamesh Regmi
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio)
Education: B.A. degree, Reed College; Ph.D. degree, Arizona State University
Non-scientific interests: Visual media
Brief Bio: I grew up in Nepal and arrived at Reed College to pursue my college education, graduating with a degree in biology. Then I met Dr. Roberto Gaxiola on a visit to Arizona State University (ASU) and was immediately fascinated by the mechanisms of photosynthate transport in phylogenetically diverse lineages of plants. During my pursuit of a Ph.D. degree at Dr. Gaxiola’s lab, I studied sugar transport and partitioning in a vascular monocot rice and a nonvascular moss, Physcomitrium, and showed that the molecular toolkit required for sugar transport evolved before phloem itself. Overall, trying to understand how structure recapitulates function in the biological universe has been the primary driving force of my research. I ultimately landed as a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Roger Innes‘ lab at Indiana University, where I optimized and utilized state-of-the-art imaging methods like serial block-face and focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy to elucidate and reconstruct the three-dimensional ultrastructure of various Colletotrichum fungi in the process of infecting host plants like Arabidopsis, sorghum, and Medicago. Last summer, I moved to Kenyon College, a small, primarily undergraduate, liberal arts institution, to establish my own plant biology lab. At Kenyon, I have really enjoyed teaching a wide array of classes—ranging from introductory labs and lectures to upper-division courses in plant physiology and pathology. Specifically, integrating hypothesis-driven, research-oriented, publication-quality science in the classes that I teach to highly motivated undergraduate students has been a rewarding experience.
