Nadelhoffer Lab: Alex Smith

Alex Smith is an undergraduate student in Biology at the University of Michigan. In the summer of 2006 Alex captured images from the minirhizotrons at UMBS DIRT. He then traced and quantified roots in the images to compare root activity between treatments.

Alex is currently working in the Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology Department at the University of Michigan. He is constructing a phylogeny of nsp2 - a plant gene which is involved in the formation of symbiotic associations between legumes and rhizobia bacteria.  By tracing the evolution of this gene, he hopes to improve our understanding of the origins of rhizobial symbiosis.