Anna Stepanova

Bio

Anna Stepanova received her BS and MS degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno and Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod, Russia. She did her graduate studies on plant hormone ethylene in the laboratory of Joseph Ecker at UPenn and Salk and postdoctoral work on phytohormone interactions with Jose Alonso at NC State University. Anna is now an Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Genetics at NC State University. Her primary research interests continue to center around plant hormones, specifically the mechanisms of ethylene signal transduction, auxin biosynthesis, hormonal pathways’ crosstalk, gene regulation, and translational control of hormone responses. In her work, Anna is employing classical and molecular genetics, genomics and synthetic biology in Arabidopsis and tomato to decipher the mechanisms governing plant adaptation and phenotypic plasticity. Her research team is developing novel biotechnological tools and molecular methods that are not only shedding mechanistic light on fundamental plant biology, but also have potential to improve plant stress resilience, extend produce shelf life, and boost its nutritional value.