Dr. Douglas Allen
Research Scientist
Department of Plant Science
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
United States of America
Biography
Doug received his Ph.D. in Engineering from Purdue University, and prior to joining the Center as a Research Computational Biologist with the USDA he worked for the Archer Daniels Midland Company and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at Michigan State University.The Allen lab is exploring oilseeds, such as soybean, that can provide the oils necessary to supplant some of our non-renewable dependencies. Among the greatest challenges associated with increased oil production in seeds and other plant tissues is improving our understanding of the metabolism that governs storage reserve composition (i.e protein, oil and carbohydrate).
Research Interest
Doug’s research is dedicated to understanding the metabolic networks of oilseed plants to enhance biomass composition using experimental and computational methods. These investigations give insight to plant metabolism, important for designing crops to meet future nutritional and chemical feedstock needs.
Publications
-
Zhang Y, Ding Z, Ma F, Chauhan RD, Allen DK, Brutnell TP, Wang W, Peng M, Li P. Transcriptional response to petiole heat girdling in cassava. Scientific reports. 2015;5.
-
Couso I, Evans BS, Li J, Liu Y, Ma F, Diamond S, Allen DK, Umen JG. Synergism between Inositol Polyphosphates and TOR Kinase Signaling in Nutrient Sensing, Growth Control, and Lipid Metabolism in Chlamydomonas. The Plant Cell. 2016 Sep 1;28(9):2026-42.
-
Allen DK. Quantifying plant phenotypes with isotopic labeling & metabolic flux analysis. Current opinion in biotechnology. 2016 Feb 29;37:45-52.
