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She may be called the Corn Queen, but Katie Murphy now has claim to another title: University of California-wide Grad Slam champion. The UC Davis plant biology graduate student took home the top prize on May 10 for this three-minute talk on a biochemical hack that could help sick crops heal themselves.

Senior biochemistry and molecular biology student Lynne Hagelthorn studies how plants use chemicals to "survive, thrive and communicate" in the lab of Assistant Professor Philipp Zerbe, Department of Plant Biology. Hagelthorn is one of the 2019 recipients of the Ronald and Lydia Baskin Research Award, which recognizes a graduating senior for excellence in biological research. 

When Lynne Hagelthorn was in high school, she planned to pursue studying history as a college student. She loved speech and debate and was fascinated by how humans use language to understand and construct reality. But during her junior year, she took a biotech class and through it secured an internship in the lab of Distinguished Professor Richard Michelmore, director of the UC Davis Genome Center. Everything changed after that.

After learning basic lab techniques, Hagelthorn would explore the Genome Center’s high-tech facility.

There’s a small, fenced-in field near the Student Health and Wellness Center on the UC Davis campus. In the summer, you might find corn growing here, and among the rows, you might find Katherine Murphy weeding the field, hand pollinating the corn and finally harvesting it. This corn isn’t destined for the dinner table but rather the lab, where it’s used for research purposes to help feed our future.

Arid lands—with cracked soil and oppressive heat—aren’t usually places that inspire the potential for growth. But Assistant Professor Philipp Zerbe, Department of Plant Biology, sees an opportunity in these harsh lands: they’re prospective beds for growing biofuel crops of the future.

Philipp Zerbe of UC Davis at the 12th Annual Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting on March 22, 2017 in Walnut Creek, Calif.