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Mengjun Shu, Ph.D.

I am currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Emily Moran’s lab at University of California, Merced. My research interests are primarily aimed at using next-generation sequencing techniques to understand the local adaptation of plants and to predict their performance under the changing climate.

My current research centers on identifying genetic variation associated with environmental variation and drought-tolerance phenotypes in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), an ecologically and economically important conifer that lacks a sequenced genome. I combine genotype-to- environment and genotype-to-phenotype  association analysis with gene annotation to identify genetic variants and gene functions associated with local adaptation to drought in ponderosa pine.