Graduate Student

Ketra completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Science Technology from Kyambogo University in Uganda, where she majored in Biology. Her research focused on evaluating protein isolation buffers to optimize protein extraction for analytical purposes. Ketra is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biology, majoring in cell and molecular biology at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Her research is now on the analysis of the Cassava Mosaic Virus replication in susceptible versus resistant cassava varieties. 

Prior to joining the Danforth Center, she worked under the VIRCA Plus project in Uganda for the past six years, whose focus is developing cassava varieties resistant to Cassava Brown Streak Disease. Her role was to optimize systems for the generation of target embryogenic plant cells for genetic transformation, specifically in a different setting such as Uganda with varying environmental factors and limited resources. Her work was under the capacity-building component of the VIRCA Plus project.

Ketra is interested in exploring the diversity of disease resistance mechanisms displayed by plants and using the acquired information to develop disease resistance strategies for essential crops. What is most interesting to her about plants is that they are just as active as animals. Though they appear docile, a lot is going on within them, from surviving various stress factors to the vast amount of contribution they make to sustaining our world.

Outside of the lab, Ketra enjoys theater, and used to write and direct plays in Uganda. She also plays the guitar.

Graduate Student

Paty completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Biochemistry at Iowa State University where her undergraduate research in Dr. Gustavo MacIntosh’s lab focused on better understanding the molecular basis of soybean-soybean aphid interactions. Now, as a graduate student in the Plant and Microbial Biosciences program at Washington University in St. Louis, her research interests have expanded to plant-virus interactions. She is currently working on better understanding Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) type 2 resistance and looking at whether that resistance can be used by other crops besides cassava that are also susceptible to geminiviruses.

Her work aims to develop innovative solutions to address the impact of geminiviruses on global food security and sustainability. She is in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) Program and is a Danforth Plant Science Fellow.

When not in the lab, she enjoys traveling, eating out at new restaurants, and spending time with her cat.

Postdoctoral Associate

Spencer graduated with a Bachelors in Science in genetics and biotechnology in 2016 from Brigham Young University where he spent three years studying population genetics of plant species in the intermountain west including the invasive grass Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass). He then completed a doctoral degree in molecular biology and oncological sciences from the University of Utah in 2022, in the lab of Dr Jay Gertz where he studied the molecular and genomic effects of mutations in the estrogen receptor alpha protein in breast cancer. In graduate school, he found that his interests were more in the plant and agricultural sciences and developed a particular fascination in the interconnectedness of plants and their soil environments including soil microbial communities. In the Bart Lab, Spencer works on the SINC project to identify and isolate plant-beneficial microbes and their supporting community of “helper” microbes using microbial, genomic, and computational approaches. Outside of the lab, Spencer loves learning about farming and healthy land management practices, raising animals, and gardening. He also loves hunting and fishing, bird watching, gardening, hiking, and camping, and spending any time he can with his wife and two children.