Israel L. Cunha-Neto

Israel Cunha-Neto is a plant biologist and Principal Investigator of the Plant Growth Lab. He is broadly interested in the diversity of plant form and function, with an emphasis on vascular plants. Specifically, his research explores the patterns and processes underlying vascular development, including wood and bark formation, which together account for most of the biomass on Earth and serve as essential renewable resources for human societies. In this work, he combines fieldwork, collection-based research, and approaches from multiple disciplines, including morphology, developmental anatomy, molecular biology, and phylogenetics. Currently, research in the Plant Growth Lab integrates these tools to develop a novel experimental system to study the molecular basis of plant vascular traits that sustain growth in wild and cultivated species.