The Team
Jaime Barros-Rios
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor — Plant Biotechnology
Phone: 940-205-7636
Max Bentelspacher
Lab Technician
Max graduated with a BS in Plant Science in 2022 and is the lab technician in the Barros Lab.
Weiwei Zhu
Postdoctoral Fellow
wzkbc@missouri.edu
Weiwei obtained her doctoral degree from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences in January 2023. She joined the lab in August of 2023.
Vadivelmurugan Irulappan
Postdoctoral Fellow (Co-advised, Fritschi Lab)
Vadivel completed his Ph.D. at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi, India, in March 2022. His research focused on plant-pathogen interactions under drought stress conditions.
Rachel Weber
Undergraduate Researcher
Rachel is a sophomore at Mizzou majoring in biochemistry. She joined the lab in October of 2022 and is currently studying the roles of laccases and peroxidases in lignification.
Kari Koerner
Undergraduate Researcher
Kari is a freshman at Mizzou double majoring in Environmental Sciences and Music. Kari joined the lab in the Fall of 2024.
