Miller Named CPRES Director
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| W. Allen Miller |
W. Allen Miller has been named director of the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses (CPRES).
Miller is a professor of plant pathology and biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, with main research interests in plant virus gene expression. His lab studies genetic variations of yellow dwarf viruses in cereals, and how plant viruses usurp the cell's protein synthesis machinery. Miller also uses plant viruses as models to understand how they replicate, knowledge that may apply to human pathogens, such as hepatitis A and C, dengue and West Nile viruses.
Miller has been an affiliate of CPRES since its inception and will lead the center to continue its research focused on how plants respond to biotic stresses, such as those imposed by viruses, bacteria and fungi, and abiotic stresses such as droughts and floods.
"It's a pleasure to be director of a center that is so strong in terms of fundamental research," said Miller, who intends to ensure that the center's state-of-the-art equipment retains its high quality. There are 14 members of CPRES and more than 50 researchers use the center's equipment. Miller also will encourage that CPRES continues its unique in-house seminar series organized by postdoctoral researchers.
Miller earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1984. From 1984-88 he worked as a research scientist at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization, Canberra. He joined the faculty at Iowa State in 1988.
