Name: Jeanmarie Verchot-Lubicz
Title: Associate Professor
Place of Work or School: Oklahoma State University
Research Area: Plasmodesmata transport, plant virus–host interactions
Member since: 2001

1. Why has being a member of ASPB been important to you?
I have been accessing ASPB’s two journals, Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell, since I was a first-year graduate student. ASPB offers the best opportunities to interact with the broadest range of plant scientists in the world. My research on virus movement across plasmodesmata involves investigating signal transduction, plant stress responses, plant cell biology, small RNA transport between cells, and intercellular transport of development cues. ASPB offers the opportunity to view my own research in a much broader context, and allows me to develop new collaborations for creative, cross-cutting research.

2. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
No. My research has moved into the host side of plant–pathogen interactions, and it was obvious that ASPB would be a better forum for my research at this time.

3. What would you tell colleagues to encourage them to join?
ASPB is a strong society with many National Academy of Sciences and high-profile members. You find ASPB members everywhere, and the opportunities to attend regional and national conferences can only serve to enable researchers to expand their professional network. I have sat on many NSF and USDA grant panels, and ASPB members are always there. This shows that ASPB is nationally respected and influential in terms of scientific policy.

ASPB is one of the friendliest societies I have belonged to. ASPB conferences have more special meetings and program opportunities at conferences—featuring speakers from NSF, software training, and women’s forums—that are very easy to join and where it’s easy to meet people and feel involved.

4. Have you enhanced your career using ASPB job postings or through networking at an ASPB function?
At this stage of my career, I am looking to hire more than be hired. However, networking through ASPB, I have had the opportunity to give seminars at other universities and form new collaborations.

5. Have you had any success at finding candidates as a result of a job posting at the meeting or via our online Job Bank?
I have hired postdocs by networking through ASPB.

6. Do you read print journals? If so, where do you usually read them?
I read print journals over coffee in the morning and at home. I do like to have some journals at home.

7. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
One would be the emerging field of nanotechnology for control of gene expression and delivery of therapeutics in plants. Nanotechnology has the potential to replace transgenic technology for disease resistance in certain respects. There is still a lot to be discovered in small RNA biology, as well as the broader topic of signal transduction mechanisms in development and defense. On the topic of cell biology, we don’t really understand all aspects of the endomembrane network, including how the secretory system contributes to cell–cell communication. The role of the endosome in basic processes is not understood. Degradation pathways and how they regulate development and defense are also just being explored. Finally, integrative biology—how to move from molecules to pathways to tissues—and harnessing all the computational biology that has been achieved.

8. What person, living or deceased, do you most admire?
I have had the privilege of working with some of the best minds who have contributed the most to the field of RNAi and R gene mediated defenses. There are several obvious names in this field who are friends that are highly regarded by most, and their creativity is indisputable. On the personal side, I admire my husband the most for his unwavering common sense and ability to enjoy life.

9. What are you reading these days?
For journals, I read Science, Cell, The Plant Cell, Plant–Microbe Interactions, and PLoS. Other professional reading on my desk, which pertains to course development, includes BioInformatics: A Practical Approach, 3rd edition, by Andreas Baxevans and B.F. Francis Ouellette; Viruses and the Nucleus, edited by Julian Hiscox; and Analysis of Genes and Genomes, by Richard Reese. At home, for my son we read children’s books by Mark Teague. For myself, I like reading classics, philosophy, ethics, and history. Recently, my husband and I were discussing and reading Democracy in America by Alexis deToqueville, which is one of the most important books of our time about American federalism.

10. What are your hobbies?
Hobbies have been replaced mostly by motherhood, an expanding travel schedule, and scientific commitments. When I get time to myself, I love cooking, knitting, yoga, swimming, and going to the gym.

11. What is your most treasured possession?
While I treasure my family and dogs the most, they are not possessions. I love to travel, and so I treasure my photo albums, art, and trinkets I have gathered from around the world. My most important possessions now are my laptop, iPod and Blackberry, although not sentimental treasures I would not function without these.

12. What do you still have left to learn?
Only when you pose the right question, can you realize what you do not know. Only when you discover or characterize a phenomenon, can you realize that there was something unexplained.