PostDoc Spotlight, Postdoctoral News,
Clayton Kranawetter grew up on a small farm in southeast Missouri and came to Mizzou in 2012 as an undergraduate student in biochemistry. During his undergraduate studies, Clayton found his love for scientific research as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab of Dr. Xiao Heng, an associate professor in the Biochemistry Department. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2016, he remained at Mizzou as a biochemistry PhD student in the lab of Dr. Lloyd Sumner, a professor in the Biochemistry Department and Director of the MU Metabolomics Center. Clayton’s PhD research focused on a highly underexamined tissue termed plant root border cells. Border cells are located on the root tips of most plant species and are an essential first line of defense against soil pathogens. After completing his PhD in 2022, Clayton submitted, and was successfully funded for, a proposal entitled “Understanding Plant Root Border Cells and Their Secretions in Mediating Rhizosphere Microbiome Dynamics” for the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture postdoctoral research fellowship program. This fellowship provides Clayton with funding for both research and training to not only continue but expand his cutting-edge research on plant root border cells. Clayton recently completed the first year of this two-year fellowship and continues his research hosted by the lab of Dr. Lloyd Sumner in the Bond Life Sciences Center.