Carole Bassett
Dr.Bassett is interested in identifying genes associated with drought response in fruit crops such as apple and peach. At present, her lab is assessing the expression of such genes in Malus sieversii, the wild progenitor of modern apples. The lines chosen show better drought resistance than a popular cultivar, 'Royal Gala'. At TVA she developed a method for culturing an endangered mussel species in the laboratory. To complete its life cycle, this species required a fish host, and she was developing artificial media to see if she could bypass the fish-host requirement.