Ludmila Tyler

Undergraduate education; genetics, genomics, cell walls, and developmental biology of plants, particularly grasses

PhD: Duke University

Postdoctoral Training: USDA and University of California Berkeley

Plants have for millennia provided humans with food, feed, and fiber.  In addition, the photosynthetically fixed carbon in plant tissues represents a renewable feedstock source for biofuels.  Cereals, in particular, have played a key role in human history and continue to feed the world’s population, but yields are under threat from climate change.  Elucidating the genetic basis of plant traits – including their developmental biology and the deposition and remodeling of plant cell walls – can thus contribute to the knowledge needed to achieve solutions for a sustainable future. 

My scientific research interests encompass utilizing the model plant Brachypodium distachyon to investigate the genes controlling agriculturally relevant traits.  Native to the Mediterranean region, Brachypodium is a small, annual grass which is more research-tractable than its close relatives, wheat, oat, and barley.  Brachypodium has a compact genome and abundant genomic resources and also exhibits tremendous natural variation, both phenotypically and genotypically.  Analyzing this variation can support advances in our understanding of plant biology, as well as genetic improvements of the plants themselves.

Additionally, in my teaching-focused faculty position, I am interested in identifying, implementing, and supporting effective strategies for teaching and learning.  How can we help students gain the conceptual knowledge and skills to meet their goals?  How do we fairly and accurately measure learning?  And how can we provide professional development to current and future scientist-educators to support learning?  Backward design, active learning, team-based learning, and assessment are among my specific areas of interest.  

• Tyler, L.*, Kennelly, P. J.*, Engelman, S., Block, K. F., Bobenko, J. C., Catalano, J., Jones, J. A., Kanipes-Spinks, M. I., Lim, Y. M., Loertscher, J., Olafimihan, T., Reiss, H., Upchurch-Poole, T. L., Wei, Y., Linenberger Cortes, K. J., Del Gaizo Moore, V., and Dries, D. R. (2024) Evolution of a self-renewing, participant-centered workshop series in BMB assessment. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 52(1):58-69.  doi.org/10.1002/bmb.21789 
  *co-first authors
• Zeidan, Q., Loertscher, J., Wolfson, A.J., Tansey, J.T., Offerdahl, E.G., Kennelly, P.J., Dries, D.R., Del Gaizo Moore, V., Dean, D.M., Carastro, L.M., Villafañe, S.M., and Tyler, L. (corresponding author) (2021) Development of a certification exam to assess undergraduate students’ proficiency in biochemistry and molecular biology core concepts. CBE-Life Sci. Ed. 20(2).  doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-12-0265
• Tyler, L., Miller, M.J., and Fletcher, J.C. (2019) The Thrithorax group factor 
  ULTRAPETALA1 regulates developmental as well as biotic and abiotic stress response genes in Arabidopsis. G3. 9(12):4029-43
• Gordon, S., Contreras-Moreira, B., . . ., Vogel, J.P. (one of 27 authors) (2017) Extensive gene content variation in the Brachypodium distachyon pan-genome correlates with population structure. Nature Comm. 8.
• Tyler, L., Lee, S.J., Young, N.D., DeIulio, G. A., Benavente, E., Reagon, M., Sysopha, J. *, Baldini, R.M., Troìa, A., Hazen, S.P., Caicedo, A.L. (2016) Population structure in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon is highly correlated with flowering differences across broad geographic areas. Plant Genome. 9(2).  doi:10.3835/plantgenome2015.08.0074 
  *undergraduate author
• Gordon, S.P., Priest, H., Des Marais, D.L., Schackwitz, W., Figueroa, M., Martin, J., Bragg, J.N., Tyler, L., Lee, C.R., Bryant, D., Wang, W., Messing, J., Manzaneda, A.J., Barry, K., Garvin, D.F., Budak, H., Tuna, M., Mitchell-Olds, T., Pfender, W.F., Juenger, T.E., Mockler, T.C., Vogel, J.P. (2014) Genome diversity in Brachypodium distachyon: deep sequencing of highly diverse inbred lines. Plant J. 79(3):361-74
• Young, H., Chuck, G., and Tyler, L.*, (2014) Bioenergy-Related Traits and Model Systems. In Compendium of Bioenergy Plants: Corn, S.L. Goldman and C. Kole, eds (Taylor & Francis Group), pp. 118-168.
  *corresponding author