AMES, Iowa -- W. Allen Miller has been named director of the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses at Iowa State University. The center is part of the Plant Sciences Institute.
Miller is an Iowa State professor of plant pathology and of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology. He recently completed a three-year term as chair of the graduate major in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.
Through his research, Miller has made significant discoveries in the study of plant-virus interactions and the mechanisms of plant gene expression. Miller's research achievements include discovery of new species of the cereal pathogen, barley yellow dwarf virus, and detection of how the virus takes over the host's protein synthesis machinery.
Fourteen Iowa State University researchers are affiliated with the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses. They conduct fundamental research on how plants detect and respond to biotic and abiotic stresses in their environment. Research on biotic stresses includes the molecular mechanisms used by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and nematodes to cause disease, and by plants to resist infection. Research on abiotic stresses includes molecular mechanisms by which plants resist drought, flooding, chilling, excess salts, toxic metals, and pollutants.
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.
