Robert Slocum

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Robert Slocum
Born
Robert Dale Slocum
Alma mater
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Thesis Studies on the localization of phytochrome and calcium in light-and-gravity-stimulated plants  (1981)

Robert Dale Slocum is an American biologist and botanist. He is a professor of biology in the Center for Natural Sciences at Goucher College. His research focuses on plant physiology, molecular biology, and biotechnology.

Contents

Education

Slocum completed a Bachelor of Arts at University of Maine. [1] In 1977, Slocum earned a Master of Science from Ohio State University. His master's thesis was titled Effects of SO₂ and pH on the ultrastructure of the Trebouxia phycobiont of the pollution-sensitve lichen Parmelia caperata (L.) Ach. [2] He earned a doctorate from University of Texas at Austin in 1981. His dissertation is titled Studies on the localization of phytochrome and calcium in light-and-gravity-stimulated plants. [3]

Career

Slocum researches the physiology of plants, adaptation to environmental stresses, nitrogen metabolism, and the molecular biology and biotechnology of plants. [4] Slocum was a professor in the Department of Botany at Williams College. In 1991, he published Biochemistry and Physiology of Polyamines in Plants. [5] Slocum joined the faculty at Goucher College in 1992. [1] He is a Professor of Biology in the Center for Natural Sciences at Goucher. [6] In 2005, Slocum received a 3-year grant for $340,000 from the National Science Foundation. With the grant, Slocum and Christopher T. Brown of the National Human Genome Research Institute conducted research on the regulation of pyrimidine metabolism in plants with a team of undergraduates. [7] From 2011 to 2012, Slocum was a rotating program director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. [8]

Selected works

Books

Articles

Related Research Articles

Physiology Science of the function of living systems

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Phytochrome Phytochromes are a class of photoreceptor

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Photoreceptor proteins are light-sensitive proteins involved in the sensing and response to light in a variety of organisms. Some examples are rhodopsin in the photoreceptor cells of the vertebrate retina, phytochrome in plants, and bacteriorhodopsin and bacteriophytochromes in some bacteria. They mediate light responses as varied as visual perception, phototropism and phototaxis, as well as responses to light-dark cycles such as circadian rhythm and other photoperiodisms including control of flowering times in plants and mating seasons in animals.

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Trebouxia is a unicellular green alga. It is a photosynthetic organism that can exist in almost all habitats found in polar, tropical, and temperate regions. It can either exist in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the form of lichen or it can survive independently as a free-living organism alone or in colonies. Trebouxia is the most common photobiont in extant lichens. It is a primary producer of marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. It uses carotenoids and chlorophyll a and b to harvest energy from the sun and provide nutrients to various animals and insects.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Goucher College 2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalogue". Goucher College.
  2. Slocum, Robert Dale (1977). Effects of SO₂ and pH on the ultrastructure of the Trebouxia phycobiont of the pollution-sensitve lichen Parmelia caperata (L.) Ach (Thesis). OCLC   3815640.
  3. Slocum, Robert Dale (1981). Studies on the localization of phytochrome and calcium in light-and-gravity-stimulated plants (Thesis). OCLC   8489965.
  4. "Robert Slocum". Goucher College. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  5. Biochemistry and physiology of polyamines in plants. Slocum, Robert D., Flores, Hector E. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 1991. ISBN   0849368650. OCLC   24794433.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. "Center for Natural Sciences Faculty". Goucher College. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  7. "Robert D. Slocum". The Baltimore Sun. October 28, 2005. Retrieved May 10, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  8. Slocum, Robert D.; Scholl, Jacob D. (Fall 2013). "NSF Support of Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs)" (PDF). Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly.