Danforth Plant Science Center Announces New Principal Investigator

ST. LOUIS, MO., August 21, 2024 – The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center announced today that Kevin Cox, PhD, has joined as an assistant member. Cox will hold a joint appointment as an assistant professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. A native St. Louisan, Cox grew up in Florissant and graduated from Hazelwood Central High School. He worked as an undergraduate assistant at the Danforth Center while working toward his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Cox went on to earn his PhD in plant pathology at Texas A&M University and returned to the Danforth Center as a postdoctoral fellow to work on mechanisms of plant disease resistance and developing methods to study spatial biology in plants. Today, his research uses advanced imaging, molecular biology, and single-cell and spatial genomics to understand how genes are controlled in different plant cells and organs.

“I think of spatial genomics as taking a blank map of the U.S.A. and labeling the state borders, cities and towns, rivers, and roads that it consists of,” Cox explains. “If we can pinpoint or map out where genes are expressed in plants, we can better understand how plant cells communicate to grow and defend themselves against stresses.”

“Kevin Cox adds a tremendous dimension to the research we do at the Danforth Center,” said President and CEO, Jim Carrington, PhD. “His work will have relevance to increasing productivity of food crops and lowering the environmental impacts around agriculture.”

In 2019, Cox was named one of 15 Hanna H. Gray Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, MD.  The fellowship provided support during his postdoctoral training period and will supply him with up to four years of research funding to launch his program and career as a faculty member.

“Kevin is the ideal person for this unique position to promote collaboration between Washington University and the Danforth Center,” said Ram Dixit, PhD, chair of Biology at Washington University.