Home › Academics › College of Science and Mathematics › Faculty & Staff › Adán Colón-Carmona

Faculty & Staff

Areas of Expertise

Cell Biology, Genetics and Molecular Biology of Plants

Degrees

Postdoctoral Training: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies Plant Cell Cycle and University of California Davis
PhD, Biological Sciences: UC Irvine
B.A., Biology: University of California (UC), Santa Cruz

Professional Publications & Contributions

• Aguilera A, Colón-Carmona A, Kesseli R, Dukes JS (2011). The effect of rhizosphere microbial communities on the growth and competition of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. Accepted, PLos One.
• Weisman D, Liu H, *Redfern J, *Zhu L, Colón-Carmona A (2011). "Novel computational identification of highly selective biomarkers of pollutant exposure". Environmental Science & Technology, DOI: 10.1021/es200065f. PMID: 21542576.
• Weisman D, Alkio M and Colón-Carmona A. (2010) Transcriptional responses to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon induced stress in Arabidopsis thaliana reveal the involvement of hormone and defense signaling pathways. BMC Plant Biology 10(1):59. PMID: 20377843
• Micallef S, *Channer S, Shiaris M, and Colón-Carmona A. (2009) Plant age and genotype impact the progression of bacterial community succession in the Arabidopsis rhizosphere. Plant Signaling and Behavior, 4(8): 777-780. PMID: 19820328
• Micallef S, Shiaris M, and Colón-Carmona A. (2009) Influence of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions on rhizobacterial communities and natural variation in root exudates. Journal of Experimental Botany. 60:1729-42. PMID: 19820328 Selected for special review within the journal. See: Biedzycki ML and Bais HP. (2009) Root secretions: from genes and molecules to microbial associations. Journal of Experimental Botany, 60:1533-4.
• Liu H, Weisman D, Ye Y-B, Cui B, Huang Y-H, Colón-Carmona A, and Wang Z-H. (2009) An oxidative stress response to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure is rapid and complex in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Science 176: 375–382.
• Alkio M, *Tabuchi TM, Wang X and Colón-Carmona A. (2005) Stress responses to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Arabidopsis include growth inhibition and hypersensitive response-like symptoms. Journal of Experimental Botany, 56(421): 2983-94. This article was selected as the featured article for the cover. PMID: 16207747
• Li C, Potuschak T, Colón-Carmona A, Gutiérrez RA and Doerner P. Arabidopsis TCP20 links regulation of growth and cell division control pathways. (2005) Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA 102(36): 12978-12983. PMID: 16123132
• Dubrovsky JG, Rost TL, Colón-Carmona A and Doerner P. (2001) Early primordium morphogenesis during lateral root initiation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Planta 214: 30-36. PMID: 11762168
• Boisnard-Loriga C, Colón-Carmona A, Bauch M, Hodgeb S, Doerner P, Banchare E, Dumas C, Haseloff J and Berger F. (2001) Dynamic analyses of the expression of the HISTONE::YFP fusion protein in Arabidopsis show that syncytial endosperm is divided in mitotic domains. Plant Cell 13: 495-509. PMID: 11251092
• Colón-Carmona A, *Chen D, Yeh K-C and Abel A. (2000) IAA proteins interact and are phosphorylated by oat phytochrome A in vitro. Plant Physiology 124: 1728-1738. PMID: 11115889
• Dubrovsky JG, Doerner P, Colón-Carmona A and Rost TL. (2000) Pericycle development and lateral root initiation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiology 124: 1648-1657. PMID: 11115882
• Colón-Carmona A, *You R, *Haimovitch-Gal T and Doerner P. (1999) Technical Advance: Spatio-temporal analysis of mitotic activity with labile cyclin-GUS fusion protein. Plant J. 20(4): 503-508. PMID: 10607302
• Jongewaard I, Colón A and Fosket DE. (1994) Distribution of transcripts of the tubB1 -tubulin gene in developing soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) seedling organs. Protoplasma V183: 77-85.
• Fosket DE, Tonoike H and Colón A. (1993) What is the significance of the relatively large tubulin multigene families for plant morphogenesis? In Roubelakis-Angelakis KA, Ed., Plant Morphogenesis: Molecular Approaches, Plenum Press, NY.

Additional Information

  

Research Summary
The research of the Colón-Carmona laboratory has been in the areas of cell and molecular biology. More specifically, his group has studied the cytoskeleton and cell signaling pathways associated with growth control. They utilize plant model systems to study these basic cellular processes related to areas of cell division, for instance. Current research projects include stress signaling associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure, hormone signaling in early organ development, plant control of rhizobacterial populations, and CENPE kinesin functions in cell cycle control.

(Key word: Cell cycle control- Growth responses to the environment- Control of the cytoskeleton- Rhizosphere/Root Biology- Bioremediation using plants- Science education)

Positions and Honors

1986  Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS-NIH) Fellowship, UC Santa Cruz.
1989  National Chicano Council for Higher Education Award, UC Santa Cruz.
1989-1995  Doctoral Research, Dept. of Cell and Developmental Biology (Dr. Donald Fosket), UC Irvine.
1991  Curriculum Coordinator, UC Irvine Howard Hughes Summer Science Academy. 
1992  Curriculum Coordinator, California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) Program, UC Irvine.
1993  Curriculum Coordinator, Hispanic Center of Excellence, PRIDE Program, UC Irvine.
1994  Steinhaus Outstanding Teaching Award, University of California, Irvine
1995-1998  NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Dept. of Plant Biology, La Jolla, CA (Drs. Chris Lamb and Peter Doerner)
1999  Visiting Postdoctoral Scientist, Dept. of Vegetable Crops, University of California Davis (Dr. Steffen Abel)
2002  Public Service Endowment Award, "Participation of Underrepresented Groups in Plant Biology", University of Massachusetts (UMass), Boston
2003, 2005  Faculty Appreciation Award, honored by UMass Boston students.
2004-2007  Lecturer, NSF Math Science Partnership GK-12 between UMass Boston, Boston Public Schools, and Northeastern University.
2000-2006  Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biology, UMass Boston.
2006-present  Associate Professor of Biology, Dept. of Biology, UMass Boston.
2001-present  Advisor and Mentor: Ronald E. McNair Scholarship Program, NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program, NIH-Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD), NIH-Bridges to the Baccalaureate, Dept. of Biology, UMass Boston

Professional Affiliations

American Society of Plant Biologists; 
Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
International Golden Key Society (Honorary Member)
New England Board of Higher Education

Awards

2003, 2005 Faculty Appreciation Award, recognized by UMass Boston students
1994 Steinhaus Outstanding Teaching Award, College of Science, UCI
1989 National Chicano Council for Higher Education Graduate Award

Patents

Doerner P, Lamb C and Colón-Carmona A. (2000) “Method of increasing growth and yields in plants”. Patent number 6166293.

Professional Service (Mentor, Advisor, Reviewer, etc.)

1. Outside grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation, Integrative Plant Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology (5/2003, 2005, 2007), Environmental and Structural Systems (3/2005); US Department of Agriculture, Developmental Processes of Crops (3/2005, 2006).

2. Manuscript reviewer for Journal of Plant Cell and Environment, Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, Journal of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, International Journal of Phytoremediation, and Plant Physiology Journal.

3. Advisory Board and Mentor, Ronald McNair Scholarship Program, College of Arts and Sciences, UMB (4/2000-present).

4. Mentor, Science, Engineering and Mathematics Academic Support Network, New England Board of Higher Education (10/2000-2007).

5. Advisory Board and Mentor, National Science Foundation Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology, Department of Biology, UMB (10/2002-2006).

6. Mentor, National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Department of Biology, UMB (6/2000-present).

7. Panel reviewer, National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program (2001, 2002, 2003, 2006-2008), and Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research Program (2006), National Institutes of Health, NIGMS Postdoctoral Fellowships (2006, 2007).

8. Advisory Board and Instructor, National Science Foundation Math Science Partnerships-UMass Boston, Northeastern University, and Boston Public Schools (10/2004-present).

9. Minority Affairs Committee member, American Society of Plant Biologist (2007-present)

10. Education panel reviewer, (2003, 2007) EdVestors Foundation, Boston philanthropic non-profit organization designed to support increased private investment in urban education.

University Service and Teaching related

1. Workshop Presenter: UMass Boston High School Science Day, Dept. of Biology (2001, 2003), SACNAS National Conference (2002, 2003); Annual Biotechnology Symposium, Boston Museum of Science (2005, 2006); AP Biology Teacher Scholar Program, Harvard Medical School (2006, 2007).

2. Advisory Member: Education Advisory Committee, Boston Nature Center-Mass Audubon Society (2004-present); Mauricio Gaston Institute Advisory Committee (2006-present)

3. Taught in the Following Courses: Plant Physiology, Developmental Biology, Biotechnology, Cell & Developmental Bio Lab, Plant Molecular Bio. & Physiol., Scientific Communications, Plant Development, Plant Hormones, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Advance Cell Biology, Tissue Culture, Plant Genomics for High School Teachers, Regulation and Homeostasis in Biological Model Systems (NSF-Boston Science Partnership).

Since 2000, Colón-Carmona has mentored 75 undergraduates and 4 high school students in his laboratory. Of the 75 undergraduates, 30 conducted Honors research projects, 35 have participated in externally funded training programs (e.g. NSF-REU, NSF-UMEB, NIH-Bridges, NIH-IMSD, and McNair Programs), 47 are in or planning to do graduate studies, and 41 are from underrepresented groups in the sciences (all four high school students are from underrepresented groups).