SUMMER 2003 •
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1
SPECIAL ISSUE: REAPING THE REWARDS OF
THE PLAN FOR MOUNT HOLYOKE 2003
Plan
goal: Support excellence and innovation in the sciences and strengthen
linkages among those fields and with others in the curriculum
 It's
not often that you hear terms like "quantitative trait locus,"
and "clones" uttered in the same breath as "leaf shape" and "root
rot"--unless, that is, you're talking about tomatoes with Amy
Frary '90, assistant professor of biological sciences and a plant
biologist. Then again, it's rare that the public hears many conversations
about genetics that focus on anything other than humans, cows,
or sheep.
This is the case
despite the finding that the chemical structure of the DNA of
people, animals, and plants is identical, and the fact that the
sequencing and mapping of complete sets of plant genes is enabling
researchers to investigate the molecular basis of everything from
plant disease resistance to drought tolerance. Among the benefits
of such research could be increased crop productivity and quality,
which could have a major impact on the world's food supply.
Since she was a graduate
student at Cornell University, Frary has focused her research
on examining molecular markers to map the specific genes that
control traits that exhibit subtle and complex variation (such
as leaf shape) in plants. Frary has long had a personal interest
in both genetics and plants, and after getting to know her personal
history, questions of nature and nurture come to the fore. Frary's
identical twin sister, Anne, is also a Mount Holyoke alumna, and
both sisters focused on plant science and earned undergraduate
degrees in biological sciences. The two went on to earn Ph.D.s
from Cornell in plant breeding and genetics.
The scientist returned
to Mount Holyoke "because of the quality of the students and the
opportunity to teach," says Frary, whose courses focus on the
structure, function, development, and evolution of plants. She
did bring a little bit of her graduate school world to the College,
however, as the population of plants that she and her students
study at Mount Holyoke is a clone of plants used at Cornell, a
leader in the field of plant genetics.
Having recently moved
into a new office on the top floor of the renovated Carr Laboratory,
Frary--along with her office collection of about twenty-five plants--is
now an occupant of what is becoming known as the "chemistry/ molecular
biology zone," at home among biologists who work at the molecular
level and chemists who work at the biological level.
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