BSA Spotlight Series  

The BSA Spotlight Series highlights professionals and early career scientists in the BSA community. Scientists' profiles are shared on all BSA social media platforms, Membership Matters, the BSA eNewsletter, and on this webpage.

The spotlight series shares both scientific goals and achievements, as well as personal interests of the botanical scientists, so you can get to know your BSA community better.

Are you a BSA member who would like to be highlighted, or do you know a BSA member that we should highlight in our Spotlight Series? Click here to fill out a simple form. This opportunity is open to current professional and early career (undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral positions) BSA members, to learn more about becoming a BSA member, click here.

Below is the most recent BSA member Spotlight. To see more information on past Spotlights, use the menu to the left.

This month we have TWO Spotlights:
Victoria Martinez Mercado and Whitney Murchison-Kastner.

Victoria Martinez Mercado
Graduate Student
Northwestern University / Chicago Botanic Garden
Plant Biology and Conservation
Posted 6-20-25

Holding the first bloom of a Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochiaceae) from my backyard.

I previously worked on the phylogenomics and biogeography of Astragalus, the largest genus of flowering plants. Now, as a first year PhD student at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden working with Dr. Suzy Strickler, I’m focusing on Asimina triloba (pawpaw), a unique temperate member of the tropical Annonaceae family and the largest edible fruit native to North America. Because pawpaw produces recalcitrant seeds that can’t be traditionally seed banked, I’m interested in developing pollen preservation protocols as an alternative conservation strategy. This work will combine metabolomics, transcriptomics, and in vitro germination trials to better understand reproductive biology and support long-term conservation of this under-studied species.

Dr. Redway and I on our field trip to Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens in 2022.

How Victoria got interested in the botanical sciences:

I grew up in Mexico, and from a young age my parents made the outdoors a regular part of our lives. We spent a lot of time in parks and natural areas, and even though I didn’t always love the sporty activities involved, I always loved being outside and had constantly scraped knees to show it. Looking back, I realize how much that time shaped me. My dad, especially, had a deep admiration for wildlife. I remember how excited he’d get when he spotted a bird or brought spiders home. I didn’t have the words for it at the time, but I think his curiosity planted something in me early on, a quiet kind of reverence for the natural world.
Still, I didn’t see myself ending up in the botanical sciences until a few years into college. I started at Barry University as a Mathematics student because I always liked the logic of math and how it just made sense. But eventually, I started to feel like it was a little too black and white. That kind of thinking works really well for some people, but it wasn’t feeding my curiosity in the way I hoped it would.

Everything shifted after I volunteered for a two-week trip to Adrian, Michigan. That’s where I was introduced to gardening and, more specifically, permaculture: ways of working with nature to address things like pests, low yield, and soil health, all of which require a deep understanding of biology. I was mesmerized and came back with a new spark and a clear sense that this was what I wanted to pursue. I added Biology as a second major later that year, and that completely changed my path.

There was one professor who really changed things for me: Dr. Flona Redway, who taught Botany. She gave me what I jokingly call “plant 20/20 vision.” I went from seeing all plants as basically the same to suddenly noticing differences in shape, color, strategy, and structure. It was mind-blowing. And it was one of those things where the more I learned, the more I realized I didn’t know. It became this endless rabbit hole of curiosity that I was, and still am, happy to dive into.

Around the same time, I got involved in research, first at Barry, and then through two REUs (NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates): one at the Cary Institute with Emma Rosi, and a later one at the University of Iowa with Andrew Forbes. Those experiences were everything. They gave me the tools to think like a scientist, but more than that, they helped me find a community where I finally felt like I fit in. I didn’t have to tone down my excitement or my nerdiness. It was just the norm, and it felt really good.

Since then, I’ve been incredibly lucky to keep learning from amazing people. During my Master’s at Loyola University Chicago, and during a summer at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History working on a phylogenetic project, I kept finding new mentors and collaborators who shaped how I think and work. All of it: the classes, the research, and the community confirmed that this is where I want to be. The botany world is full of thoughtful, generous, curious people, and I feel really lucky to be part of it.

Fieldwork with family support: collecting Astragalus in Rancho Cucamonga,
CA, with help from my sister (an accountant by trade, botanist by spirit).

Victoria's advice for those just starting their botanical journey:

Don’t lose sight of why you started. Even in challenging times, doing work you genuinely care about is something you won’t regret. On the hardest days, stepping outside, taking a breath, and reconnecting with the plants or places that first inspired you can help you reset. Let yourself slow down when you need to, and trust that your passion is a powerful guide.

 

Victoria's other passions:

Whitney Murchison-Kastner
Graduate Student
Tulane University
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Posted 6-20-25

Bluesky

Me spotting my first ever Mimulus in the wild, right outside of our field cabin in Yosemite National Park, California.

I am broadly interested in how organisms repeatedly adapt to harsh environments and the genetic traits that enable these adaptations. In particular, I study parallel evolution—how different species evolve similar traits in response to similar environmental pressures.

My dissertation research focuses on two closely related Mimulus species: serpentine-adapted M. guttatus and granite-outcrop-adapted M. lacinatus. Both species are found in harsh, rocky environments with limited water and high temperature fluctuations. Fascinatingly, they have evolved similar traits, such as lobed leaves, early flowering, and red floral spotting. My goal is to determine whether these shared traits result from the same genes (genetic parallelism) or from different genetic mechanisms.

To address these questions, I’m using quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping on three F2 hybrid populations derived from crosses among serpentine M. guttatus, wet seep M. guttatus, and M. lacinatus. I aim to determine whether differences in genetic architecture across mapping populations are driven by the genetic background of the serpentine or lacinatus parents. Preliminary results suggest that floral spotting is controlled by a single, large-effect locus, while traits like leaf lobing and flowering time likely have more complex genetic architectures.

In addition, I am using pool-sequencing (Pool-seq) to investigate whether specific loci are under selection in lobed versus rounded-leaf individuals in polymorphic serpentine populations of M. guttatus. Together, these projects aim to deepen our understanding of the genetic basis of parallel evolution and how plants adapt to challenging environments. I hope my research will not only illuminate fundamental evolutionary processes but also help us understand how plants may respond to future environmental stressors.

1. My son, Emory, and I hiking outside Colorado Springs.
2. These are some of my F2 hybrid individuals. I made from crossing M. guttatus with M. lacinatus.
They displayed very distinctive- and cute- red floral spots!
3. A picture of one of my field sites, where you can find Mimulus guttatus
growing on serpentine soils at the McLaughlin Natural Reserve in California.

How Whitney got interested in the botanical sciences:

Although I have always enjoyed plants and spent much of my childhood gardening with my parents, I never considered a career studying them. I began my scientific journey focused on animals. As an undergraduate, I worked in a lab studying the phylogenetics of tarantulas. After graduation, I worked as a research technician studying pediatric cancer in zebrafish. I later completed a Master of Science in conservation genetics, where I studied endangered populations of the Greater Prairie Chicken and the Eastern Collared Lizard. It was during this program that I developed a deep interest in evolution and sought an ecologically relevant system to study evolutionary processes in action. Despite having no prior plant research experience, beyond gardening, I applied to a lab that uses Mimulus guttatus to investigate the genetics of adaptation and speciation.

After working in the Mimulus system for over four years, I truly feel I’ve found my scientific home. I love working with plants in the greenhouse, even when it involves caring for and collecting data for over 700 individuals! I also realized that my personal ethics aligned more closely with plant-based research than working with live animals. One of the things I enjoy most is the ability to generate large datasets with robust sample sizes—something not always feasible in animal conservation work. Visiting wild Mimulus populations in places like Yosemite National Park and in Napa and Sonoma Valley has further deepened my connection to these plants and shaped my research questions. Finally, I’ve found the plant science community—especially the Mimulus research network—to be incredibly welcoming and intellectually vibrant, which has helped to reinforce my interest in plant sciences.

My husband and I walked in a Mardi Gras parade called Chewbacchus, I made the
Mimulus costume myself and modeled it after my hybrid plants I had growing in the greenhouse at the time.

Whitney's advice for those just starting their botanical journey:

As someone who didn’t start out as a “plant person,” my biggest advice is: just start! The best way to find out if plant science excites you is to get hands-on experience. Volunteer in a plant-focused lab during your undergraduate career, or get involved with your local botanical society, gardening club, etc. Community events like tree planting days or environmental cleanups are also great ways to get connected.

In high school, I did a lot of outdoor volunteer work, including time at a wastewater treatment facility that used Louisiana’s native ecosystems to filter water. That experience sparked my appreciation for the ecological roles of plants and for teaching others about ecology. I believe it’s essential to recognize how fundamental plants are to our daily lives, not just as research subjects, but as critical components of ecosystems and human well-being.

Finally, if you’re someone who is more question-driven versus focused on a particular organism, consider the kinds of questions you’re most curious about and explore how plants can help you answer them.

 

Whitney's other passions:

• Oluwatoyosi Adaramodu
  University of Pennsylvania
  
  
• Teressa Alexander
  The University of the West Indies, Trinidad
  
  
• Dr. Andrea Berardi
  Harvard University
  
  
• Mario Blanco-Sánchez
  Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
  
  
• Liming Cai
  UC Riverside
  
  
• Brandon Corder
  University of Wisconsin-Madison
  
  
• Dr. Rocio Deanna
  University of Colorado, Boulder
  
  
• Trinity Depatie
  University of South Carolina
  
  
• Molly Edwards
  Science IRL Productions
  
  
• Nicholas J. Engle-Wrye
  Mississippi State University
  
  
• Josh Felton
  Colorado College
  
  
• Danielle Gafford
  University of Missouri
  
  
• Kadeem J. Gilbert
  Pennsylvania State University
  
  
• Sonal Gupta
  University of Michigan

• Adriana I. Hernandez
  California Academy of Sciences
  
  
• Nina House
  California Botanic Garden (Claremont Graduate University)
  
  
• Matias Köhler
  São Carlos University (UFSCar), São Paulo, Brazil
  
  
• Natalia Contreras Ortiz
  The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh RBGE and University of Edinburgh
  
  
• Oluwatobi Oso
  Yale University
  
  
• Chelsea Pretz
  University of Colorado, Boulder
  
  
• Dustin M. Ray
  University of Minnesota, Duluth
  
  
• Johan David Reyes
  Edge Hill University / World Museum Liverpool
  
  
• Luiza Teixeira-Costa
  Vrije Universiteit Brussel
  
  
• Shawn K. Thomas
  University of Missouri
  
  
• Greg Tooley
  Kansas State University
  
  
• Kathryn Vanden Hoek
  University of Missouri - Columbia
  
  
• Emily Wedel
  Kansas State University
  
  
• Min Ya
  University of Connecticut