People – The Bogar Lab

We are a small but mighty team of researchers! Read on for more information. The Bogar Lab is not currently recruiting new graduate students, but Laura is always happy to work with prospective postdoctoral members on fellowship applications to fund positions here -- please get in touch if this might be of interest to you!

PI: Laura Bogar

I am a researcher focused on interactions between plant roots and soil fungi, particularly ectomycorrhizal mutualism between trees and mushrooms like boletes and chanterelles. I use RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis and community characterization; physiological measurements; and stable isotope enrichment to untangle how mycorrhizal systems work, and couple these efforts with field sampling to connect these fine-scale mechanisms to landscape and ecosystem processes. For more information, check out my Google Scholar page!

As a mentor, I strive to nurture scientific curiosity, develop critical thinking and project management skills, and support students exploring scientific research as a part of their academic and professional journeys. Whenever possible, I try to match students with projects that feed their curiosity and will develop the skills they need for their future plans, whether that's sterile culturing for a future medical microbiologist, or analyzing large sequencing datasets for a student planning a data science or biotech career. And, of course, like most scientists, I am always happy to work with students who are interested in exploring biological or ecological research careers specifically.

When I am not in the lab, you can find me inventing new jogging loops on the Davis greenbelt, collecting mushrooms for the table or for fiber dyeing, and spending time with family.

PhD Candidate: Brittany Long

Brittany obtained her BS in Botany from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2022. As an undergraduate, her research focused on Devonian plant fossils in the Tomescu lab. Her research interests include molecular biology, evolution and development, and biodiversity. More specifically, she is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive mutualistic symbioses between fungi and photosynthetic partners, such as in lichens and ectomycorrhizal fungi. Her current projects involve studying gene expression of ectomycorrhizal partners over developmental time. Brittany participates in the Future Undergraduate Science Educators (FUSE) program. The promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in academia is also a high priority for Brittany, and she actively seeks opportunities to participate in DEI initiatives whenever possible. In her free time, Brittany enjoys exploring the outdoors, making art, playing Magic the Gathering, and hanging out with her husband, dog, and cat.

PhD Student: Sarif Morningstar

Sarif is a PhD student (Eugene Cota Robles Fellow and NSF Graduate Research Fellow) interested in using biochemistry and physiology to understand how ectomycorrhizal mutualism works to improve plant stress tolerance. At right, you can see custom water baths they have designed to control the temperatures of seedling root systems. This supports an NSF-funded project examining the extent to which diverse fungal communities can help plants "hedge their bets" against change in the environment.

Microcontrollers taped to the wall of a growth chamber above custom water baths.

Dustin Lower poses for a portrait in the greenhouse.

PhD Student: Dustin Lower

Dustin is a first year PhD student in the Soils and Biogeochemistry Graduate Group. He began his work in the Bogar lab as an undergraduate Plant Biology major who loved all things mycology.After his family was impacted by the Caldor Fire in 2021, he was inspired to tie wildfire ecology in with his mycology research. He is currently researching the impacts of wildfire on fungal soil communities with an emphasis on ectomycorrhizal fungi in burned soils, and their effects on seedling performance. In his spare time, Dustin enjoys anything outdoor related, gardening, spending time with family and friends, reading, art, wine tasting, sports, and petting cute doggos.

PhD Student: Taylor Bright

Taylor is a first year student in the Population Biology Graduate Group. She is developing a dissertation examining how fungal biodiversity is maintained and functions across landscapes.

Junior Specialist: Ernest Walker

Hello, my name is Ernest N Walker and I’m a lab manager at the Bogar Lab. I graduated from UC Davis with a Biology degree in December 2022 and joined the lab as an undergraduate in September 2022. Fungi and plant biology have never been a focus of mine, but once I joined this lab I absolutely fell in love. In the lab you’ll catch me in the culturing room managing our culture collection, in the field collecting soil and mycorrhiza samples, or listening to my favorite tunes BLASTING away at some data. My project focus right now is an experiment designed to look at N as a nutrient source for Bishop pines, both with or without mycorrhiza. In my spare time, I’m chilling with my cat Grayson, gaming with some friends, or longboarding around Davis.

Junior Specialist: Anna Goodman

As a Junior Specialist, Anna wears the hats of post-baccalaureate researcher, technician, and lab manager. Since joining the Bogar Lab in 2023, she has been busy preparing metabarcoding libraries, sampling roots in the high Sierras, mentoring undergraduates, and writing her first manuscript. As a researcher, Anna is interested in bridging basic and applied plant-microbe interaction ecology by investigating the multipartite biotic interactions that drive variation in the outcomes of mycorrhizal symbiosis observed in the field. Her background spans mycorrhizal guilds, including work with orchid mycorrhizal fungi at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi at both the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and Cornell University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Anna holds a BS in Plant Science with a minor in Fungal Biology from Cornell University. In her free time, Anna enjoys swing dancing, backpacking, and a good game night.

Anna Goodman wears safety glasses and a lab coat while sitting at the bench.

Project Scientist: Glade Bogar

Dr. Bogar is a microbial ecologist and pedologist interested in how the soil habitat shapes (and is shaped by) microbial communities. He is responsible for our group's work in deep soil habitats and is fiendishly good at developing new methods for working with difficult samples. He is also coordinating our stable isotope enrichment experiments.

Undergraduate Researcher: Ethan Perez

Ethan is a senior undergraduate majoring in biological sciences. His current research focuses on understanding the extent to which plants allocate resources to less beneficial ectomycorrhizal fungal partners. He will quantify plant investment in low-quality fungi by planting Douglas fir seedlings into split-root microcosms and inoculating them with Suillus lakei. To mimic "high-quality" and "low-quality" fungal partners, he introduced fertilizer with varying nitrogen levels and will use C-13 isotope labeling to track carbon allocation. When he's not in the lab, he is most likely studying, at the gym, or watching the Carolina Panthers or Los Angeles Lakers!

Undergraduate Researcher: Emma Kacharmina

Emma is leading a project comparing symbiotic gene expression between Coastal and Interior Douglas-fir seedlings associated with Truncocolumella citrina fungi.