Dr. Tamar Friedlander

Researcher interests: We use a variety of methods including evolutionary and biophysical modeling, computer simulations and bioinformatics to research fundamental biological questions. We study self-incompatibility in plant fertilization and general principles underlying the evolution and organization of gene regulatory networks. “Self-incompatibility” is a general name for molecular mechanisms, plants have developed to avoid self-fertilization, which might lead to the spread of deleterious mutations. Research of this system addresses fundamental evolutionary questions and has practical implications on crop fertilization