When not studying, Roll enjoys running in road races and likes to hike and camp. The main goal of the research is to grow a transgenic Galia melon. Galia melon is a unique type of melon that is not usually found in the United States because of its short shelf life. The procedure includes plant tissue culture, specifically an Agrobacterium infection in order to transfer a gene into the melon plant. This specific gene reduces that amount of ethylene given off of in the plant.
Ethylene is a hormone that induces flowering and fruit ripening.
Thus if ethylene is reduced in the plant, the fruit will have a longer shelf life and can be marketed in the United States. Plant tissue culture requires several steps in order to produce a rooted, transgenic plant in soil. We have successfully created shoots that we believe are transgenic, but we have had difficulty producing roots. We have been experimenting with different culture medium and concentrations of hormones. Earlier in the summer one shoot was transferred into soil with roots but it soon was infected with a fungus and died.