Pioneer Member

Jerry Cohen – I first met Janet at the ASPP meeting in Pullman WA in 1980, where she was attending before defending her Ph.D. in Carlos Miller’ lab at Indiana University. She had been awarded a NIH postdoctoral fellowship which allowed her to join Prof. Elaine Tobin’s group at UCLA. Finishing her degree while a postdoc is quintessential Janet: take on more than most and do it all well. We discovered that we shared a common vision, which was the use of emerging molecular methods to approach complex questions in hormone regulation with state-of-the-art analytical tools. After a second postdoc with Winston Salser, also at UCLA, Janet joined my group, which then was at the USDA in Beltsville MD, as a senior researcher where she established her own research program interfaced with our related analytical studies.
Janet was instrumental in development of model systems to study auxin regulation of plant development. First, with Lemna gibba, she developed inbred lines (who else has the determination and skill to ‘self’ microscopic flowers through seven generations?) and described the first plant mutant in IAA levels. Her program led directly to a collaboration with the Neuffer group and the subsequent characterization of the tryptophan auxotrophic Orp mutant of maize and the description of the tryptophan-independent pathway to IAA. Her work was the first to demonstrate that environmental factors affect IAA turnover, determine which IAA biosynthetic pathway is utilized by the plant at different times of development, and describe proteins with indoleacyl attachments. She guided our entry into the era of Arabidopsis research and more recently she has utilized her careful attention to scientific detail to advance the diploid strawberry as a model system.
Janet has been an excellent mentor for many students at all levels and her knowledge and patient delivery made her a talented teacher, even if that role is poorly recognized and rewarded in USDA labs. I have been fortunate that Janet has remained both my friend and sounding board these many years – she is someone I trust as an objective scientific colleague who will tell me when my ideas are good, need additional refinement, or just off base – and the off base ideas she will often fix for me! I am excited to see her recognized as an ASPB Pioneer, because much of her work and scientific dedication has resulted in her pioneering important science accomplishments and model systems.