Gabriela Torres da Silva is visiting the Specht Lab from the Plant Physiology Graduate Program of the Federal University of Vicosa-Brazil. Gabriela received her licentiateship in Biological Science at Federal University of Bahia-Brazil in 2012, where she started working with an in vitro germplasm bank of endemic cacti from Brazil.
From 2012 to 2014, she obtained a masters in genetics and biodiversity, focusing on genetic diversity of Melocactus glaucescens (Cactaceae) in vitrogermplasm bank. This work was part of the national program of biodiversity assessment of semi-arid region of Brazil. In 2015 she moved to the Federal University of Vicosa for the Phd program in plant physiology. She is studying the morphophysiological and molecular aspects of the in vitro morphogenesis in Melocactus glaucescens.
During her time in the Specht Lab, Gabriela is working on transcriptome assembly and analyses, focusing on the relationship between betalain production/storage and cellular acquisition of competence.