Rate My Professor Maria Harrison

Maria J. Harrison is the William H. Crocker Professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and an Adjunct Professor in the Section of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology within the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University. She studied microbiology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and obtained her Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in 1987. Harrison conducted postdoctoral research and served as a Staff Scientist at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Oklahoma, where she initiated studies on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. In 2003, she joined the Boyce Thompson Institute, advancing her investigations into plant-fungal interactions. Her research centers on the developmental and functional mechanisms of AM symbioses, which enable over 70% of land plants to form mutualistic associations with soil fungi for enhanced nutrient acquisition, particularly phosphorus. Using the model legume Medicago truncatula and AM fungi such as Rhizophagus irregularis, Diversispora epigaea, and Gigaspora gigantea, Harrison's lab integrates molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, and genomics to dissect processes including fungal accommodation within root cells, signaling pathways, lipid provisioning, and phosphate transport across symbiotic interfaces.