Kevin Cox joined the Biology Department at WashU as a faculty member in July 2024.
He was born and raised in St. Louis, completing his bachelor’s degree in Biology, with a minor in Chemistry, at University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). He earned his PhD in Plant Pathology at Texas A&M University in Libo Shan’s lab where he studied the molecular mechanisms of a bacterial disease in cotton.
Cox continued his career in plant biology as a postdoc at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center under Blake Meyers, who uses high-throughput DNA sequencing technology to study mechanisms of plant development, disease resistance, and other functions in plant genetics. But it was not his first time working at the Danforth Center. His first exposure to plant biology research was through working as an undergraduate research assistant in Todd Mockler’s lab while completing his bachelor’s at UMSL. His experience in the Mockler lab deepened his fascination with plant biology research.
“When I was a kid, I didn't envision myself being a scientist because I was never exposed to those opportunities at an early age. When I started college at UMSL, I planned to go into pre-med, but during sophomore year, I took a microbiology course and completely fell in love with the subject. I discovered that microbes do all sorts of cool things. They can help us. They can harm us. They have all these mechanisms to survive. At that point, I decided I wanted to research microbes in some capacity. A year later, I got a part time job at the Danforth Center in the Mockler plant genomics lab,” Cox said.
His research team is interested in figuring out how cells communicate with other cells, especially in response to stress. They also aim to understand how genes are spatially organized in tissues. They illustrate this with Legos. “We take a bunch of Lego pieces and put them together to get a three-dimensional shape to figure out what cells are next to each other, and what genes those cells are using to communicate with each other with the overarching goal of improving plant sustainability,” Cox explained.
As much as he loves lab research, he felt like something was missing. When the opportunity to become a joint faculty member as an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at WashU and an Assistant Member/Principal Investigator at the Danforth Center presented itself, it seemed like the perfect fit. Not only could he expand his research collaborations with new PI’s, but he would be teaching undergrads, sparking the same fascination with science that ignited his passion for plant biology as an undergrad. Cox claims that mentoring and teaching drives his energy and he looks forward to teaching a plant engineering course in the coming year.
“My advice to all undergrads is to keep your options open, and don't be afraid to explore a little bit to see what really drives your passion. When I was a kid, I thought I wanted to be a medical doctor, but allowing myself to entertain different ideas and different areas over the years, is what led me to this role,” Cox said.
Cox has labs at WashU and the Danforth Center where they’re focused on studying duckweed biology and plant-microbe interactions in Arabidopsis. In his free time, he spends quality time with family, and is an avid video gamer and content creator, citing Mario, Legend of Zelda and sports games as favorites. To learn more, visit https://www.thecoxlab.org/.
