Rate My Professor Magdalena Bezanilla

Bezanilla's laboratory investigates the molecular underpinnings of plant cell growth and shape determination, focusing on how regulators of the cytoskeleton—such as actin and microtubules—and membrane trafficking encode geometric information for extracellular matrix patterning. Employing the moss Physcomitrium patens as a model system, which benefits from efficient homologous recombination capabilities that her group has pioneered, her team uses high-resolution live-cell imaging and CRISPR-mediated genome editing to dissect these processes. Her work has significantly advanced moss as a model for studying plant cell polarity, tip growth, and morphogenesis, with implications for understanding cellular patterning across eukaryotes. Bezanilla's distinguished contributions have been honored with the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in 2007, election as a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2023, and as an AAAS Fellow in 2026. She serves as a Reviewing Editor for The Plant Cell and has secured funding from the National Science Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Key publications include "An ancient Sec10–formin fusion provides insights into actin-mediated multicellular evolution" (Journal of Cell Biology, 2018) and "In vivo analysis of formin dynamics reveals functional class specific behavior during cytokinesis" (Journal of Cell Science, 2021).