Diego Wengier

I am fascinated by how plants can thrive under constant environmental fluctuations, from facing pest and herbivore attack to conquering nutritionally poor lands in extreme weather. Knowing the genetic programs that encode these abilities and transferring them to crops would potentially make elite lines that scavenge for nutrients more effectively, that compete against weeds more efficiently, and that require less agrochemical inputs for thriving. A common theme in plants’ strategies for success, regardless of being morphological adaptations, responses to environmental insults or deployment of chemical weaponry, is that they are multigenic. To date, reconstitution of multigenic networks in plants is a major challenge to genetic engineers. My overarching goal in the Sattely lab is to develop the necessary tools and approaches to generate crops that require less energy intensive supplements such as fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Currently, I am working on two metabolites from rice that act as natural pre-emergence weed controllers. Although the complete biosynthetic pathway is known, how rice resists its own inhibitor is unknown. My second project is to develop genetic parts that will allow the reconstitution of genetic programs in a tunable fashion. I envision that my two projects will merge when I identify the mechanism of resistance in rice and I transfer it, alongside the inhibitor biosynthetic pathway, to a plant of agronomical interest using the tools that I developed on my second project. With the idea of sustainable agriculture in mind, I am excited to join forces with Matt and Sarah and diversify from weed control to improving nutrient use efficiency based on Brachiaria species.I completed my Ph.D. at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (2008) then pursued a postdoc at Stanford University (2010-2016), before joining Elizabeth Sattely’s lab as a research specialist (2020-).

February 2025