Hana Minsky conducts research in the Zerbe Lab, where she studies terpenes: molecules that many plants make to help them survive environmental stressors, such as drought or disease. She mainly focuses on terpenes made by maize (corn), which is not only a common food staple, but is also important for biofuels and other natural products. Learning more about how plants protect themselves from damage helps scientists to engineer resilient plants that will be able to produce more food and handle the stress of climate change.
