Dr. Roger Deal attended the University of South Carolina, finishing his B.S. in Biology in 1999. He then went on to graduate school in the Department of Genetics at the University of Georgia, studying the nuclear actin-related proteins under the guidance of Rich Meagher. After earning his Ph.D. in 2006, his next move was to Seattle, Washington where he enjoyed several years of productive postdoctoral work with Steve Henikoff at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is currently finishing his first year as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. The research in Roger’s lab focuses on chromatin-based transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that control cell differentiation and development in Arabidopsis thaliana.