Elohim earned his PhD at the National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO-CINVESTAV) in Mexico, where he contributed to the identification of genomic regions and candidate genes underlying natural variation in primary root penetrability in Arabidopsis thaliana. His research focuses on leveraging multi-omics strategies to unravel how gravitropic and thigmotropic responses influence root penetration into compacted soils. He is particularly interested in decoding the genetic and molecular mechanisms that drive natural variation in root system penetrability to enhance deep rooting and CO? sequestration in crop plants. Elohim joined the Busch lab in 2022 as a part of the Harnessing Plants Initiative at the Salk Institute. He and his colleagues are focused on designing new high-throughput phenotyping platforms and creating root-targeted genetic engineering approaches to develop smart-rooting crops better adapted to land degradation and climate change.

Charlotte received her Ph.D. from the John Innes Centre (UK), where she explored natural variation in stem mechanical properties in wheat and canola. She continued at John Innes for her postdoctoral research, focusing on seed yield in canola. Using Associative Transcriptomics, she identified UPL3 as a novel regulator of seed filling—discovering that loss-of-function mutants showed a 20% increase in seed yield.

Charlotte is currently a Research Scientist at the Salk Institute, where she applies GWAS and single-nucleus RNA sequencing to investigate the developmental biology of the root periderm. As part of this work, she recently led the publication of the first single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas capturing multiple stages of periderm development at unprecedented resolution.

Beyond the lab, Charlotte plays in several local bands and enjoys all things creative. She’s recently fallen in love with snorkeling and spends her free time fostering senior dogs.

Julia graduated from SDSU in 2021 with a BS in Microbiology and joined the Busch Lab as an intern in May 2022. Later that year she was offered a Lab Technician position where she supported various projects, mainly working with A. thaliana and rice. In 2025 she moved into a Research Assistant position and took on the vital role of Lab Coordinator where she helps to keep the lab running smoothly. Outside of work, Julia is a naturalist with passion for California native plants and pollinators. She loves photographing and documenting the natural world and is a native bee surveyor. She is also an avid native plant gardener.