As Carroll & Milton Petrie Professor of Biology at
New York University’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Coruzzi studies
gene regulatory networks controlling
nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and root nutrient foraging in the
model plant Arabidopsis. She also examines phylogenomic approaches across higher plant species to identify genes associated with the evolution of key plant traits such as seeds. This research resides in
Pasteur's quadrant as a scientific investigation that is ultimately meant to be beneficial to society. Coruzzi has established 10
patents in the study of gene networks affecting nitrogen use efficiency. Her laboratory collaborated in the development of the software platform VirtualPlant. As an investigator on the
National Science Foundation (NSF) Plant Genome project, she helped generate the largest genome-scale phylogeny of the seed plants, which allows researchers to explore the genomic underpinnings of plant diversity. Coruzzi is from New York. She went to
Hunter College High School (class of 1972) and took her
Bachelor of Science in biology from
Fordham University in 1976. She conducted studies of the genetic code in
yeast mitochondrial DNA. She earned her
PhD in molecular and cell biology at
NYU School of Medicine in 1979. In a post-doctoral
National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowship, she applied molecular approaches to plants that contributed to the cloning of one of the first plant nuclear genes. As an associate professor at
Rockefeller University, Coruzzi identified key genes controlling the assimilation of inorganic nitrogen into key amino acids used for nitrogen transport in plants. Coruzzi took a position as a professor at NYU in 1993. Her lab has constructed the first integrated genomic network used to discover and validate nitrogen regulation of the circadian clock in plants. It predicted the function of gene network states under untested conditions. She is a member of the Editorial Board for
PNAS. Coruzzi has authored and coauthored over 200 research papers and served as chair of the Department of Biology at NYU from 2003 to 2011. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, NSF 2010 Project, NSF Plant Genome Project, the NSF Database and Information Project, and United States Department of Energy. == Awards and honors ==