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Department of Biology College of Arts and Sciences

Karolina M. Mukhtar

Karolina M. Mukhtar

Adjunct Professor kmukhtar@uab.edu

Research and Teaching Interests: Plant Molecular Biology, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), Pro- and Anti-apoptotic Signaling in Plant Immunity, Plant Hormonal Cross-talk, Service Learning, Biology Education Research

Office Hours: By appointment

Education:

  • Joint B.S./MSc, University of Szczecin, Poland, Biology (Environmental Protection and Laboratory Diagnostics)
  • Ph.D., Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany, Genetics
  • Postdoctoral, Duke University, Plant Immunity

Dr. Karolina Mukhtar is a broadly trained molecular plant biologist with over twenty years of experience studying various aspects of plant genetics and stress biology using genetic and biochemical approaches. After obtaining her Biology degree she worked as a teaching assistant for Cell Biology and then became an IMPRS doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute. Her dissertation described the quantitative basis of plant resistance to two deadly phytopathogens. She graduated summa cum laude and was nominated for the Otto Hahn Medal, the highest academic honor for young scientists awarded by the Max-Planck Society.

Subsequently Dr. Mukhtar conducted post-doc research in the laboratory of Dr. Xinnian Dong (a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator) at Duke University, where she studied the molecular basis of plant immunity to a bacterial phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Her projects were focused on transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of plant immunity as well as pathogen-triggered manipulation of plant hormone signaling. This work uncovered the existence of a previously unknown transcriptional growth-to-defense molecular switch in plants; the research resulted in a number of publications in high impact journals including Science, Current Biology, the EMBO Journal, Genes and Development and Communications Biology.

Dr. Mukhtar joined UAB’s Department of Biology as a faculty member in 2010. Research in her lab focused on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress caused by abiotic and biotic stresses, such as heat and pathogen infection. At the center of her research program was the Unfolded Protein Response, IRE1 ER stress receptors and GCN2-mediated translational regulation. Dr. Mukhtar received the 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers, for her research into how plants recognize an important signature of infection – toxic unfolded proteins – and mount appropriate responses with potential in crop improvement, as well as her extensive involvement in outreach, notably a citizen-science based community garden. She was the first UAB faculty member to receive the PECASE distinction.

Dr. Mukhtar was recognized with a number of UAB teaching awards, including the 2022 UAB Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentorship, the 2019 UAB President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2019 CAS Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the 2015 Outstanding Faculty Mentor by the Office of Disability Support Services for development and implementation of instructional strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities.

During her time at UAB, Dr. Mukhtar held numerous leadership positions. She served as chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate Caucus and was a member of the UAB Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee, the UAB Commission on the Status of Women, and the Blazer Core Committee. She also served in many roles for the Department of Biology, including Associate Director of Graduate Programs (2017-2018), Associate Department Chair and Undergraduate Program Director (2018-2022), Interim Department Chair (2022-2023), and Department Chair (2023-2024). In 2024, Dr. Mukhtar accepted a position at Clemson University and was appointed as an adjunct professor at UAB.

Dr. Mukhtar is also highly committed to teaching at K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. She completed a UAB Faculty Fellowship in Service Learning, through which she developed a Service Learning CURE summer course in Plant Pathology “OUTPACE,” offered between 2014-2019. Currently, Dr. Mukhtar is involved in an NSF-funded PlantGIFT project (2022-2025) that provides professional development workshops in plant genomics to local middle and high school teachers.

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