Madelaine Bartlett

Madelaine Bartlett is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with the Bartlett Lab relocating to the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in September 2024. Her research explores the molecular genetics underlying plant morphological diversity, focusing on floral development and evolutionary constraints in grasses.

Education includes a B.S. from the University of the Witwatersrand (2004), Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (2010), and postdoctoral training at Brigham Young University (2010-2013). Research integrates developmental biology with evolutionary genomics to investigate how molecular changes drive phenotypic variation in model systems like maize and Brachypodium.

Recent publications demonstrate strong emphasis on: (1) evolutionary developmental mechanisms in grass morphology, particularly awn and floral organ evolution; (2) gene regulatory networks controlling meristem development; and (3) applications of genome editing for plant improvement. Work consistently bridges molecular genetics with comparative phylogenetics.

Lab members include 4 postdoctoral researchers and 6 graduate/undergraduate students working on projects ranging from gene family evolution to developmental phenotyping.