Molly Megraw

Molly Megraw is an Associate Professor at Oregon State University's College of Agricultural Sciences, affiliated with the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, and Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing. She also collaborates with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

• Education: Ph.D. in Bioinformatics (2007) from the University of Pennsylvania

Her research integrates computational biology, machine learning, and plant genomics to study:

• Transcriptional regulation of Pol-II genes and miRNAs in plants
• Network motif analysis in TF-miRNA circuits
• Chromatin accessibility and promoter identification via nanoCAGE
• Synthetic biology applications in plant systems

Recent publications focus on:

• Salinity stress responses in rice
• miRNA editing in human cancer
• Network motif discovery algorithms
• PlantSimLab modeling platform

Scientific accomplishments include:

• NSF CAREER Award (2018) for machine learning models of gene regulation
• MiRGen database development for miRNA genomic organization

She supervises graduate students in Biological and Physical Sciences (BPP) and teaches computational courses like BDS 470/570 Introduction to Computing in the Life Sciences. Her lab maintains active collaborations across plant biology and computational disciplines.