Mary Lou Guerinot, Ph.D., is the Ronald and Deborah Harris Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College. Guerinot is a molecular geneticist whose principal expertise and research interests are in the area of metal transport and regulation of gene expression by metals. She leads a project on arsenic uptake, transport, and storage in plants. Her investigations are providing an integrated picture of the genes involved in a fundamental feature of all living systems - the selective accumulation of minerals. For most of the world, plants are the major point of entry for metals into the food chain, so her work is laying the foundation for crops that offer sustainable solutions for malnutrition and for decreasing exposure to toxic metals. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology at Cornell University and her Ph.D. in biology from Dalhousie University.