The Roeder lab studies the role that cell growth and division play in the diversity of cell size in the Arabidopsis sepal. Arabidopsis is a flowering plant and its sepal is the outermost green leaf-like floral organ that surrounds and protects the developing bud. A major part of Roeder’s research also involves imaging and computer modeling. “At some fundamental level, we don’t understand how cells grow and divide to make a plant organ.