A hardy, versatile, fast-growing plant helps to remove arsenic from contaminated soils.

Currently, Amherst scientists aim to engineer Camelina sativa, a member of the mustard family, to behave like another plant that “hyperaccumulates” nickel.

Banks has cloned a gene responsible for arsenic tolerance in an unusual fern that hyperaccumulates arsenic. Rice plants could be modified with the gene to keep arsenic from accumulating in grains, she ...