Genetics & Breeding
June 10, 2026
Nicholas Meier
Educational background…
Jan. 6, 2026
Jagdeep Singh Sidhu
Sidhu grew up on a small farm in Punjab, India, an experience that continues to shape his approach to agricultural research. Motivated by practical challenges faced by farmers, his work integrates fundamental plant biology with applied breeding to improve crop resilience. His training spans crop breeding and genetics, root biology, and in silico modelling. Educational Background…
June 23, 2025
Erin Sparks
Sparks holds a joint appointment with the University of Missouri and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. She is passionate about interdisciplinary approaches to solve complex challenges. Her background training includes a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology and postdoctoral work in Plant Molecular Biology. Educational background…
July 1, 2024
Jay S. Johnson
Johnson is an Associate Professor of Animal Welfare and Stress Physiology in the Division of Animal Sciences. The overall goal of his research program is to identify production-relevant stressors and evaluate and mitigate their impacts on livestock health, productivity, and welfare. Johnson’s research program uses an integrative physiology approach encompassing aspects of stress physiology, nutritional physiology, and applied ethology to develop and/or improve upon livestock husbandry practices that enhance animal health and welfare while maintaining or increasing economic return for producers. Specific research areas include improving heat stress resilience in swine through genomic selection, improved management, and nutrition to…
Nov. 20, 2023
Hong An
Educational background…
Oct. 15, 2023
Jamie Courter
Educational background…
April 4, 2023
Andre Froes de Borja Reis
Andre FB Reis is the statewide specialist in soybean farming systems and joined the division of Plant Science and Technology in 2023. Educational background…
May 17, 2020
David Braun
Carbohydrate partitioning is the process whereby photoassimilates are distributed from their site of synthesis in leaves to the rest of the plant. Control of carbohydrate partitioning is crucial for plant growth and development, and underlies all aspects of crop yield, including cellulose deposition in cell walls and sucrose accumulation in storage organs, such as the stems of sugarcane or sweet sorghum. For most plants, fixed carbon, in the form of sucrose, is loaded into the phloem and transported from leaves to non-photosynthetic tissues, such as stems, roots, and fruits. This process is well characterized at the physiological, biochemical, and…
Jan. 13, 2020
Tom Slewinski
Tom Slewinski currently leads the Crop Efficiency and Disease Discovery Lead in the Biotechnology division of Bayer Crop Science in Chesterfield, MO. Prior to joining industry, Tom completed his post-doctoral training at Cornell University where he worked on the underlying genetics, physiology and evolution of phloem loading in trees and kranz-type C4 photosynthesis in maize. Educational background…
Sep. 8, 2018
Mariola Usovsky
Mariola is a passionate molecular soybean breeder and scientist with over 10 years of public soybean breeding experience. She is highly involved in the soybean breeding pipeline and release of many soybean cultivars. Her expertise includes introgression of traits that involve high oleic and low linolenic genes for improving soybean fatty acid composition, protein genes for increasing seed protein content, soybean cyst nematode resistance genes, and genes with tolerance to Liberty® and Enlist® herbicides. She works towards optimizing plant breeding schemes to help reduce costs and time. Moreover, Mariola develops strategic directions, goals, and plans for molecular research, and…