POLY SAINT - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor, Texas a & M University

Biophotonics encompasses all interactions of living organisms with light. In my research I use light to study biological processes. I develop novel techniques to image dynamic processes faster and to obtain information on the chemical composition of living tissues without the need to destroy the tissue or introduce fluorescent labels.

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• Research Scientist, Texas a & M University

For the past several years, Dr. Fernández worked on the development of novel light sources - lasers - tailored for applications in bioimaging. Some of the concepts developed by Dr. Fernández have been translated into commercial products or have been apllied to solve similar problems in other types of laser sources. Light source development, is an important research tool, it can make the difference as to whether a measurement can be performed with or without causing damage to the biological system studied. It can determine whether a measurement needs to be performed in a lab or can be done in the field. Dr. Fernández will be working on applications involving new Raman imaging techniques in plants and other problems in biophotonics together with Dr. Verhoef and also in Marlan Scully's lab in the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering.

Job Titles:

• Student, Horticulture Sciences, Texas a & M University

Andy is a Ph.D. student in the Horticulture department here at Texas A&M University. He is working with a research group focused on understanding the genetic and physiological processes that regulate fruit firmness, cell wall degradation, and ripening processes in horticultural crops, and how these factors effect flavor, nutrition, and shelf life. Andy received his MS in Crop Science from Washington State University in 2018, and his BS in Plant Sciences from Texas A&M in 2016. Andy hopes to use the knowledge he is gaining to help improve the economic return and nutritional impact of small-scale farming in developing regions.

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• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Texas a & M University

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• Postdoctoral Researcher, Texas a & M AgriLife

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• Professor / Researcher, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research

James (Jim) Giovannoni is a plant biologist known for his work on fruit physiology and ripening. He is acknowledged in particular for his discoveries related to the transcriptional control of ripening initiation, identification of genes underlying important fruit development and quality traits, the role of epigenome dynamics in fruit development, and contributions to the development of molecular resources for the plant and fruit model system, tomato. Jim was born and raised in San Francisco, and received a degree in biochemsitry with a minor in philosophy from the University of California, Davis in 1985. He received his PhD in Molecular and Physiological Plant Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 followed by a postdoc at Cornell University. In 1992 he joined the faculty of Horticulture at Texas A&M University and in 2000 joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Robert W. Holley Center located on the Cornell University campus. He is an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Research Interests The Giovannoni lab uses molecular, physiological and genetic approaches to investigate the molecular cascade underlying the coordinated biochemical and physiological changes that render fleshy fruit ripe. Fruit are significant components of human and animal diets contributing fiber, carbohydrates and essential nutrients. Using the tomato system they have uncovered key transcription factors initiating early ripening events upstream and controlling the ripening hormone ethylene. These include transcription factors underlying natural mutations or revealed through gene expression profiling. Some are widely conserved through the evolution of fleshy fruit bearing species with relevance to shelf-life, nutritional quality and food security. The lab has demonstrated that some of these transcription factors operate in the fruit in conjunction with developmental DNA methylation changes to facilitate the ripening transition only after the enclosed seed reach maturity. This tight regulation is essential to fitness. These analyses were facilitated in part by the laboratory's central role in the development and unrestricted release of tomato genomics resources including genome sequences that have facilitated plant biology investigations well beyond the fruit.

Job Titles:

• Professor & Associate Head for Graduate Studies, Horticultural Sciences, Texas a & M University

Patricia Klein received her B.S. in Horticulture from Texas A&M University in 1982. She received an M.S. in Crop Science from Texas Tech University in 1985 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University in 1989. Dr. Klein left Texas A&M in 1989 to conduct post-doctoral work at the University of Kentucky and the USDA's Eastern Regional Research Center in Philadelphia, PA. She came back to Texas A&M in 1997 and joined the faculty of the Department of Horticultural Sciences in 2002. Dr. Klein is also a member of the Interdepartmental Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences program and a member of the Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology. Dr. Klein's research aims to utilize advances in high-throughput genotyping, bioinformatics, and phenotyping to acquire knowledge of plant genes and germplasm, and utilize this information to develop markers for marker-assisted selection and for the development of new germplasm. To meet the needs of the increasing world population, crop productivity needs to double on existing agricultural lands, and breeding practices must be more efficient in meeting the needs for food, feed, and fiber. Technologies such as sequenced-based high-throughput genotyping, whole genome gene expression analyses, novel computational tools and high throughput phenotyping - can accelerate plant breeding and hence the speed at which new varieties are developed. Our research projects aim to develop as well as utilize recent advances in high-throughput sequencing, genotyping, transcriptomics, and bioinformatics to aid breeders to develop new sources of germplasm with enhanced traits of interest. We seek to develop genomic and genetic tools for several plant species including sorghum, pecan, rose and coffee to aid in crop improvement. Although vast amounts of information in genetics, genomics, phenomics and bioinformatics has been generated for many agronomic crops including sorghum, this is not true for a number of horticultural plants. Thus there is a need to continue to develop the genomic and genetic resources for these species to accelerate the breeding process. Additionally, there is still a challenge in determining how to take advantage of these resources in plant breeding programs for efficient crop improvement. Thus the overall goal of our research is to develop improved germplasm for a number of plant species either by introgressing traits from unadapted germplasm or through identification and incorporation of traits of interest into elite breeding material. In 2012, Dr. Klein was awarded the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean's Outstanding Achievement Award for excellence as a member of the Sorghum Bioenergy Breeding and Genomics Interdisciplinary Research Team.

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• Student, Food Science & Technology, Texas a & M University

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• Extension Program Specialist at Texas a & M AgriLife

Job Titles:

• Founder and President, Bread for the Hungry