IWGSC Main Workshop - Saturday 11 January

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Delfi Dorussen

PhD student
John Innes Centre, UK

Recipient of the 2025 IWGSC-Feuillet Early Career Award - Read her interview here

Research Interests
- Regulation of gene expression in wheat
- Mechanisms underlying homoeologue expression bias in wheat

PAG Talk
Date: Saturday 11 January 2025
Title: Does transcriptional compensation facilitate functional redundancy in wheat?

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Gurminder Singh

PhD Candidate
North Dakota State University, USA

Research Interest
I investigate the genetic and molecular basis of disease susceptibility in wheat, integrating functional genomics, gene editing, and bioinformatics to advance crop resilience.

Current Projects
My PhD research involves molecular cloning, CRISPR/Cas9 editing, and Agrobacterium transformations to characterize the wheat Tsc2 gene underlying tan spot susceptibility. I also employ QTL mapping, GWAS, and protein-focused bioinformatics to guide marker-assisted breeding.

PAG talk
Date: Saturday 11 January 2025
Title: Genomic and Functional Characterization of an Exo70-like Gene Governing Susceptibility to Tan Spot in Wheat

Links
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- GitHub

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Rakesh Kumar

Postdoctoral Fellow
USDA-ARS, Western Regional Research Center, 
Crop Improvement and Genetics Research Unit, 
Albany, CA, USA
Affiliated Researcher
Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Research Interest
My research explores plant regulatory pathways involved in responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, with the ultimate goal of enhancing crop productivity and quality. A critical question driving my work is: Can we develop high-yielding crops that are resilient to both biotic and abiotic stresses without compromising their final yield? This question has gained even greater urgency in the context of global climate change. By leveraging modern genetic engineering tools for precise modification of regulatory elements, I aim to contribute impactful solutions to address the challenges of future food security.

Current Projects
- Exploring brassinosteroid signaling mechanisms to drive wheat crop improvement
- Understanding molecular mechanisms and precise engineering of the genetic elements involved in plant-microbial-environmental interactions

PAG talk
Date: Saturday 11 January 2025
Title: Assessment of the RUBY gene as a visual marker to screen CRISPR-Cas9 mutants

Links
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Lab page
- ResearchGate

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Laura Mathieu

PhD Candidate
INRAE, France

Research Interest
Laura Mathieu is a third-year PhD candidate at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), based at the Plant Health Institute of Montpellier (PHIM). Her research focuses on ecophysiology, quantitative genetics, multi-omics, plant-microbe interactions and crop mixtures. She is particularly interested in understanding how diversity affects agro-ecosystem services. 

Current Projects
During her PhD, she studied how plant-plant interactions modulate disease susceptibility in intraspecific wheat mixtures. She has investigated the genetic basis of these interactions, examined how wheat plants respond to their neighbors, and analyzed the below-ground signals exchanged between plants within these mixtures.

PAG talk
Date: Saturday 11 January 2025
Title: Plant-Plant Interactions Modulate Wheat Severity to Septoria Tritici Blotch in Some Specific Mixtures through Intergenomic Epistatic Interactions and Transcriptomic-Metabolomic Changes

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Sarah Raffan

Postdoctoral Fellow
Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, CA, USA

Research Interest
My current research focuses on generating climate-resilient wheat varieties with enhanced carbon sequestration capabilities. I am developing a single-nucleus RNA-seq dataset for whole wheat roots, which will provide detailed insights into root development and cell-specific processes.
The data will be used to elucidate the complex pathways involved in the biosynthesis of suberin and other potentially recalcitrant root components in wheat. Suberin, a complex and hydrophobic polyester biopolymer, is naturally present in plant roots, serving as a critical barrier to reduce water loss and limit the invasion of the root by soil pathogens.
Currently, there is no existing whole root single-nucleus RNA-seq dataset that captures exodermal suberization in wheat, making this work particularly valuable to the wheat research community. The data will also allow me to identify key genes in focused cell types in wheat roots, as well as giving information on asymmetrical gene expression, homeolog bias and cell developmental trajectories

Current Projects
 - Investigating suberin biosynthesis in wheat roots from a single cell to whole system scale

PAG talk
Date: Saturday 11 January 2025
Title: Developing a snRNA-seq atlas for suberin accumulation in wheat root systems 

Links
 - https://busch.salk.edu/
 - https://www.salk.edu/harnessing-plants-initiative/

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IWGSC Structural Workshop - Tuesday 14 January

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Michael Alaux

Deputy director of INRAE URGI, France

Research Interests
Information system, data management, genomics, genetics, phenomics, plants, wheat

Current Projects
European: AGENT, Pro-Wild
Consortium: IWGSC, Wheat Initiative (WheatIS expert working group)
More details: https://eng-urgi.versailles-saclay.hub.inrae.fr/about-us/team/michael-alaux

PAG talk
Date: Tuesday 14 January 2025
Title: Find Genomic, Genetic and Phenomic Data for Wheat Using the WheatIS Data Discovery Tool

Links
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Lab page