Kirsten Hein is a graduate student in the McKay lab residing in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University. Her current research interests are in improving crop resilience in the face of climate change by studying the molecular mechanisms that control drought tolerance traits in maize and ecogeographic adaptation in Ethiopian orphan crop, Eragrostis tef.

Patrick Woods is a crop geneticist who has worked in quantitative genetics, experimental design, and statistics. He has discovered more than 80 candidate genes for breeding crop traits, and has 3 publications. He's also an accomplished bioinformatician and confident science communicator, both oral and written as shown by being awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Research and Scholarship Award from Colorado State University.

As always you can find us and our other episodes by following us on Instagram @soilentgreenpodcast where we post bonus content like pictures and graphics of the topics discussed. We can also be reached by email: soilentgreenpodcast@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening!

References & Links

Buy Me a Coffee and http://patreon.com/soilentgreen

Patrick's Paper - Quantitative trait loci controlling agronomic and biochemical traits in Cannabis sativa

Kirsten's Paper - Root Pulling Force Across Drought in Maize Reveals Genotype by Environment Interactions and Candidate Genes

Nitrogen fixation in a landrace of maize is supported by a mucilage-associated diazotrophic microbiota

GMOs

George Beadle

Leibniz Institute IPK

Kent Whealy - Rescuing Traditional Food Crops in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Seed Savers Exchange

NPR Interview w/Jo Robinson

Historical context about Lysenkoism

USDA - 150 Years of Research