The focus of my research group is the evolution of naturally-occurring asexual seed production in plants (apomixis), and my research program encompasses population genetics and evolution, high throughput phenotyping, various “omics” methods (NGS, microarray expression profiling, CGH, miRNA analyses), and functional genetics. Asexual plants are naturally occurring, and are typically hybrid and polyploid, and thus our research includes the cause and effect aspects of these phenomena on asexuality. The relative success of sexual versus asexual reproduction reflects an evolutionary puzzle which has long challenged

biologists, and our applied work on apomixis has enabled us to delve relatively deeply into some of these evolutionary hypotheses, both in wild populations and in the lab.

From an applied perspective, apomixis is heralded as disruptive technology which could spur an agricultural revolution when engineered into crops, as it would allow immediate fixation of any desired genotype and lead to faster and simpler breeding schemes. Hence niche breeding, the development of diverse crop varieties adapted to specific environmental, agricultural or economic needs, would be one of many potential benefits to humanity. This applied aspect allows me to attract additional interest and funding from both industrial and private sources to fund my research.

I also have long-standing projects (15 years) in Germany which involve apomixis and reproduction in the medicinal plants St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) and German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), research which supports academic and industry partners for their use in dementia research and digestive applications respectively. This has also led me to delve more deeply into the legitimization of medicinal plants, and I have recently begun to apply genomics to Cannabis research.

I worked as a technician in an amphibian genetics laboratory at McGill University from 1987 until 1995 and simultaneously completed my BSc and MSc in evolution and biology at McGill. In 1995, I moved to the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology (Seewiesen, Germany), where I completed his PhD in Biology, studying the evolution of sex in flatworms from the Italian Alps. In 1999, I moved to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (Jena, Germany) to work on apomixis as a post-doc. In 2005, I began as head of the apomixis research group at the Leibniz Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben, Germany). On September 1, 2015, I was awarded a 7 million dollar grant to begin a position as GIFS Research Chair in Seed Biology at the newly formed Global Institute for Food Security in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I recently completed this funding cycle and have moved my lab permanently to the Plant Sciences department of USask.