This week HudsonAlpha virtually welcomed Nathan Springer, PhD, as the final invited speaker of the 2020-2021 Research Seminar series. Dr. Springer is a McKnight Presidential Endowed Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Minnesota. He is also the newest member of the HudsonAlpha Scientific Advisory Board. Greg Barsh, MD, PhD, HudsonAlpha Faculty Investigator and Faculty Chair and Smith Family Chair in Genomics, hosted the seminar.
In his talk entitled “Identification of the sources of regulatory variation in crop genomes”, Springer discussed his lab’s recent work focusing on identifying functionally relevant portions of plant genomes. Throughout his talk he presented data that showed that chromatin maps can provide insights into functional genomes, which is especially useful in species with large genomes. Springer also showed that transposable elements likely contribute to part of the regulatory variation in crop plants.
The Springer research group studies basic aspects of genetics using maize as a model system. To learn more about Dr. Springer’s research, visit his lab website here.
More information on HudsonAlpha Research Seminars, including the upcoming schedule, can be found at hudsonalpha.org/seminars.