PSM graduate student Tomas Lopes receives Carter Harrison Endowment and the Rossman Scholarship
Print
EmailTomas is part of the Diploid Germplasm for Variety Development project, which works to improve potato yield in countries across the globe through the development of highly disease-resistant lines.
Congratulations to Tomas Lopes (Douches Lab/Diploid Germplasm for Variety Development project).
Originally from CT Tomas acknowledges his Portuguese family with agricultural roots for his interest in biology. "Almost every household in my extended family had a well-tended garden, and this exposure from a young age solidified my love of biology. Genetics became a passion the moment I learned about DNA in 6th grade. In high school, I completed a Capstone project (essentially making a project about whatever you want due at the end of senior year) where I crossed squash and zucchini to create what I called a Squinni. I was interested to see the phenotypes of the progeny and try to figure out inheritance patterns like Mendel did. It turns out squash genetics are a bit more complicated than peas genetics (at least for the traits I was looking at). The results confused and amazed me, and further stoked my desire to learn more about genetics, leading to my choice of undergraduate major.
Tomas attended the University of Connecticut for his B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology, and then set his goals toward grad school. "I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview here at MSU as well as other universities across the country. My goals for graduate school are to learn and apply skills relevant to all aspects of plant breeding and genetics, from traditional and modern (transformation, gene editing, etc.) breeding strategies to computational abilities (QTL mapping, GWAS, genomic prediction, etc). Dr. Douches matched my enthusiasm about learning these skills and was happy to give me the opportunity to explore various research projects in addition to my main CPB resistance project. MSU's Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology program was where I felt most encouraged to branch out and gain a wide as well as deep knowledge base."
Tomas says his ultimate goal is to facilitate the creation of improved crops for more productive, nutritious and sustainable agriculture. "Plant Breeding to me is the at intersection of many fields including molecular biology, genetics, and statistics and requiring the application of multiple fields to produce tangible results that directly impact of everyone and everything dependent or affected by agriculture. It brings people together from many different backgrounds, and there is so much potential for collaboration and integration of ideas.
"I want to help maximize food production while reducing the need for pesticides and fertilizers, which will improve both human and ecosystem health as well as drive economic gains. There is immense unrealized potential in plant breeding, which makes me very excited to be a part of the field."
