Abstract:
I spent 19 years in academia generating genome sequence maps of major crops such as soybean, peanut, common bean and many others and their wild relatives. After generating insights into genome dynamics, including transposable elements, polyploidy, and DNA methylation, I moved to industry for the opportunity to integrate all the genome information we had generated into improving crops. Five years in industry were spent building a team of geneticists, modelers and mathematicians that could improve how breeding decisions are made and the time to produce a new variety by better use of genome information and to ultimately be more design driven making the next generation of crops. I have come full circle and am in the process of building a team at the University of Georgia to use advanced modeling (AI/ML) tools to improve agricultural productivity, ranging from plant/animal improvement to production systems. I will provide an overview of the career arc that led me to this topic and some thoughts on where we are going.

Bio:
Scott Jackson is the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Synthetic Biology. His research focuses on the application of genomic tools to describe and understand the structure and function of plant genomes for crop improvement. He is a member of the Institute of Bioinformatics and an adjunct professor for the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics.