Department of Plant Breeding

Research

Research interests in the JLU Giessen Department of Plant Breeding cover various aspects of quantitative and molecular genetics, genomics and breeding of oilseed rape, wheat, sorghum and barley. The current research group comprises three senior scientists/group leaders, six postdocs and 15 PhD students, assisted by numerous technicians, MSc and BSc students. The research is funded by grants from DFG, BMBF, BMEL/FNR and GFPi along with additional private-public partnerships and scholarships.

The main research focus is on combining functional and structural genomics with field-based and controlled-environment evaluation of crop populations for analysis of a wide variety of complex quantitative traits. Special emphasis is placed on the use of next-generation DNA sequencing for SNP discovery, sequencing-based mapping, ultradeep global transcriptome analysis, population epigenomics and polyploid genome structure analysis. The group members are involved in numerous national and international research consortia with partners in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.