As a PhD student, I am part of the International Research Training Group "IRTG 2842 - Accelerating Crop Genetic Gain", which is a joint project between Justus-Liebig University and the University of Queensland in Australia. My PhD research focuses on linkage drag and recombination in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), using stochastic simulations of plant breeding programmes and conducting heat and cold stress trials on sorghum.
Research Keywords:
Stochastic simulation
Intrachromosomal recombination
Quantitative genetics
Sorghum bicolor
Curriculum vitae:
Since May 2024: PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Rod Snowdon and Dr. Sven Weber, researching the topic: “Overcoming linked traits in sorghum” at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
2025: Lab exchange at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia (three months).
2021–2024: Master of Science in Integrated Plant and Animal Breeding at Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany. Graduated with a grade of 1.2; Diploma thesis at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, in the group of Prof. Nils Stein, on the topic of: Genetic mapping of a chemically induced pendant awn mutant in barley (Hordeum vulgare)
2023: Internships at ARCHE NOAH e.V. in Schiltern, Austria (two months), Sativa Rheinau AG in Rheinau, Switzerland (two months), and the IPK in Gatersleben, Germany (two months).
2022: Erasmus semester at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria.
2021: Federal Voluntary Service at the Swabian Farm Museum, Illerbeuren, Germany (seven month)
2017–2021: Bachelor of Science in Ökologische Landwirtschaft (organic agricultural sciences) at the University of Kassel, Germany
2020: Internships at Rieger-Hofmann GmbH, Blaufelden, Germany (three months) and the Thünen Institute of Organic Farming, Westerau, Germany (three months).
2019: Erasmus semester at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.
Publications:
Boyny, Z. Z., Lester, N., Massel, K., Powell, O., Snowdon, R., & Weber, S. (2026). Simulating the impact of recombination rate on genomic selection breeding outcomes. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, jkag049. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkag049
Jhingan, S., Boyny, Z. Z. F., Rutten, T., Himmelbach, A., & Stein, N. (2026). A pendant awn phenotype linked to the EMBRYONIC FLOWER 1 LIKE (EMF1L) gene in barley. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 139(1), 9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-025-05105-5
