R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Awardees
| 2024 |
The MGC is pleased to present the 2024 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Dr. Vicki Chandler, Dr. Jesús Sánchez González, and Dr. L. Curt Hannah.
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Vicki Chandler
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Jesús Sánchez González
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L. Curt Hannah
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Dr. Chandler has made tremendous contributions to our understanding of maize genetics and to our research community. Her independent position at University of Oregon began in 1985, and she maintained an active presence in the maize genetics research community for more than 30 years. Research in the Chandler laboratory focused predominantly on regulation of gene expression in maize, with an emphasison gene silencing mechanisms related to paramutation at the B1 locus. Over the course of her career as a post-doc in the Walbot lab and subsequently as a faculty member at the University of Oregon and then later at the University of Arizona, Dr. Chandler authored and co-authored over 50 papers related to maize genetics and genomics. Overall, her work has been cited more than 10,000 times. Dr. Chandler is well known for her exacting scientific standards, and each paper represents a substantial and scientifically sound body of work, with clearly stated results and well justified conclusions. Of particular note is her work on paramutation, a fascinating example of gene regulation that was first described decades before Dr. Chandler turned her attention to it.
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Dr. Sánchez González is the leading authority on the biology of the teosintes, the wild relatives of maize, and a key researcher on the diversity of Mexican landrace maize. Building on the initial work of Garrison Wilkes, Dr. Sánchez González made numerous field expeditions to collect teosintes from the wild as their habitats were being lost or threatened, characterized the collections phenotypically and with molecular markers, and recently developed a set of near-isogenic lines carrying introgressions from all named teosinte taxa to assist genetic analysis of their alleles and incorporation of novel wild alleles into maize varieties. Dr. Sánchez González is the lead author on the most recent monograph of the geographic distribution and taxonomic classification of teosinte (Sánchez González et al. 1998, updated and summarized in English in Sánchez González et al. 2018 PlosOne), and has recently published an impressive genetic characterization of nearly 300 populations of all wild Zea (Rivera-Rodríguez et al. 2023 PLoSOne). He discovered and characterized new teosinte taxa (Sánchez González et al. 2011 Am. J. Bot).
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Dr. L. Curt Hannah is a
longstanding member of the Maize Genetics Community with a career spanning six decades. Curt has thus co-authored 154 refereed publications. Among Curt's many fundamental discoveries in my mind three standout. 1) His early studies of sh2-m1 were first to show that transposon excision could be a source of variation that altered kinetic and allosteric properties of an enzyme. The enzyme is ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, a focus for much of his research. 2) Curt documented de novo creation of a correctly spliced intron by a Ds transposon insertion. The significance of this discovery was recognized by Nobel Laureate and "intron early" advocate Walter Gilbert even though birth of a new intron in Oliver Nelson’s field nursery in the summer of 1969 ran counter to his favored hypothesis. 3) Elucidation of unexpected relationships between gene family structure and subunit sub-functionalization in evolution of a multimeric enzyme. These discoveries in turn inspired translational applications that have resulted in 15 patents including engineering and field testing of maize transgenic lines with heat-stable and kinetically optimized ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase variants.
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| 2023 |
The MGC is pleased to present the 2023 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Hugo Dooner and Kathy Newton.
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Hugo Dooner
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Kathy Newton
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Dr. Hugo Dooner has contibuted landmark discoveries, superb genetics, and intellectual leadership to the maize genetics community for decades. Hugo's various uses
of the bronze locus and its surroundings to demonstrate everything from genetic control of
enzymatic activity to the complexities of and interactions among transposable elements
(especially, but not limited to, Ac/Ds), understanding the subtleties of recombination and gene
conversion, to one of the first descriptions of the unexpected and incredible
variation in maize genome organization. Similarly, his relentless pursuits of understanding Ac/Ds elements involved
Petunias, Arabidopsis and tobacco plants, but his deep love of maize was never far away and he
has served the community as an elected member of the National Academy, on the Maydica editorial board,
Maize Nomenclature Committee and even chairing the Maize Meeting, as well as championing maize
on the editorial boards of major journals like Plant Cell and TAG.
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Dr. Kathy Newton's scientific contributions include pioneering the study
of mitochondrial genetics and genomics in maize. Her lab showed that partial deletions of mitochondrial
genes that encode specific components of electron transfer chain complexes or of the translation apparatus
have dramatic effects on plant growth and development. Defective mitochondria can affect chloroplast
biogenesis, and they also signal to the nucleus of the cell, which leads to the production of specific stress
proteins. Another major research contribution she made was through determining the molecular basis of
cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in maize. CMS plants grow normally but fail to shed pollen. Novel
mitochondrial genes resulting from DNA rearrangements cause CMS. Kathy's research explained how
nuclear genes and spontaneous mitochondrial DNA rearrangements lead to the recovery of fertility. This
research has direct applications in breeding and the production of high-yielding hybrid corn.
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| 2022 |
The MGC is pleased to present the 2022 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Sarah Hake and Major Goodman.
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Sarah Hake
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Major Goodman
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Dr. Hake started her career as a PhD student with Ginny Walbot studying the organization of the
maize genome. She then progressed to a post doc with Mike Freeling, working on transposons and their
effect on gene expression. There she started to work on KNOTTED1, which she cloned as one of the
first plant developmental genes. She used many genetic approaches, including mosaic analysis, which led
to the discovery of KN1 non-cell autonomy and that transcription factors traffic through plasmodesmata.
She pioneered phenotypic analysis of developmental mutants, and passed on her passion to many former
trainees who are now leading plant genetics groups around the world. Her group also cloned and
characterized many of the classical maize developmental mutants, including terminal ear, branched
silkless, barren inflorescence2, indeterminate spikelet, Fascicled, Tasselseed5 and 6, ramosa2 and
Gnarly to name just a few, giving incredible new insights into control of inflorescence architecture, leaf
development, plant cell walls and the growth-defense tradeoff.
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Dr. Goodman is the leading expert on the
classification and use of the diverse genetic resources of maize. He pioneered the development
and use of mathematical approaches to classification of diverse plant materials; had a primary
role in the development of one of the first comprehensive plant genetic marker systems;
championed the maintenance, evaluation, and use of gene bank resources for crop improvement;
and to this day conducts a very productive applied public maize breeding program. His impact on
the scientific community has increased as understanding of genetic diversity and its relationship
with phenotypic diversity has become a major objective of large-scale plant genomics efforts
(Buckler et al. 2006). Maize plays a key role in these efforts thanks in part to the groundwork
that Major Goodman developed to elucidate and synthesize the relationships among the
bewildering array of diverse maize seed resources.
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| 2021 |
The MGC is pleased to present the 2021 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Dr. Don Auger, Dr. Ronald Phillips, and Dr. William Sheridan.
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Don Auger
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Ronald Phillips
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William Sheridan
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Dr. Auger received his Ph.D. from the Univesity of North Dakota advised by Dr. William Sheridan and did his postdoc at the University of Missouri, Columbia with Dr. James Birchler. For the past two-decades, he served as a Professor at South Dakota State University. Over his career, Dr. Auger imparted his love of maize genetics to thousands of undergraduate and graduate students through his genetics courses and has been recognized numerous times at the university and national level for teaching and mentoring. As part of the maize community, Dr. Auger contributed towards the understanding of perennialism in Zea diploperennis, the effect of gene dosage on heterosis and polyploidy, and of mutations that affect the gametophyte generation in maize. Dr. Auger passed away on January 7th, 2021. Don was a beloved fixture at the Maize Meeting, having attended more than thirty meetings.
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Dr. Phillips received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is a Regents Professor Emeritus and former McKnight Presidential Chair in Genomics at the University of Minnesota, having spent his career as a faculty member in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Dr. Phillips is widely recognized for his seminal work in plant tissue culture which supported the biotechnology revolution. Dr. Phillips had a major impact on the careers of many scientists including the 55 graduate students and 23 postdoctoral scientists he advised. Dr. Phillips was dedicated to serving and growing the community. Among numerous activities, he served as Chief Scientist of the USDA (1996-1998) in charge of the National Reserach Initiative Competitive Grants Program, chaired the Interagency Working Group that developed the plan for the Plant Genome Research Initiative and held leadership roles in the Maize Genetics community and the Crop Science Society of America. He received many awards during his career including election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
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Dr. Sheridan received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, and followed this with research at Yale, the University of Missouri, and ultimately at the University of North Dakota, where he is the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of Biology. Dr. Sheridan did pioneering work studying histones and the synaptonemal complex in lilies and maize. He also made major contributions in the genetic and developmental analyses of defective kernel mutations with regards to the endosperm and the embryo, and helped define the early stages of their development in maize. Additionally, Dr. Sheridan identified and studied mutations essential for the genetic control of meiosis. For over two decades, he organized the program and served on the Maize Genetics Meeting steering committee. He was editor for the key community reference book "Maize for Biological Research" and fostered a unique exchange with Russian scientists in the 1990s. Dr. Sheridan is an incredible collaborator and mentor for scientists, he epitomizes the combination of excellence in research with the building of an open community, where everyone can thrive.
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| 2020 |
The MGEC is pleased to present the 2020 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Dr. Jerry Kermicle. Dr. Kermicle received his B.S from University of Illinois, Urbana, and a Masters and Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin. His entire professional career has been at the University of Wisconsin, starting with a PostDoc in 1963 to his current position as a Professor Emeritus (a position held since 1999). Dr. Kermicle's has made substantial contributions in many areas of considerable importance for maize genetics. For example, he was the first to describe a gene related to gametic imprinting. He was a pioneer in this field. Other areas of focus include the structure, paramutation, and silencing of the R gene in maize, and the teosinte/maize crossing barrier. Throughout his career, Professor Kermicle has also selflessly donated and shared his unique materials broadly with the global maize community. The uniqueness of Professor Kermicle' s contributions have relied on his keen observation skills and his capacity to dissect complex phenomena, almost solely, by observing progeny of carefully designed genetic crosses.
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| 2019 |
The MGEC is pleased to present the 2019 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Dr. Gerry Neuffer. Dr. Gerry Neuffer received his B.S. from University of Idaho in 1947, and his M.S and Ph.D., both under Dr. Lewis J. Stadler, from University of Missouri, Columbia in 1948 and 1952, respectively. After a short postdoc, he was hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri, where he rose through the ranks and stayed for his entire career, until his retirement in 1992. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the University of Missouri and still grew and pollinated a corn field every summer. Dr. Neuffer has made significant contributions to maize genetics by developing, sharing, characterizing, and documenting numerous mutants to help elucidate the genetic pathways underlying many traits. Dr. Neuffer was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1964. Dr. Gerry Neuffer is a long-standing member of the maize community. Dr. Neuffer is one of the founders of the Maize Genetics Conference in 1954 and one of the few people in the world that can say they have been to more than 50 Maize Meetings.
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| 2018 |
The MGEC is pleased to present the 2018 R. Emerson Lifetime Maize Genetics Award to Dr. Ed Coe, Jr. Dr. Coe received his B.S. from the University of Minnesota and his Ph.D from the University of Illinois, and is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-Columbia and retired from the USDA-ARS after 50 years of service. Dr. Coe has made many seminal contributions to our understanding of maize genetics. He described paramutation at the Booster (B) locus. This research directly influenced the discovery of the field of epigenetics and the regulation of gene function by small RNAs. Dr. Coe also discovered stock 6 that produces haploid progeny at high frequency, which underpins the production of doubled haploid individuals to produce inbred lines. This discovery resulted in millions of dollars of subsequent research and benefited people all over the world by the improvements in seed yield. He also made significant discoveries of the genes controlling anthocyanin production in maize, conducted pioneering studies using radiation to mark cell lineages and study how different populations of cells within the meristem contribute to maize development, created some of the first integrated classical genetic and molecular genetic maps of maize chromosomes, and helped launch online databases as repositories for genetic and genomic information. In addition, Dr. Coe served as the Editor of the Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter for 26 continuous years, and along with two co-authors, wrote The Mutants of Maize, the definitive volume of the genetic resources available for this species. Dr. Coe has received numerous awards for his research, including the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for lifetime contributions to the field of genetics from the Genetics Society of America in 1992, and being elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1963.
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