Recognizing Plant Physiology authors: Clarissa Boschiero

Clarissa Boschiero, co-first author of MtSSPdb: the Medicago truncatula Small Secreted Peptide Database

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at Noble Research Institute, Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA

Education: Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Animal Science at São Paulo State University, Brazil

Non-scientific Interests: photography, travelling, and gardening

Brief bio:  I have always been fascinated by genetics. During my Ph.D. in Brazil, I worked with poultry genetics, and investigated molecular markers associated with traits of economic interest. After my Ph.D., I was awarded with a Postdoctoral fellowship abroad at The Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, UK. At that time, I started to analyze big data and perform bioinformatics analyses, and we developed the first commercial SNP chip for chickens. This was an important stage in my career when I started to work as a bioinformatician.  Since 2016, aiming to expand my research area, I started to work with plants at the Noble Research Institute. I have been mainly working with the identification and characterization of small secreted peptides in plants, which resulted in the development of the Medicago SSP database. I look forward to generate new discoveries that can help the plant community and agriculture as well.