Recognizing The Plant Cell author Kirk Amundson

Kirk Amundson, first author of Rare instances of haploid inducer DNA in potato dihaploids and ploidy-dependent genome instability

Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, University of California Davis, Davis CA USA

Education: B.S. in Biochemistry, University of Minnesota

Non-scientific interests: Skiing, brewing beer, hiking, and occasionally, singing.

Brief bio: I completed my B.S. in biochemistry at the University of Minnesota in 2014. While at Minnesota, I worked with David Marks to make polyploid and EMS mutant populations of pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) toward its development as a cover crop. After graduating, I joined the lab of Luca Comai as a technician and later, as a Ph.D. student at UC Davis. My work in the Comai lab is centered on using genomics to better understand the useful and enigmatic phenomenon of haploid induction in potato, as featured in our group’s recent Plant Cell publication. This work has prompted fun questions regarding plant genome stability that my colleagues and I continue to investigate.