Recognizing The Plant Cell author Nikolai Adamski
Nikolai Adamski, first author of Ectopic Expression of Triticum polonicum VRT-A2 Underlies Elongated Glumes and Grains in Hexaploid Wheat in a Dosage-Dependent Manner
Postdoctoral scientist, Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, UK
Diploma in Biology, University of Freiburg, Germany; PhD in Wheat Genetics at John Innes Centre, UK
Raising three boys, Reading, Hiking, Board and Video Games
I am fascinated by grasses and their pivotal role in changing our life-style from that of nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers. The domestication of grasses like wheat, rice, and maize has enabled ever fewer people to feed a steadily increasing number of people, who in turn could focus on art and culture instead of the “banalities” of food production. The Green Revolution of the 1960s/1970s has seen the introduction of semi-dwarf wheat and rice varieties, which has helped stave off widespread famines. All this was possible by exploiting the natural diversity of wheat and rice. I believe that this diversity is the key to help unlock our understanding, and thus the potential, for improving our cereal crops to meet the challenging demands of our times.
In my work, I am using landraces and relatives of wheat to identify new and agronomically useful alleles to help improve crop yield. This requires both a fundamental understanding of the underlying biology, as well as applied trials to test predictions and evaluate the effectiveness of new variation. This combination of basic and applied biology is highly interesting and a vital motivator for me.
