Roberto Tuberosa, B.S. in Botany from the University of Bologna, earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Breeding from the University of Minnesota. He is currently Professor of Biotechnology Applied to Plant Breeding at the University of Bologna. His research focuses on the use of genomics approaches to dissect the genetic basis of important traits (e.g. tolerance to fungal diseases, root architecture, drought tolerance, yield, seed quality, etc.) in wheat, maize and barley. He collaborates with seed companies to improve wheat and maize performance via marker-assisted selection.
His group was first to clone and patent a QTL for flowering time in maize and is presently cloning QTLs for root architecture in maize, and for disease resistance and yield in wheat.
Dr. Tuberosa coordinates the Italian Technological Platform "Plants for the Future" that brings together representatives of the agrofood industry and academia in order to provide guidance on future research activities in crops. He is member of the Editorial Board of 8 international Journals and is a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America. He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 24 book chapters and edited 7 volumes.
Dr. Tuberosa has organized 6 international congresses and has presented several keynote lectures at international congresses. He has a vast network of collaborations in Europe, USA, India, China and Australia and regularly reviews research proposals for the EU and national funding agencies in France, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, UK and the USA.
