Gunvant Patil, Ph.D.

Background

Dr. Gunvant Patil, an expert in genetic engineering, quantitative genetics and translational genomics, has been named an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Texas Tech University. Dr. Patil received his B.S. degree from North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, India and his M.S. and Ph. D. degrees from the University of Pune and National Center for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, India. Prior to joining the Tech faculty, Patil served as a research scientist at the University of Minnesota-St. Paul. He also worked as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a visiting researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.

Research Interests

I am interested in genetic engineering and integrated approaches for trait discovery and crop improvement.

Genome engineering has tremendous potential in crop improvement; and, using this technology, we can precisely turn ON, turn OFF or fine-tune the expression of targeted gene/s and improve desirable traits and plant fitness. However, in the majority of crop species, the genetic transformation process is the bottleneck and typically remains confined to a few genotypes per species, leading to poor agronomic performance. To address these challenges, I am interested in developing a platform to improve ‘genotype independent' genetic transformations and genome editing systems in major crop species including legumes, fiber, and energy crops. Additionally, my research is focusing on creating “Targeted Quantitative Variations” in plant genomes using genome editing technologies to decipher the molecular mechanism of various abiotic stress tolerances and disease resistance traits in crops.

Related Links

• Curriculum vitae
• Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance