This story was first published in the Davis College NewsCenter. See the original article here.
Lam-Son Phan Tran, a Texas Tech expert in biotechnology and biological sciences, has once more been named among the world's most highly cited researchers in their respective fields for 2022. The annual list is compiled by Clarivate Analytics, a company that provides scientific research and analytic services.
“Dr. Tran is one of the top plant biologists in the world, and his continued recognition demonstrates the respect of the plant biology community for his exceptional work,” said Glen Ritchie, chair of Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science. “He is a leader at Texas Tech University, the Davis College, and the Department of Plant & Soil Science.”
Ritchie noted that this is not the first time Tran has made it to the elite analytics listing. He was also named in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2016.
Tran, a professor in Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science, stepped into his new research and teaching post with Tech's new Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance in 2020. Led by Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, the high-profile research group examines how plants adapt to thrive in the presence of environmental stresses, such as extreme heat and cold, drought and in the presence of brackish water sources.
Prior to arriving at Tech, Tran served as unit leader of the Stress Adaptation Research Unit at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Yokohama, Japan. Today, his Texas Tech research program broadly focuses on regulatory network and crosstalk among signaling molecules in plant responses to environmental stresses, as well as translational genomics for improvement of crop productivity in the era of global climate change.
His basic and applied research programs will contribute to some of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, which include maintaining sustainable production of crops for food, biomass and industrial uses. One of his primary goals here at Tech is to further promote the research on plant functional genomics and regulatory roles of signaling molecules, leading to development of crop cultivars with enhanced environmental stress resistance. Importantly, he wants to pass his knowledge and research experiences to the next generation through teaching and training.