Biography
Dr. Mohsen Mohammadi is an assistant professor of wheat breeding and quantitative genetics in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. He studied plant breeding and genetics during his MS and molecular biology during his PhD, but trained as a traditional and marker-based plant breeder. In his PhD, he identified novel dehydration responsive genes in wheat roots using global transcriptional profiling. Prior to joining Purdue Agronomy, he has been a traditional and marker-based breeder at wheat breeding program of Iran and the barley breeding project of University of Minnesota. At University of Minnesota, he worked on genome-wide association studies of food and malt quality traits in the US barley germplasm and evaluating accuracies of genome-wide prediction schemes for improvement of malt quality traits. He also developed genome-wide breeding algorithm to predict genetic variance expected from biparental crosses. At Purdue Agronomy, he took over Professor Herbert Ohm’s Small Grains Breeding Program in 2015. His role is to provide learning environment for genetics, quantitative genetics, and breeding.

Education
1998 – 2000   MSc in Plant Genetics and Breeding, University of Tehran
1994 – 1998   BSc in Agronomy and Plant Breeding, University of Tehran

Teaching Responsibilities
AGRY 611 Quantitative Genetics
AGRY 320 Undergraduate Genetics​

Research Interests

We use field plot research, marker-assisted selection, and genome-wide prediction to improve breeding efficiency and deliver high yielding disease and pest resistant soft red winter wheat germplasm. We are interested in understanding mechanisms that lead to higher yield potential and learning physiological responses of wheat to resource-deficient environments. 

Small Grains Breeding Program Background
Soft red winter (SRW) wheat, accounting for nearly 15-25 percent of total wheat production in the US, is grown primarily in the Eastern States. In 2014, 455 million bushels (slightly greater than 12 million tonnes) of SRW wheat was produced. Breeding programs from public and private sectors work independently and collaboratively to address production issues such as local adaptation, yield, and resistance to diseases and pests. Being a part of this relatively large breeding community, Purdue’s Small Grains Breeding Program has been a significant player in the introduction of exotic germplasm, known to carry disease and pest resistance genes, into native SRW wheat germplasm. The existing infrastructure, design of the breeding program, the wealth of the germplasm were, to a great extent, tailored over the past decades by Ralph Cadwell, Fred Patterson, and Herbert Ohm​. Much of the unique niche of the Purdue’s Small Grains Breeding Program comes from the endeavors of Herbert Ohm who thought of introducing novel native traits into Purdue agriculture. The Purdue’s Small Grains Breeding Program historically bred for high yielding and disease resistant oat varieties that sometimes demonstrated global adaptation even to Northern Plains. In addition to wheat and oat, we are collaborating with breeders at the University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University, and Oregon State University to screen adapted spring and winter barley germplasm for Indiana.

Selected Publications
Application Procedure
If you are a potential visiting scholar, postdoc, or graduate student, please send a letter of interest describing your project and past experience. We always welcome applications of undergraduate researchers who are willing to be a part of our research program.

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