User:Andy pereira

Andy Pereira Professor, Anheuser-Busch and Arkansas Wholesalers Professorship in Plant Molecular Genetics 115 Plant Science Building University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone:479-575-8435 Fax: 479-575-7465 apereira@uark.edu

Education: 1981-1986: Ph.D., Plant Breeding and Cytogenetics, minor Biochemistry, Department of Plant Breeding & Cytogenetics, Iowa State University, USA  Thesis: Molecular isolation, DNA sequence and organization of the transposable element Enhancer of Zea mays. 1979-1981: M.S. Genetics, major Cytogenetics, minor Biochemistry, Dept. of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India  Thesis: Cytogenetic and Biochemical studies on some of the American and Oriental genera of Maydeae. 1974-1979: B.Sc. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Genetics & Plant Breeding electives, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India

Professional Background: 2011- present Professor, Departments of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, and Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA 2006 –2010 Research Professor, Stress Systems Biology, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, USA 2004 – 2006 Theme Coordinator Stress Biology, Plant Research International, Wageningen University & Research Centre (WUR), The Netherlands 2000 – 2004 Cluster Leader: Functional Genomic Analysis, Business unit Genomics/Bioscience, Plant Research International (PRI), Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), Wageningen, The Netherlands (NL). 1996 – 2000 Section Leader: Gene Isolation, Department Molecular Biology, Plant Research International (formerly CPRO-DLO), NL   1991 – 1996 Senior Scientist CPRO, CPRO-DLO in the Department Molecular Biology, NL    1989 – 1991 Junior Scientist at ITAL in Wageningen, working for Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (DLO), The Netherlands (NL). 1986 – 1988 Post-Doctoral fellow, Max-Planck Institute für Züchtungsforschung, Cologne, Germany. Research involved the study of the transposons in heterologous hosts. 1985 – 1986 Teaching assistant at Iowa State University, USA on course ‘Cytogenetics and Plant Breeding’

1984 – 1985 Ph.D. research at Max-Planck Institute für Züchtungsforschung, Cologne, Germany. This involved the molecular characterization of the autonomous maize Enhancer (also called Spm) transposable element, leading to a burst in the isolation of maize genes (A1, C1, C2), including the first plant regulatory gene C1 which is a myb homolog.

Research Interests: Drought stress systems biology using the plant models Arabidopsis and rice: Dissect drought response, resistance and water use efficiency pathways using transcriptome analysis and regulatory genes with conserved functions across plants. Gene function network analysis to dissect complex biological pathways, using regulatory genes as genetic perturbations to experimentally validate and improve predicted networks Reproductive drought stress response and resistance pathways: comparative analysis in the cereals maize and rice Systems analysis of regulatory pathways of cellulose, lignin and other cell wall components Development of heterologous transposon tagging systems in plants using En-I(Spm) and Ac-Ds maize transposons for knockout mutagenesis, activation tagging and gene detection Forward genetics strategies for identification and analysis of gene functions for important crop traits like disease resistance, abiotic stress, regulators of metabolic pathways, plant architecture, meristem identity etc Development of Reverse genetics strategies by generation of insertion flanking sequence tag FST databases in Arabidopsis, rice and tomato Potato molecular genetics: QTL mapping of Phytophthora and nematode resistance genes, isolation of resistance genes by map-based cloning and transposon tagging approaches Arabidopsis-pathogen interaction: isolation of non race specific pathogen resistance genes Characterization of the cuticular wax CER genes and their role in plant protection mechanisms by validation in Arabidopsis, rice and tomato QTL analysis of physiological parameters for drought tolerance/avoidance in rice Functional genomics of agronomic traits in rice

Honors and Awards: 2008 ‘Scholar of the Week’ at Virginia Tech, for period November 17-28, selected by Vice President for Research, Virginia Tech. 1999: ‘Excellent Scientist’ Award from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, for period 1999-2005, provided Professor level salary scale. 1986: ISU Research Excellence award 1985: ‘Otto Hahn Medal’ from the Max-Planck Society for Excellent Young Scientist, included a 2 year open international fellowshi http://cses.uark.edu/5884.php