WSCSE-2025

Roberto Tuberosa joined the Department of Agronomy at the University of Bologna in 1977 and in 1984 he joined the lab of Dr. Ronald Phillips at the Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding at the University of Minnesota where he received a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding with a minor in Crop Physiology. After returning to Bologna, Roberto pursued the application of biotechnology in wheat, barley and maize at the Department of Agro-Food Sciences and Technologies where he led the Cereal Genomics Laboratory. The main focus of his research has been the mapping and cloning in cereals of major genes/QTL for disease resistance and root system architecture as related to drought tolerance. Roberto taught Plant Genetics, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Breeding and graduated 28 Ph.D. students. He will retire in November 2024. Roberto is a fellow of CSSA, represents Europe on the board of the International Crop Science Society (ICSS) and sits on the Scientific Board of the Wheat Initiative. He collaborates with international and Italian seed companies to improve durum wheat and maize via marker-assisted selection and genome editing. He holds two patents for the cloning in maize of Vgt1, a major QTL for flowering time and root-yield 1.06, a major QTL for root architecture and yield. He coordinates the PanWheatGrain project (2021-2026) to assemble the durum wheat pangenome with 27 international partners that will provide novel opportunities to more effectively leverage tetraploid wheat biodiversity for the selection of more sustainable and climate-resilient bread wheat. Roberto has organized 11 international congresses, four of which were titled “From Seed to Pasta”, with the last edition in 2022 with over 250 participants https://www.fromseedtopasta.com/fstp-iv-bologna-italy-2022/. Roberto will organize and chair the 4th International Wheat Congress to be held in Bologna in May 2026.