b'KEEPING AN OPEN MINDTO NEW EXPERIENCESWHATS ONEthing you shouldincrease in fiber length, in our project know about NAPB Scholar Samanthawe have seen a 4-10% increase in fiber Wegener? Not only is she a first-gen- length from the background parents. eration college student, but shes also aThis can help cotton remain competitive first-generation immigranther motherwith synthetic, manmade fibers that are moved to the U.S. approximately 30not natural and renewable like cotton years ago from Germany.fibers. It has been exciting to be part of a Why is that important to her? Well,project that has spanned a good portion both aspects give her a unique perspec- of my lifetime and the use of introgres-tive on the world and have allowed her tosion from sister taxa has the potential continuously keep an open mind to newof making significant genetic gains in opportunities and experiences.relatively few breeding cycles if deployed Currently an undergraduate studentin cultivar development. This project has at the University of Georgia, Tifton,the potential to make a difference in the Wegener is majoring in agriscience andcotton industry as well as the research environmental systems with an emphasiscommunity. on plant breeding, genetics and genom-ics. She shares a little more about herself. SW: How did you catch a passion for genetics? Seed World (SW): Why did youSJW: Honestly, it was a bit of shock for decide to focus on cotton right now?along the way. My path is pretty openme when I first heard about some of the Samantha Jo Wegener (SJW): The reasonfor new opportunities, and I still haveissues facing modern agriculture while I decided to start working in cotton, fiberso much to learn, which I think is a veryobtaining my Associates in Science from quality improvement in particular, wasexciting prospect! the Technical College of the Lowcountry because of its potential as a sustainable(TCL) in South Carolina. Most of my and environmentally friendly source forSW: Tell us about your research, andeducation had been conducted on the fiber. Synthetic fibers are made fromhow do you think itll impact theeast coast, so plant sciences were always nonrenewable, non-ecofriendly resourcesfuture?a subject brushed over to meet the like petroleum. Currently around 60% ofSJW: The primary project that I haverequired curriculum. So, after learning the fiber market are synthetic, manmadebeen working on in Dr. Chees lab at theabout the issues we are facing my fibers and this is forecasted to increase.University of Georgia, Tifton Campusinterest was piqued, and I decided to Cotton only makes up approximatelyis on increasing fiber quality. Our labfigure out a way to make a difference 25% of the fiber market. So, if we increasehas introgressed foreign quantitativein the agricultural community. TCL had fiber quality then we can potentiallytrait loci (QTL) alleles from Gossypiuma Biotechnology certificate program increase the global demand for cottonbarbadense into Gossypium hirsutum,that I enrolled in to further explore my over synthetic fibers in the coming years. upland cotton, by way of marker- options. From there I was introduced aided selection. I am currently using ato genetic engineering techniques as SW: What are you looking to do intranscriptomic and functional geneticwell as bioinformatics. The University the future?approach to identify the casual genesof Georgias plant breeding, genetics SJW: I want to continue my work infrom the introgressed QTL that hasand genomics program offered a great plant genetics to make discoveries inshown positive effects on fiber length. crossroad for all my interests and that plant breeding as well as contribute toIn over 40 years of scientific breed- is how I arrived in a roundabout way to improving agriculture biotechnologying there has only been about a 7.9%where I am today.SW42/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2021'