Jane Grimwood

Jane Grimwood is a British microbiologist who later moved to the United States settling in the state of Alabama.

Early life and education

Grimwood was born in England.^[1] Her father was a chemist, and she always wanted to be a scientist as a child.^[1] Grimwood was awarded her B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. She did her postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford, University of San Francisco and Dartmouth College.

Career

"Since 2000, she was a Senior Scientist at the Stanford Human Genome Center where she and her group were responsible for finishing and performing quality analysis on the 320 million base pairs of human chromosomes 5, 16 and 19, comprising more than 10% of the human genome."^[2] Grimwood stated, "I feel very lucky to have been a part of the Human Genome Project. It was arguably the best international collaborative project of our lifetime."^[1]

Since the Human Genome Project finished in 2008, Grimwood has led a group of researchers who focus on sequencing and finishing a group of eukaryotic genomes that include fungi, plants, and vertebrates.^[2]

In August 2015 the National Science Foundation awarded a $2.4 million grant jointly to a group of five researchers that includes Grimwood.^[3] The purpose of the grant is to go on with genomics research involving Upland cotton.^[3][4]

"We are excited to apply our experience in plant genomics to a crop which is of such major economic importance to Alabama and the rest of the Southeast," said Grimwood. "The reference genome sequence generated as a result of this work will form the basis for accelerated breeding for important agronomic traits in tetraploid cotton."^[4]

The other four members of the grant team are Chris Saski a Clemson University scientist, Jeffrey Chen from the University of Texas at Austin, David Stelly from Texas A&M, and Brian Scheffler from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.^[5]

References