Blake C. Meyers appointed Rosenberg Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences
Blake C. Meyers

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11:26 a.m., Dec. 1, 2010----Blake C. Meyers, a faculty member in the University of Delaware's Department of Plant and Soil Sciences since 2002, has been named the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences, UD Provost Tom Apple has announced.

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“Named professorships honor faculty members who have achieved distinction in their disciplines, both on this campus and in the greater world of academia,” Apple said. “It is a pleasure to add Dr. Meyers' name to this select and important group of UD faculty.”

Meyers, who is currently serving as the chairperson of the department, also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.

He will present his inaugural lecture as Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 7, in Room 102 of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. His topic will be “Plant Genomes and Their RNA Products: Insights from Advances in DNA Sequencing.” Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by calling (302) 831-2502.

Meyers' research emphasizes novel approaches and applications of bioinformatics and next-generation sequencing to plant genomics. He has published extensively in this area and has given numerous invited seminars both nationally and internationally.

His research programs use advanced DNA sequencing technologies to focus on understanding the biological functions and genomic impact of small RNAs, DNA methylation and gene expression in rice, Arabidopsis, maize and other species. His laboratory develops and implements novel informatics approaches for the analysis and display of these data, and this work has led to collaborative projects with laboratories working on a broad range of experimental questions and biological systems.

Meyers' lab has pioneered the application to mRNA and small RNA analyses of what was the first of the now-popular “next-generation” DNA sequencing technologies. Research in his laboratory is supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and industry.

With a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Chicago, he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in genetics from the University of California at Davis, and he conducted postdoctoral research at DuPont's Crop Genetics group and at UC Davis.

Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professorships are funded by the late Edward F. Rosenberg, AS '29, '30M and his wife, Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg. Dr. Rosenberg was a nationally known rheumatologist, and his wife, a graduate of the Curtis Institute, was a concert pianist and harpist.

Photo by Danielle Quigley

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