During the UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Awards ceremony last week, Jorge Dubcovsky was named as one of the 2017 Innovators of the Year by University of California, Davis, Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter.
Dubcovsky is a professor of plant sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher. His most recent breakthrough has greatly accelerated the study of gene function in wheat.
Hexter noted that Dubcovsky, “has made major contributions in an area in which UC Davis is very proud to play a leadership role — feeding the world.”
As a world-renowned wheat breeder and wheat geneticist, Dubcovsky’s laboratory has developed a gene capture tool. The result is a public database containing more than 10 million sequenced and carefully catalogued genetic mutations.
Dubcovsky and his team have also used the innovation to increase grain dietary fiber and size. They are also integrating those traits into UC wheat varieties to increase protein content and improve disease resistance.
The awards are presented to individual faculty, staff or teams whose achievements have made a considerable societal impact. Recipients are presented with $10,000 dollars to go towards further development of their research.