 |
|
Personal Information:
Thea Wilkins received her B.S. in Biology from Georgia Southern University, M.S. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Georgia, and Ph.D. in Plant Cell & Molecular Biology from Michigan State University. As a Professor at the University of California since 1990, Dr. Wilkins developed new technology and studied the molecular genetics of cotton fiber development. She received the first multi-million dollar genome grant from the NSF Plant Genome Program and served as Director of the NSF Cotton Genome Center. She was recruited to TTU and assumed an endowed chair as the Bayer CropScience Regents Professor in January 2006. Professor Wilkins serves as the Co-Director of the Cotton Functional Genomics Project for the National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering in Pakistan, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Chinese Cotton Research Institute in Anyang, Henan Province, UC Davis, and Alabama A&M University. Professor Wilkins is actively involved in curriculum development with teaching responsibilities in the areas of genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. Professor Wilkins is the first recipient of the Texas Governor Rick Perry’s Emerging Technology Fund Superior Research Award and has been named Director of the Center for Excellence of Agricultural Genomics & Bioinformatics and oversees a state-of-the-art genomics core facility.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Professor Wilkins’ research focuses on systems biology of cell morphogenesis using developing cotton fibers as a single-celled genomics platform to address fundamental questions in plant biology with an applied perspective. Genomic approaches are applied to link the genotype and phenotype to discover the underlying molecular basis of important agronomic traits, including yield and fiber quality. Unraveling the mechanisms that regulate carbohydrate metabolism in channeling carbon to cell wall biogenesis, and how metabolic engineering can impact fiber quality is an example of ongoing work in her research program. Candidate genes are deployed to the breeding community to facilitate the genetic improvement of cotton germplPHP has encountered an Access Violation at 01C473CDasm using molecular markers.
Texas Tech University,
Department of Plant and Soil Science,
Campus Box 42122, Lubbock, TX 79409 
806. 742-2838 