Danny Thorogood

My research career has focused on studying the biology of the Poaceae (grasses). After completing my PhD research I was employed as a plant breeder at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, funded by Germinal Holdings Ltd. I developed stay green perennial ryegrass varieties, for turf use, based on transfer of the stay green gene from Festuca pratensis. I have a wide portfolio of turfgrass varieties on the EU Common Catalogue that have been commercialised and have been used in major sports installations. My background in plant breeding has meant that my research focus has been on using high-throughput phenomics and image analysis and genomics including SNP generation to develop more efficient methodology for understanding the genetic control of a range of agronomic and plant life-cycle traits and to use this information in marker assisted selection breeding programmes. More recently I have become interested in apple and pear germplasm conservation and I manage an orchard of rare and unique apple and pear trees for the Welsh Perry and Cider Society.