Consultants | Dr Robert Koebner

Goals & Aspirations

Dr Koebner has enjoyed a long career at the forefront of wheat breeding and genetics research, during which he has been actively involved in wheat cytogenetics, genetic analysis, molecular marker development, genetic mapping and germplasm diversity analysis. Close contact with colleagues both at the John Innes Centre, and at other UK and overseas research institutions, has allowed him to develop a broad knowledge of plant molecular biology, both applied (transformation, tissue culture etc.) and basic; but he has primarily been motivated by an interest in the application of his science.

He retains the close personal links with the UK wheat breeding industry that he developed while employed at the Plant Breeding Institute and the John Innes Centre. Born of a post university posting as a science teacher in rural Malaysia, he has had an enduring long term interest in technology transfer for agricultural improvement in the developing world. This is currently expressed in his commitment to the current Kirkhouse Trust project to bring simple marker assisted selection to national breeding programmes for cowpea in West and East Africa, and in his capacity as a science writer for two leading international agricultural research institutes (CIMMYT and IITA).