Katrien M. Devos is an American plant geneticist who is distinguished research professor at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. Her research considers the structure, function and evolution of the genomes of grasses. In particular, Devos considers halophytic turfgrasses, cereals and

bioenergy Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

crops. She was elected Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 2016.

Early life and education

Devos became interested in plant genetics during her undergraduate studies. She was a doctoral researcher at Ghent University, where she studied

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and Triticeae genetic mapping. She moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

as a postdoctoral researcher, where she used comparative genetics to better understand cereals. In the United Kingdom, she worked in John Innes Centre were she created the concept of crop circles, which considers the relationship between grass genomes.

Research and career

In 1996 Devos was awarded a

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific rese ...

David Phillips Fellowship to start her independent scientific career, where she started working on genome evolution. Devos worked with the

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several r ...

to create a millet cultivar for food crops in the developing world. These millet crops were bred to have improved resistance to downy mildew. Devos moved to the

in 2003, where has focused on understanding the genetics of grasses. These investigations have included target crops such as

, panicum virgatum

foxtail millet Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidenc ...

, eleusine coracana. By sequencing the genome of

pearl millet Pearl millet (''Cenchrus americanus'', commonly known as the synonym ''Pennisetum glaucum''; also known as 'Bajra' in Hindi, 'Sajje' in Kannada, 'Kambu' in Tamil, 'Bajeer' in Kumaoni and 'Maiwa' in Hausa, 'Mexoeira' in Mozambique) is the most w ...

, Devos was able to identify a dwarfing gene, the first gene that causes an agronomic trait that was ever isolated.

Awards and honors

* 2016 Elected Fellow of the

* 2017

Research Foundation's Creative Research Medal * 2017 D.W. Brooks Award for Excellence in Research * 2018

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

Distinguished Visiting Scientist Fellowship * 2019 Elected Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devos, Katrien Living people 21st-century American women scientists University of Georgia faculty Ghent University alumni Soil scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American women academics