The University of Saskatchewan has appointed a research chair to accelerate wheat variety development.
Dean of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources Dr. Angela Bedard-Haughn says in a news release the role of Dr. Valentyna Klymiuk will be to "design and deploy leading-edge strategies and technologies to assess genetic diversity for delivery into new crop varieties that will benefit Saskatchewan producers and the agricultural industry,”
“We are grateful to Sask Wheat for investing in USask research as we work to develop the innovative products that strengthen global food security.” added Bedard-Haughn.
"I am thrilled to join the CDC and the College of Agriculture and Bioresources as I work to discover and deploy new traits to support our variety development programs. My vision is to bridge advances in science and technology with applied crop breeding, contributing to the CDC’s mission of delivering superior wheat varieties that strengthen the resilience of the agricultural sector,” said Klymiuk.
The position of research chair is funded by the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (SaskWheat).
Chair of SaskWheat Jake Leguee says they are proud to "fund this research chair to enhance wheat productivity and profitability" for producers.
Better adapted wheat varieties give Saskatchewan producers more effective tools in their rotational toolbox,” said Leguee, “We strongly believe in public wheat breeding programs and as a producer I have seen first-hand the superior wheat varieties that come from program investments like this research chair. "
Klymiuk, who grew up in Ukraine and has over ten years of experience in genetics and genomics with a specialization in wheat and its wild relatives, will start the position Friday. The SaskWheat news release also notes she will "hold an assistant professor appointment in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources’ Department of Plant Sciences and CDC and will support undergraduate and graduate student training."
She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology, a Master of Science in Biology, and a PhD in Hydrobiology from the Donetsk National University in Ukraine. She also has a second PhD from the University of Haifa in Israel, where she studied plant genetics, genomics, pathology, and use of wheat wild relatives to enhance wheat disease resistance.
Klymiuk has won numerous awards, including "the 2019 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) Early Career Award and the 2022 Carlotta Award, which recognizes significant contributions of early-career women researchers to wheat research."
Prior to her appointment, Klymiuk was a research officer in the USask Crop Development Centre with Dr. Curtis Pozniak’s (PhD) research team, managing basic and applied research in Fusarium Head Blight resistance breeding.
"The CDC has a proud history of wheat breeding, and we are grateful to Sask Wheat for their support of this new research chair. We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Klymiuk to the CDC team,” said Pozniak (PhD) “Dr. Klymiuk is a talented early-career researcher, and her passion for innovation will address new challenges as we strive to advance agriculture in western Canada.”
