Jose Tovar

Experience

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  BiosMed

  Jan 2002 - Mar 2002

  Intern in Medical Analysis Lab

  BiosMed is a private medical institution. My internship was located in the Medical Analysis Laboratory, where my duty was to provide support with medical lab examinations. I processed medical samples to detect anomalies, or disease symptoms. My main responsibility was to provide support for the technical personnel in the lab assisting in tasks such as taking blood samples and processing blood and urine samples, following established lab protocols to detect drug use, parasitic and bacterial diseases, undernourishment or HIV/AIDS. Show less

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  DIRINCRI

  Aug 2002 - Oct 2002

  Intern in Forensics

  DIRINCRI is the official Peruvian Criminalistics Investigations Division. During my internship here I supported investigations in forensics for the Peruvian police. My role was to provide lab support and conduct experiments to establish the presence of incriminating bodily fluids in various items found at the site of the crime, or on the victim. I also provided support in examining victims, other people implicated in crimes, as well as the crime sites, for gathering evidence that could be used in court to elucidate responsibilities of the people involved. I worked under the supervision of Police officers specialized in forensics, mostly under the supervision of Capt. Rodríguez. Show less

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  International Potato Center (CIP)

  Jan 2003 - Jun 2003

  The International Potato Center is dedicated to agricultural research to improve the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers around the world. During my internship in the Germplasm Maintenance and Distribution division, I assisted Research Assistants performing experiments under supervision of technical lab personnel. My duties and responsibilities were to provide support in experiments establishing viability and maintaining collections of germplasm materials, including seeds, plantlets and greenhouse plants. I conducted experiments to determine seed viability and and identifying germplasm accessions needing maintenance, for which I helped produce new seed from germinated plants, from plantlet stage to mature greenhouse stages. I collected fruits and extracted seeds, from which I established viability until standards were met and accessions were renovated for storage or distribution as requested. Show less The International Potato Center is dedicated to agricultural research to improve the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers around the world. During my internship in the Virology department, I assisted Research Assistants performing experiments under supervision of technical lab personnel. My duties and responsibilities were to provide support in experiments investigating viral diseases of potato and sweetpotato. I performed virus inoculations directly to the plant, or through insect vectors; and virus purification from plant tissue. I also performed viral detection and titer quantification using various ELISA methods. I was also involved in greenhouse plant propagation and maintenance, as well as polyclonal antibody production from rabbits with specificity against different viruses. Show less

  • Intern of Germplasm Maintenace and Distribution

    Apr 2003 - Jun 2003

  • Intern of Virology

    Jan 2003 - Mar 2003
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  International Potato Center (CIP)

  Mar 2004 - Aug 2010

  My main responsibility was leading the technical development of a sweetpotato resistant to the African weevil using Bt biotechnology. Sweetpotato is a staple food crop in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the African weevil is its most important biological production constraint, causing even total loss. For this project, I led a team of 3 Research Assistants, plus both graduate and undergraduate students; my responsibilities included designing experiments and directing their execution. I was closely involved in setting goals and discussing future project directions, working with an international team of experts from Africa, Europe and the United States, under the supervision of Dr. Marc Ghislain.I developed a binary vector to enable intragenesis in sweetpotato for another project I worked on. Intragenesis is a biotechnological alternative to the widely used transgenesis. In intragenesis only DNA sequences from the plant's own genome are introduced by transformation, whereas in transgenesis, DNA sequences from diverse sources are introduced into the plant's genome, including DNA from bacteria, viruses, and many other organisms that would not transfer DNA to the plant by natural means. Intragenesis allows genetic engineering of a plant, without causing concerns in the public opinion that arise from the insertion of DNA extraneous to the plant. This project I developed mostly alone, under the supervision of Dr. Marc Ghislain for the most part, and later Dr. Jan Kreuze.I also worked on a project developing a potato resistant to late blight, its main biological production constraint in most parts of the world. This project was targeted for countries in South-East Asia, however, prospects to expand it to many other countries were considered for the future. For this project I was part of a team of 5 Research Assistants plus undergraduate students. My role was to design and develop gene constructs that allowed the production of the transgenic (late blight-resistant) potatoes. Show less I did my undergraduate thesis research in the Applied Biotechnology Laboratory of the International Potato Center. For my undergraduate thesis I continued research on the alternative selectable marker I worked on during my internship in this lab. I tested the efficacy of this alternative selectable marker for transgenic potato plant selection using root tissue. To this end, I developed an in vitro regeneration method to obtain whole potato plants from root sections. This allowed me acquire knowledge and expertise in in vitro callus formation and subsequent organogenetic regeneration, focusing on the role of phytohormones in this process. This work also allowed me to understand root physiology as compared to stem and leaf physiology, since leaves and stems are routinely used for potato regeneration protocols. Furthermore, I complemented and expanded my knowledge of molecular cloning and genotype characterization techniques acquired during my internship in the Applied Biotechnology Lab, and further developed the corresponding skills in DNA extraction, PCR, and Southern blotting, and plant biotechnology.After defending my undergraduate thesis, I received the highest qualification for this work from Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, and was conferred the title of Biologist, which according to Peruvian law, is a more advanced title than the Bachellor of Science degree I previously held. Show less The International Potato Center is dedicated to agricultural research to improve the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers around the world. During my internship in the Applied Biotechnology Laboratory, I assisted Research Assistants performing experiments on a research project that aimed to develop an alternative selectable marker for transgenic potato plants. Transgenic potato plants are routinely identified through resistance to the antibiotic kanamycin, which is conferred by a transgene called the selectable marker. However, the use of antibiotics resistance genes in transgenic plants raised concerns in the public opinion. This project conducted research on an alternative selectable marker, which used an amino acid substitute instead of an antibiotic to identify transgenic plants. My duties and responsibilities were:1. provide support in experiments to produce gene constructs for plant transformation, with various gene promoters, and provide support in experiments to produce the Agrobacterium tumefaciens clones bearing these constructs;2. provide potato plants for transformation, by in vitro propagation;3. produce transformed potato plants, using Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation and successive regeneration via organogenesis;4.characterize the transgenic plants genotypically, using molecular techniques such as PCR and Southern blotting; and5. assist in greenhouse propagation and maintenance of transgenic potato plants for phenotype analysis. Show less

  • Research Assistant

    Dec 2005 - Aug 2010

  • Undergraduate Thesis Student of Biotechnology

    Oct 2004 - Nov 2005

  • Intern of Biotechnology

    Mar 2004 - Sept 2004
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  Arkansas State University

  Aug 2010 - Aug 2016

  PhD student in Molecular Biosciences

  I developed the technology of a thermally tolerant pectin methylesterase (TT-PME) to reduce energy demands from beet sugar production, where up to a third of processing energy is utilized to dry beet pulp. My research showed that engineering TT-PME into sugar beets could save ~6% beet factory energy.- Demonstrated TT-PME action dramatically reduces water binding in sugar beet pulp, a co-product of beet sugar production, establishing evidence of benefit of TT-PME treatment for reducing energy demands for drying beet pulp.- Developed specific antibodies for TT-PME, and antibodies that recognize any plant PME, using a selected peptide-based approach. - Expressed recombinant TT-PME through transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana, and in the yeast Pichia pastoris, both scalable platforms. Show less

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  Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

  Sept 2016 - Jun 2022

  - Studied how heat affects quinoa grain yield and nutrient composition using a combination of image-based and manual seed and plant phenotyping, as well as ionomics and seed biochemistry.- Developed methods for disease detection in sorghum from hyperspectral and RGB images in collaboration with Aker (https://aker.ag/) as part of the IN2 incubator at the Danforth Center.- Used hyperspectral, thermal and RGB imaging to detect changes in the model grass Setaria viridis in response to temperature and light stress, as well as in response to farm chemical application. Show less - Studied sorghum disease detection through image-based phenotyping, with hyperspectral and RGB images. - Used hyperspectral, RGB and thermal imaging to detect responses to farm chemical applications, as well as changes in temperature, and light conditions in the model grass Setaria viridis.- Main operator of the Gehan Lab’s custom-made robotic hyperspectral imaging platform to scan plants with a high resolution VNIR hyperspectral camera (978 bands, 400-1000 nm).- Studied changes in nutrient composition in quinoa seed after exposure to heat stress. Show less - Researched temperature stress in quinoa and the model C4 grass Setaria viridis, using image-based high-throughput phenotyping (RGB, hyperspectral, and thermal images), bioinformatics, and gene expression profiling through RNA-seq. - Main operator of the Gehan Lab’s custom-made robotic hyperspectral imaging platform to scan plants with a high resolution VNIR hyperspectral camera (978 bands, 400-1000 nm). - Developed low-cost high-throughput plant phenotyping tools using Raspberry Pi computers and cameras, including imaging in growth chambers to track plant growth and physiological changes over time through RGB images. This system can image hundreds to thousands of plants from topview and tens to hundreds of plants from sideview, depending on growth chamber size.- Experienced user of the open-source image processing bioinformatics suit PlantCV for plant phenomics. - Participated in developing in vitro transformation and regeneration for quinoa. - Mentored by Dr. Malia Gehan, Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Show less

  • Research Scientist and USDA-NIFA Fellow

    Jun 2020 - Jun 2022

  • Research Scientist

    Jan 2020 - Jun 2020

  • Postdoctoral Associate

    Sept 2016 - Jan 2020
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  Bayer

  Jun 2022 - now

  Scientist II

  Partnering with external innovators and across functions within Bayer to develop and deploy cutting-edge imaging and automation technologies for more effective data acquisition in the field. Overarching goal is to test more traits in less time.