The holder of a PhD in biology from Yale University, Thomas Brutnell has worked in agricultural technology for over 25 years. His interests have spanned plant genomics, developmental biology, and genome mutagenesis in maize and other bioenergy grasses. Thomas Brutnell has published more than 100 peer-reviewed and invited review papers on plant genomics and genetics.

The founder of Viridis Genomics Consulting, Dr. Brutnell applies his extensive knowledge in this ag-tech industry to advance plant genomics projects. At the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences he advises graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. He is a former principal investigator at the Cornell University Boyce Thompson Institute, where he developed genomic tools for gene discovery in maize and an informatics tool for cross-species gene comparisons.

In the private sector, Dr. Brutnell served as the director of a plant science center, where he advanced genetic improvements in sorghum, helped develop genome editing technologies for mutagenesis, and expanded the company’s portfolio of bioenergy crops.