Lenin Rodriguez Betancourth

I'm anticipating graduating Autumn 2023

Research Focus:

My research is focused on plant breeding, specifically wheat breeding. The problem I am evaluating now is Fusarium Head blight (FHB), one of the most critical diseases on wheat. I have two objectives: i) Using molecular techniques to better estimate disease infection. ii) Implementing genomic selection to improve the FHB resistance of wheat lines from the great plains using Ohio phenotypic data. 

Why OSU?

Since I have been working on plant breeding, I have been passionate about international work. Previously, I worked on rice at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia, and I wanted to join a program with similar characteristics. Sneller’s lab is a diverse group, and there is a good collaboration with breeding programs in Africa and across the US. That was one of the reasons that I chose OSU, and another reason Ohio State has been ranked among the best universities in agriculture in the world.