New Cultivar Innovation
Mikaela Douglas
Research Associate
I'm a research associate based in the Accelerated Breeding Concepts team in the New Cultivar Innovation Portfolio. I started at Plant & Food Research in 2017 as a summer student, and stuck long enough to become a permanent Research Technician. One MSc degree over lockdown later and I worked my way up to being a Research Associate. I started working on developing universal genetic sex markers for kiwifruit, but since then have moved on to other projects. My research career revolves around my love and need to understand the gem that is kiwifruit. My primary research topics are understanding the genetic factors controlling the fate of kiwifruit skins and using new breeding technologies to rapidly breed kiwifruit for high value traits. I dream that one day the fruits of my research translate into rapidly flowering plants that can tolerate the climate crisis, meanwhile producing an appealing and healthy crop that is consumer friendly.
