Growing up in Lebanon, I got curious and concerned about the uncertain future of agriculture and the livelihood of farmers in the Middle East. I was perplexed by how agricultural productivity had declined so sharply in a land that was once rich and fertile, where crops such as wheat, barley, lentils, and chickpeas, were first cultivated. Rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall were contributing factors, but I quickly learned that the main cause was the poor performance of adopted cultivars. Many growers were relying on a few, decade-old cultivars or "improved" ones that were maladapted to the regions in which they were grown. Genetic diversity was being depleted by shortsighted policies and human-induced crises; for example, operations at the largest seed bank in the Middle East were suspended during an ongoing 12-year war. Amid these challenges, I was inspired by researchers around the world striving to make a difference through breeding and wanted to join that effort. After completing my undergraduate degree in agriculture at the American University of Beirut in 2019, I decided to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Florida's strawberry breeding program under the guidance of Dr. Vance Whitaker.

I research the genetics of resistance to fungal pathogens in strawberries, aiming to develop cultivars that can thrive even under high disease pressure. My focus is on Macrophomina phaseolina and Neopestalotiopsis sp., two fungal pathogens that threaten strawberry yields in Florida. Between the emergence of a disease threat and the adoption of resistant cultivars by growers, there are numerous steps that I undertake. The first step involves screening wild and cultivated germplasm to identify sources of resistance. Next, I analyze the genetics of resistance: To what extent is it passed on from parent to offspring? Is it controlled by a few or many genes across the genome? How much gain can be achieved by selecting for those genes? What do these genes encode? To address these questions, I employ a combination of field experiments, molecular biology, and bioinformatics techniques. Based on my findings, I proceed to develop practical tools, such as molecular markers or prediction models to improve the efficiency and accuracy of breeding for disease resistance in strawberry.  

I can’t pinpoint a specific moment, but one challenge I’ve faced is maintaining consistent levels of productivity at work. It can be difficult to maintain energy after an exhausting lab experiment or a demanding field season, to continue to come up with ideas and analyze after a disappointing result, to read and study despite the deluge of papers. I remember reading somewhere that so much of research effectiveness is just good emotional regulation, and I completely agree. Doing research can involve a whirlwind of challenges and thoughts that can lead to analysis paralysis or burnout. Being attentive to my thoughts has allowed me to spot and reform negative patterns and to be honest about what I am demanding from myself. Demanding the best from myself is energizing and fulfilling, while demanding the impossible can be incapacitating.

Elissar Alam originally came to the Strawberry Breeding and Genetics lab as a MS student, working on the genetics of resistance to charcoal rot disease. She progressed so well in her program that her committee unanimously recommended that she transition into the Plant Breeding Graduate Program as a PhD student. During this transition she also took on an additional dissertation research project on the genetics of resistance to pestalotia fruit and leaf rot disease. Elissar will soon publish the first paper on the genetic architecture of resistance to pestalotia using genome-wide association studies. In addition, she has assembled and annotated the genome of a strawberry possessing a novel resistance locus for charcoal rot and is working on comparative genomic and transcriptome analyses to identify gene candidates. Elissar has made a remarkable amount of progress at every stage of her program and is conducting plant genetics and genomics research at a truly high level. She has a very bright future ahead of her as a scientist. She is also making an important practical impact through her research. The disease resistances she is working on are vital for the Florida strawberry industry because these diseases have few management options outside of host plant resistance. Elissar has also made her mark as a leader in the GCPSA and the Plant Science Council as an officer. She has positively impacted her lab mates as a good colleague and friend. We are blessed to have such an intelligent, hard-working, and thoughtful person like Elissar as a graduate student here at GCREC.  

Interviewer: Ayesha Malligai

note: interview answers have been edited for brevity