Baker Center Member Maria Salas-Fernandez Receives U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission Award
AMES, Iowa - Dr. Maria Salas-Fernandez, professor of agronomy and member of the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding at Iowa State University (ISU), is leading a research project selected for funding through the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Genesis Mission, a national initiative that combines artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and interdisciplinary research to accelerate scientific discoveries.
Salas-Fernandez is the principal investigator (PI), along with ISU Co-PI’s, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, TrAC; Pranav Shrotriya, Mechanical Engineering; and Anwesha Sarkar, Electrical and Computer engineering on the project entitled "AI-Enabled Discovery of Genotype-to-Phenotype Control Points for Lodging-Resistant Bioenergy Sorghum." The project will develop TITAN (Tokenized Integrated Twin for Agricultural Resilience), an AI-powered framework designed to connect genetic information with plant performance in novel ways to accelerate the development of improved bioenergy sorghum while reducing the need for costly datasets.
The research will focus on strengthening sorghum's resistance to lodging, a condition in which plants bend, break or fall over before harvest, while also improving traits important for bioenergy production. By integrating genomics, plant structure, cell wall chemistry, biomechanical properties, and environmental data, the team aims to identify key biological factors that contribute to stronger, more resilient plants without compromising processability efficiency in biorefineries.
A leader in sorghum breeding, Salas-Fernandez directs a research program focused on developing sorghum varieties adapted to the Midwest for forage and biofuel production. The Genesis Mission award will support new tools that could accelerate crop improvement and help breeders develop more productive and sustainable bioenergy crops.