Meet the 2021 William H. Danforth Plant Science Fellow
Just 140 miles south of Laredo, Texas, in the north of Mexico, lies the city of Monterrey. On the plain beside the eastern Sierra Madre mountains, it has a hot semi-arid climate with only about 23 inches of rain per year. But thanks to modern irrigation, it is an agricultural region, growing crops like cotton, citrus, sugarcane, corn, and vegetables.
Diego Cuerda-Gil, the 2021 recipient of the William H. Danforth Fellowship, grew up here, working in his family’s irrigation water pump business. “My grandfather started the business. I was going to client’s farms and every year, the water was deeper and deeper down. If something doesn’t change, eventually this region will be completely dry.”
Monterrey in northern Mexico is home to PhD candidate Diego Cuerda-Gil, who has been named the 2021 William H. Danforth Fellow.
While studying biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Cuerda-Gil helped organize an international conference and through it, met several U.S. professors. After doing an exchange in Boston, he understood that molecular genetics and synthetic biology could have real-world applications. He went home and applied to U.S. graduate schools. “I realized then that plant science is amazing and can help these farmers in my region.”
A young Diego Cuerda-Gil and his father Gerardo Cuerda-Vargas on the family farm in Monterrey, Mexico.
Cuerda-Gil was accepted into the PhD program at The Ohio State University and there met R. Keith Slotkin, PhD. He came to St. Louis when Slotkin accepted a position as principal investigator at the Danforth Center. “The quality of my research has gone up significantly since joining the Danforth Center,” said Cuerda-Gil. “I don’t have to worry about access to machines, infrastructure, experts. There is so much support and mentorship.” He expects to obtain his PhD from OSU in summer 2021.
For his project, Cuerda-Gil is working to help decipher the mechanism of gene silencing. “Agtech businesses and universities are investing millions of dollars in plant genetics to improve food crops around the world, but gene silencing remains a major bottleneck,” said Cuerda-Gil. “I hope to change that, so that plant breeding for traits like drought-resistance becomes more economical and efficient.”
“Diego is a sharp and hard-working scientist,” said R. Keith Slotkin, PhD, Danforth Center principal investigator. “He also is a very social and gregarious person, which makes him a wonderful peer in the laboratory. I am grateful to work with him and am excited to see the impact his career will have."
Read more about the work of the Slotkin lab at the Danforth Center here.
The Need
Medical and other kinds of research receive significantly more federal and foundation funding than plant science, making the William H. Danforth Graduate Fellowship especially critical in its field. Thanks to Roy and Diana Vagelos, Diego Cuerda-Gil and others will have the opportunity to conduct their research with the guidance of outstanding principal investigators at the Danforth Center. For more information on how you can help, click here.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Leaflet, the free newsletter of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Sign up to receive more stories like this straight to your inbox.