Karl C. Fetter, PhD

I am plant biologist working in conservation genomics, quantitative genetics, and genomic methods development. My research interests are coalescing into a research program that bridges the gap between conservation, breeding, and advanced genomic methods. I primarily work on East Coast plants of conservation concern, including the Hemlocks and Walnuts, as well as studying the evolutionary causes of conservation problems.

I am a project mentor in the Biodiversity and Conservation Genomics Center in the Institute for System Genomics at the University of Connecticut. As a mentor, I train undergraduates on genome sequencing, assembly, annotation. Using comparative genomic methods, the students receive training in whole-genome comparative methods, phylogenetics, and population genomics. The first cohort of students sequenced and assembled a reference genome for the Butternut (Juglans cinerea).

As a post-doc, I’m a member of Jill Wegrzyn’s lab in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Connecticut. I’m funded from a USDA NIFA AFRI post-doctoral fellowship (AFRI A1141) in the Plant Breeding for Agricultural Production program. Most of my work is posted to GitLab.

If you are an undergraduate intested in plant conservation genomics, evolutionary biology, or genome assembly methods development, or have a project of your own in mind, get in touch!