People | UMN Soybean Breeding Program

Aaron Lorenz

Principal Investigator

Aaron traces his interest in plant breeding all the way back to his childhood on the farm where he learned firsthand how useful new crop varieties are for improving yield and providing resistance to various pests and other stresses.

Throughout college he grew an interest in genetics and statistics alongside his lifelong passion for agriculture. Aaron currently manages a broad-based program in soybean breeding and genetics at UMN that strives to integrate applied cultivar development with research on new breeding methods and the genetic control of economically important traits. Students from all different backgrounds are a key element of the program to educate future scientists to work in improving the sustainability and resiliency of agriculture.

Siddhi Bhusal

Research Scientist, Soybean breeding

Siddhi serves as an assistant breeder in Aaron Lorenz’s Lab at the University of Minnesota, overseeing soybean breeding and genetics research activities. His focus is on developing high-yielding soybean cultivars for both general purpose and specialized soybeans, tailored for Minnesota soybean growers, integrating various traits such as pest and diseases resistance, stress tolerance as well as various seed quality and composition traits utilizing conventional as well as molecular and statistical tools. Siddhi holds advanced degrees in agricultural entomology (MSc) and plant breeding and genetics (MS and PhD), coupled with practical research expertise in insect pest management and crop breeding methodologies.

Sonia Bolvaran

Woman in sunglasses stands smiling in field of dried soybean plants

Research Associate, Breeding nursery management

Sonia was born in Chile and grew up on a farm, sparking her interest in Agriculture. She got her Bachelor's degree at St. Thomas in Chile and completed her Master's in Plant Science here at the U. Her Master's work focused on the potato plant. In 2015, just 6 months after Aaron Lorenz had taken over the Breeding Program, Sonia joined the team. She loves the fact that no two days are the same and that she gets to work both outside in the fields as well as inside creating better quality beans. She is tireless and cheerful and the foundation of the breeding nursery.

Rafael Echenique

Man in field looks at camera while holding a soybean plant leaf

Research Associate, Performance trial management

Rafael was born in Uruguay and grew up on a cattle and sheep ranch. He has been in Minnesota since 2000 and is one of the longest standing employees of the breeding program and as such is a keystone member of the team. He enjoys working in the soybean fields during the summer, spending time with his family, traveling, and grilling.

Jennifer Flor

Woman smiles at camera in front of a computer monitor

Research Associate, Molecular marker lab

Jen grew up in the Twin Cities, and received a BS in Biology from the University of Minnesota in 1994. She spent time working in the Department of Plant Pathology and on the Wheat Breeding Project before joining the Soybean Breeding and Genetics Project in 2016.

As the lead scientist and lab manager in the molecular marker lab, Jen fills several important roles. She keeps the lab running, helps guide grad students into the lab portions of their work and manages the sampling of over 7,500 plots/plants and close to 10,000 individual samples for genotyping in a typical year. Jen likes the challenges of adapting technologies to the soybean breeding program to make things faster, easier and cheaper. She traces her love of science to inspiring biology teachers in the 7th grade.

Leo Moros

Man in sunhat smiles at camera while standing in a field

Research Associate, Performance trial management

Leo was born in Tucson, AZ and grew up in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. His interest in agriculture came naturally as he spent much of his childhood around farms and always wanted to follow in his (Agricultural Engineer) father's footsteps and make him proud. As a young man he worked in construction, learning people skills, how to build things and how to lead a team. He came to the U in 2007 to finish his degree and he ended up working for the Soybean Breeding Project and never left.

He loves the challenge that the work provides to be creative in solving the inevitable issues that come up when planting and harvesting trials at this scale. His inborn knack for figuring out how to work smarter, not harder has helped him keep things running no matter what happens and he has honed those skills as the years have passed.

Marnie Johansson

Program/Project Specialist

Marnie received her Bachelor's of Science in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Washington in 2006. She spent the first two decades of her career as a lab technician working in molecular biology and genome sciences, studying topics ranging from Plasmodium falciparum Malaria to Topoisomerase functioning in yeast. She now runs communications and admin for the Soybean Research Center and the Lorenz and the Naeve labs.

Vishnu Ramasubramanian

Postdoc

Vishnu's work focuses on finding better ways to implement a genomic selection pipeline starting from genotypic and phenotypic data to making selection decisions. His other research projects focus on finding optimal strategies to improve long-term genetic gain without compromising on short-term genetic gain in recurrent genomic selection programs.

Vishnu grew up in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. After completing his undergraduate degree in Industrial Biotech at PSG Tech, he did his Masters degree focusing on Genomics at the National University of Singapore. His next step was a PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology with a focus on Statistical Genetics at Iowa State University in the United States. He was introduced to the world of soybean quantitative genetics during his PhD work at Iowa State and was amazed at the huge scale at which biotech was being applied to meet societal challenges.

Lauren Docherty

PhD Student

Lauren is an M.S. student in the Applied Plant Sciences program studying soybean cyst nematode. She is trying to understand how SCN overcomes soybean resistance and reduces soybean yield.

Lauren grew up in Minnesota and is passionate about making agriculture better for farmers and consumers. She is specifically interested in how plant genetics can be improved to create a more sustainable and resilient food system.

Lucas Roberts

PhD Student

Lucas Roberts is a PhD Candidate in the Applied Plant Sciences Program. He grew up on his family’s diversified crop farm in Trivoli, Illinois. Lucas completed a B.S. in Agronomy and Genetics at Iowa State University and a M.S. in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois.

His research in the Lorenz Lab characterizes traits and genetic architecture relevant towards developing new soybean varieties adapted for sustainable cropping systems of the future. Specifically, he is working with a pennycress-soybean relay cropping system.

In his free time, he enjoys breeding dahlias in his backyard.

Lovepreet Singh

PhD Student

Lovepreet is originally from Punjab, India. He discovered his love for plants and agriculture when he was growing up. He went to Punjab Agricultural University for his B.S. in Agriculture and became fascinated by plant breeding. He then earned his M.S. in plant and soil sciences with a minor in statistics at Mississippi State University. He worked on turfgrass breeding and genetics for his M.S. thesis.

His research interests, broadly, are quantitative genetics and genomics-assisted breeding. Currently he is part of the SOYGEN (Science Optimized Yield Gains across ENvironments) project. The major goal of this project is to predict cultivar performance in future target environments through genomics-assisted breeding models, phenomics, and environment characterization.

Alina Smolskaya

PhD Student

Alina is an M.S. student in the Lorenz and Stupar labs. She works on genetic mapping and characterization of a gene controlling leaflet shape and reduces the number of seeds that develop in a pod. Alina received an A.S. degree in Business from Normandale Community College and a B.S. in Plant Science from the University of Minnesota. Alina loves plants and is interested in using her knowledge of plants to contribute towards a more food secure world through crop improvement. Outside of the lab, Alina likes spending time outdoors, dancing and exploring new foods and places.

Andre Luis Tischler

PhD Student

Andre joined the group in 2023 as a trainee for eight months and is currently a first-year PhD student in the Applied Plant Sciences program. He is enthusiastic about supporting field activities within the breeding program and is highly motivated, with aspirations of becoming a plant breeder.

Originally from Brazil, Andre brings a diverse perspective and a strong dedication to his work. He is committed to taking a hands-on approach, contributing to the program's inventory, and working toward the development of high-yielding soybean varieties tailored to Minnesota’s growing conditions.

Lara Waldt

MS Student

Lara Waldt is an M.S. student in both the Lorenz and Muehlbauer labs investigating various aspects of soybean shoot architecture.

She previously earned her B.S. at Penn State studying Plant Genetics and Biotechnology. She then became a research associate in multiple start-up initiatives in the biotechnology and proteomics fields. Lara is excited to continue her work leveling her molecular genetics, proteomics, and plant biology background.

In her free-time, Lara likes to read and explore the outdoors.

Adara Nahornoff

red shirt in greenhouse attending to plants

Undergraduate Student

Adara is a first year undergraduate student majoring in plant science and focusing on plant breeding and genetics. She's always loved gardening and has been fascinated by what makes plants tick since she was young. Having experience growing soy prior to working in the lab, she is delighted to learn more about soy breeding and genetics. She hopes to focus on the economics around breeding specialty soy cultivars in the future, specifically with edamame. Outside of work and class, she loves to help teach music, write, and paint.

Cecily Greblo

Woman in red shirt smiles into camers with sun setting behind her

Undergraduate Student

Cecily is a junior undergraduate student studying environmental science and agriculture and joined the lab in fall of 2023. She has had so much fun learning more about soybean breeding and genetics, and hopes to pursue a PhD in plant genetics! In her free time, she loves to read, find new places to hike, and craft.

Jeferson Clementino

MAST Student

Jeferson is an Animal Scientist, who graduated from the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA). From 2018 to 2023, he was actively involved in research as a member of the Swine Studies Group (NESUI) and the Functional Swine Nutrition Group (NUFSUI), and he also contributed to the Poultry Research Group (NEPAVI) (2020–2022). He was awarded a PIBIC/CNPq research scholarship for two years, conducting projects in both poultry and swine production. In terms of practical experience, he completed an extracurricular internship at Agroceres PIC (2019–2020), a research internship at Granja Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Goiás (2020–2021), and a technical internship at Nutron Cargill, Mato Grosso do Sul (2022–2023). He also worked as a Trainee at LB Pork in the United States, focusing on nursery and finishing pigs. Currently, he is a Visiting Student at the University of Minnesota (USA), contributing to research in soybean genetic improvement.