Jane Grimwood

Jane Grimwood is a British microbiologist who later moved to the United States, settling in the state of Alabama.

Grimwood was born in England. Her father was a chemist, and she always wanted to be a scientist as a child. Grimwood was awarded her B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. She did her postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford, University of San Francisco and Dartmouth College.

Human Genome Project

Grimwood was an important part of the Human Genome Project effort, working from the Stanford Human Genome Center.Grimwood stated, "I feel very lucky to have been a part of the Human Genome Project. It was arguably the best international collaborative project of our lifetime." She and her team worked on sequencing and analyzing chromosomes 5, 16, and 19 -- "320 million base pairs . . . comprising more than 10% of the human genome."They discovered that chromosome 19 has the highest gene density of any human chromosome, and were able to link certain genes on the chromosome to genetic diseases including insulin-resistant diabetes.

Current work

Since the Human Genome Project finished in 2008, Grimwood has led a group of researchers who focus on sequencing and finishing a group of eukaryotic genomes that include fungi, plants, and vertebrates. The lab focuses on the genomes of organisms relevant to the development of sustainable biofuels and global food security. Organisms they have worked on with this goal include "the American poplar, the hardy perennial grass, switchgrass and soybean."

Currently, she is the co-director of the Genome Sequencing Center and Faculty Investigator at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.

In August 2015 the National Science Foundation awarded a $2.4 million grant jointly to a group of five researchers, including Grimwood. The purpose of the grant is to further genomics research involving Upland cotton.

"We are excited to apply our experience in plant genomics to a crop which is of such major economic importance to Alabama and the rest of the Southeast," said Grimwood. "The reference genome sequence generated as a result of this work will form the basis for accelerated breeding for important agronomic traits in tetraploid cotton."

The other four members of the grant team are Chris Saski, a Clemson University scientist, Jeffrey Chen from the University of Texas at Austin, David Stelly from Texas A&M, and Brian Scheffler from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.