Earle, Elizabeth D
Professor
My interests are use of plant tissue culture and gene transfer techniques to improve crop plants and in the appropriate deployment and public acceptance of materials altered in these ways. I have also been active in department, college and university service, and have been successful in obtaining support for graduate student fellowships. I entered the phased retirement program in the fall term of 2007. During my phased retirement, I am focusing on teaching and service and substantially reducing my research activities.
research
research and scholarship focus
My gene transfer work has involved collaborationwith molecular biologists who provide gene constructs for use in my program and with plant breeders, pathologists and entomologists who do greenhouse and field-tests with the materials developed in the lab. A long-term area of work has been development of Bt-transgenic Brassicas for use in studies of resistance management strategies. As part of such work my lab has developed improved tissue culture procedures for plant regeneration and transformation. A current area of interest is production of doubled haploid lines for rapid recovery of stable inbred lines, especially in onion and melon. The haploid project is based on close collaboration with breeders working with these crops. Manipulation of nuclear and organellar genomes of Brassicas by protoplast fusion has been a major area of work in previous years, with particular emphasis on cytoplasmic male sterility.
primary investigator of
- ADVANCING CROP IMPROVEMENT THROUGH INTEGRATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES | Research Grant
- LINKING CROP GENOTYPES AND PHENOTYPES VIA GENOMICS AND BIOINFORMATICS: PH.D. FELLOWSHIPS FOR PLANT BREEDERS | Research Grant
- PLANT BREEDING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: UTILIZING GENOMICS FOR CROP IMPROVEMENT | Research Grant
research areas
- agricultural biotechnology | collaborative research area (CALS)
- biological control | collaborative research area (CALS)
- fruit and vegetable production | collaborative research area (CALS)
- horticultural sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
- integrated pest management | collaborative research area (CALS)
- international agriculture | collaborative research area (CALS)
- pest management | collaborative research area (CALS)
- plant breeding and genetics | collaborative research area (CALS)
- transgenic plants | collaborative research area (CALS)
- vegetables | collaborative research area (CALS)
submitted impact statement
- Production of doubled haploids to speed onion breeding for New York state | 2006 Impact statement
- Production of doubled haploids to speed onion breeding for New York state | 2005 Impact statement
affiliations
faculty appointment in
- Plant Breeding and Genetics (PB&G) | Cornell department
member of graduate field
- Plant Biology | graduate field
- Plant Breeding | graduate field
teaching
teaching focus
My teaching goals are to offer students up-to-date concepts and hands-on experience in plant cell culture and to help them understand the technical and societal aspects of plant genetic engineering. I also serve as DGS for the field of plant breeding and, as such, assist many graduate students with planning their programs.
teaches
- HORT 4030 - Plant Cell and Tissue Culture (TR 10:10:AM-11:00:AM) | fall 2009 class
- HORT 4040 - Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory (R 01:25:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2009 class
- HORT 4040 - Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory (W 01:25:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 4010 - Plant Cell and Tissue Culture (TR 10:10:AM-11:00:AM) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 4011 - Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory (R 01:25:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 4011 - Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory (W 01:25:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 4970 - Individual Study in Plant Breeding (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 4980 - Undergraduate Teaching (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 4990 - Undergraduate Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 7900 - Graduate-Level Dissertation (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 8900 - Master's-Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- PLBR 9900 - Doctoral-Level Dissertation Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- BIOPL 4826 - Plant Molecular Biology II: Plant Biotechnology (MWF 01:25:PM-02:15:PM) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 4826 - Plant Molecular Biology II: Plant Biotechnology (MWF 01:25:PM-02:15:PM) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 4970 - Individual Study in Plant Breeding (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 4980 - Undergraduate Teaching (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 4990 - Undergraduate Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 7900 - Graduate-Level Dissertation (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 8900 - Master's-Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 9900 - Doctoral-Level Dissertation Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- PLBR 4010 - Plant Cell and Tissue Culture (TR 10:10:AM-11:25:AM) | fall 2008 class
- PLBR 4011 - Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory (R 01:25:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2008 class
- PLBR 4011 - Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory (W 01:25:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2008 class
service
outreach focus
Materials from my lab have been distributed to many seed companies and some have been licensed for commercial use. I interact with breeders from the public and private sector, both individually and as a group in connection with the Vegetable Breeding Institute.
background
educational background
Bachelor's Degree
Swarthmore College
1959
Master's Degree
Radcliffe College
1960
Doctorate
Harvard University
1964
featured in
- New study shows that transgenic plants don't hurt beneficial bugs | Cornell Chronicle feature
publications
linked articles
Keywords: crop improvement, crucifer vegetables, doubled haploids, gene transfer, graduate education, insect resistance, melon, onion, plant biotechnology, plant biotechnology and crop improvement, plant cell and tissue culture