AYELIGN ADAL, PhD, PAgLEAD MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST



Dr. Adal is a molecular biologist / plant biotechnologist with a broad scientific expertise in molecular techniques, tissue culture, genotyping, transformation, specialized metabolites and functional genomics. He has over 10 years R&D and mentoring experiences in research and academic institutes. His research projects focused on protocol development for tissue culture propagation, gene identification and functional studies (in vitro and in vivo), plant and microbial transformation, essential oil extraction and terpene detection, and sequencing. Dr. Adal holds B.Sc. in Horticulture at Jimma University (Ethiopia), M.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology at Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany) and Ph.D. in Biology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In his Ph.D. thesis “Development of molecular markers and cloning of genes involved in the biosynthesis of monoterpenes in Lavandula”, he covers several molecular and bioinformatics approaches, including gene identification, cloning and expression in microbial and plant hosts, marker development and genotyping, detection of terpenes, and transcriptome sequencing. After his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UBC focusing on coordinating a research cluster of “Agricultural Technologies and Bioproducts”, and examining molecular mechanisms that control floral development and their impacts on specialized metabolites in cannabis and lavender. Prior to his graduate studies, Dr. Adal worked in a governmental biotechnology laboratory with the roles of tissue culture protocol development for high valued agricultural plants. Dr. Adal is also experienced in mentoring technicians and junior researchers, as well as teaching laboratory and lecture courses at UBC. Dr. Adal produced over 20 peer-reviewed publications and presented these outcomes to scientific and industrial communities at local and international conferences.