Molecular Genetics & Soybean Genomics Laboratory

MSMC Endowed Professor Director, National Center for Soybean Biotechnology
25 Agriculture Building
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211-7140
Tel: 573-882-5494
Fax: 573-882-1469
nguyenhenry@missouri.edu

Dr. Henry Nguyen

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Henry T. Nguyen received his B.S. degree in Crop Science in 1977 and his M.S. degree in Plant Breeding in 1978, both from Pennsylvania State University. His Ph.D. in Agronomy (Plant Genetics) was completed in 1982 at the University of Missouri. Upon completion of his Ph.D. program, he became a faculty member at Oklahoma State University until 1984 when he joined the faculty of Texas Tech University and the Texas A&M University System. In May 2002, Dr. Nguyen returned to his alma mater at the University of Missouri as professor in the Division of Plant Sciences and Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council Chair in Soybean Biotechnology.

Dr. Nguyen developed one of the finest research programs at Texas Tech University. He has authored nearly 200 scientific publications, generated in excess of $8 million of external research funding, completed 20 graduate students, and supervised 20 post-doctoral research associates. His laboratory has hosted more than 20 visiting research scientists and scholars all over the world, whom were supported by Rockefeller Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Fulbright Program, NATO, and FAO. In addition, Dr. Nguyen has gained recognition through many awards such as the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1986 and the Young Crop Scientist Award in 1990. Dr. Nguyen was named an Outstanding Researcher of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in 1995 and the Presidential Academic Achievement Award in 1996 at Texas Tech University. The Board of Regents at Texas Tech University awarded him the Paul Whitfield Horn professorship in 1997. He was elected as Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America in 1999 and Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy in 2000. He served as Chair of the Molecular Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology Division of the Crop Science Society of America in 2003 and the Board of Directors of the CSSA from 2001-03.

At the University of Missouri (MU), his research focuses on molecular genetics and functional genomics of abiotic stress tolerance and the application of genomics and biotechnology to soybean improvement. He is project director and coordinator for the Plant Root Genomics Consortium funded by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Nguyen is director of the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology at MU. He has generated more than $12 million of external research funding since 2002 and received an outstanding research award from the Missouri Soybean Association in 2005.

Dr. Nguyen has a long standing experience in working with the biotechnology industry, public funding agencies and commodity groups, including the National Grain Sorghum Producers and Texas Corn Growers Association. As director of the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology, he coordinates soybean genomics and biotechnology research at the University of Missouri and works closely with the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council and soybean producers in the state as well as the United Soybean Board of the American Soybean Association. He participated in the US Legume Genomics Workshop held in Baltimore, July 2001, NSF soybean genomics workshop held in St. Louis, MO in October 2003, and the United Soybean Board Soybean Genomics workshops in 2002, 2005 and 2007 to develop strategic plans for legume crops and soybean research.

Dr. Nguyen has an extensive experience on the application of biotechnology to agriculture and international agriculture. He has served on several USDA and NSF research grant review panels. He has been invited to numerous national and international conferences on the application of genomics and biotechnology to crop improvement and has traveled to more than 30 countries in all five continents. He has trained many students and post-doc fellows who are now leading scientists in many organizations in the United States and different countries. He currently supervises eight graduate students, four research scientists, six post-doctoral research associates, and two research specialists.

Professional Experience:

Director, National Center for Soybean Biotechnology, University of Missouri, 2004-present.

Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council Endowed Professor of Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Missouri, 2002-present.

Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University System, 1997-2002.

Professor of Plant Genetics, Texas Tech University and Texas &M University System, 1994-1997.

Associate Professor of Plant Genetics, Texas Tech University & Texas A&M University System, 1989-1994.

Director, Institute for Biotechnology, Texas Tech University, 1989-1993.

Assistant Professor of Plant Genetics, Texas Tech University, 1984-1989.

Assistant Professor of Wheat Genetics, Oklahoma State University, 1982-1984.

Honors and Awards:

Research Award, Missouri Soybean Association, 2005.

Fellow, American Society of Agronomy, 2000.

Fellow, Crop Science Society of America, 1999.

President's Academic Achievement Award, Texas Tech University, 1996.

Outstanding Researcher, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University, 1995.

Young Crop Scientist Award, Crop Science Society of America, 1990.

Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation, 1986.

Professional Services:

Organizing Committee of the 2009 World Soybean Conference in Beijing, China (2007-present)

Editorial Board, International Journal of Plant Genomics (2007-present)

Editorial Board, Tropical Plant Biology international journal (2007-present)

Editorial Board, Theoretical and Applied Genetics international journal (2006-present)

Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Committee of American Society of Plant Biologist (2005-present; served as chairman in 2006 and 2007)

Representative of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America. Congressional Science Exhibition Day. Washington, D.C., April 2006.

American Society of Agronomy, Fellow Award Committee (2006-present)

NSF and NIH Metabolic Engineering grant review panel (2005)

International Advisery Committee, International Biotechnology Conference on “Plant Genomics and Biotechnology: Challenges and Opportunities” (2005)

Scientific Adviser to the United Nations’ IAEA project on “Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops” (2004-present)

Program Chairman, International Congress on Drought Tolerance in Plants (Interdrought II 2004-2005)

International Steering Committee Member, International Congress on Drought Tolerance in Plants (2003-present)

Advisery Board, NSF Rice Annotation Database Project (2004–2007)

Advisery Board, Legume Information System (2003–2006)

Plant Genome International Conference, San Diego, CA - Chairperson, Abiotic Stress Workshop (1995-present)

Editorial Board, “Advances in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” book series, Elsevier Science Ltd. (2003–present)

Editor, Bioengineering and Molecular Biology of Plant Pathways, Elsevier Science Ltd. (2006-2007)

Editor, Integration of Physiology and Biotechnology for Plant Breeding, Marcel Dekker, Inc.(2004)

Chairman, Genomics, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology C-7 Division, Crop Science Society of America (2003)

University of Missouri Campus Contact for American Society of Plant Biologist (2002- Present)

Crop Science Society of America’s Board of Directors (2001-2003)

Member of the Renaissance Initiative Coordinating Team of Crop Science Society of America (2002-2005)

Graduate Fellowship Panel, National Science Foundation (1999)

Associate Editor, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology Section, Crop Science (1998-2002)

Budget and Finance Committee, American Society of Agronomy (1996-1999)

International Triticeace Mapping Initiative Committee Member (1995-2004)

President, Sigma Xi honor society, Texas Tech University Chapter (1994-95)

President, Gamma Sigma Delta honor society, Texas Tech University Chapter (1993-94)

Editor, Biotechnology for Arid land Plants - University of Texas-Austin (1993)

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment Review Panel (1993)

USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (5 panels since 1992)

Young Crop Scientist Award Committee Member of the Crop Science Society of America (1992-1995)

Member of the Public Relations Committee, American Society of Agronomy (1991-1994)

Faculty Women Award Review Panel, National Science Foundation (1991)

Presidential Young Investigator Award Review Panel, National Science Foundation (1991)

Undergraduate Curriculum and Course Development Review Panel, National Science Foundation (1991)

Crop Science Teaching Improvement Committee Member of the Crop Science Society of America (1986-1989)

Principal Research Interests:

Molecular genetics and functional genomics of abiotic stress tolerance in plants

Genome mapping and application of genomics and biotechnology to crop improvement.

Recent Book Chapters of last 4 years (career total of 28):

2007

Valliyodan, Babu and H.T. Nguyen. 2007. Genomics of abiotic stress in soybean. In: Soybean Genomics. Gary Stacey (ed.). Springer, USA. (in press)

Pathan, M.S., J-D. Lee, J.G. Shannon, and H.T. Nguyen. 2007. Recent advances in breeding for drought and salt stress tolerance in soybean. In: Advances in molecular-breeding toward drought and salt tolerant crops. M. A. Jenks, P. M. Hasegawa, and S.M. Jain (eds), Springer USA. (In press)

Vuong, T.V., X. Wu, M.S. Pathan, B. Valliyodan, and H.T. Nguyen. 2007. Genomics approaches to soybean improvement. In. Genomics-assisted crop improvement. P. K. Varshney and R. Tuberosa (eds), Springer USA. (In press)

2006

Lee, G-J., X. Wu, J.G. Shannon, D.A. Sleper, and H.T. Nguyen. 2006. Genome mapping and molecular breeding in plants: soybean. In: Genome mapping and molecular breeding in plants, Vol. 2 (oilseeds), C. Kole (ed). Springer, USA.

2005

Wu, Xiaolei and H. T. Nguyen. 2005. Methods for genetic mapping. In: The Handbook of Plant Genome Mapping. Meksem, K. and Guenter Kahl (eds). Wiley-VCH Verlag, Germany.

2004

Pathan, M.S., P.K. Subudhi, B. Courtois, and H.T. Nguyen. 2004. Molecular dissection of abiotic stress tolerance in sorghum and rice. In: Physiology and Biotechnology Integration for Plant Breeding. H.T. Nguyen and A. Blum (eds). Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, NY.

Subudhi, P.K. and H.T. Nguyen. 2004. Genome mapping and genomic strategies for crop improvement. In: Physiology and Biotechnology Integration for Plant Breeding. H.T. Nguyen and A. Blum (eds). Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, NY.

Stacey, G. and H.T. Nguyen. 2004. Mapping and sequencing the soybean genome. In: Genomics for Legume Crops. C. Brummer and R.F. Wilson (eds). AOCS Press.

Selected Publications of last 5 years (total of more than 160 referred papers):

2007

Xiaolei Wu, Guohua Zhong, Seth Findley, Perry Cregan, Gary Stacey, Henry T. Nguyen. Genetic marker anchoring by six-dimensional pools for development of a soybean physical map. 2007. BMC Genomics (accepted)

Lee, J-D., J-K. Yu., Y-H. Hwang., S. Blake., Y-S. So., G-J. Lee., H.T. Nguyen., and J. G. Shannon. 2007. Genetic diversity of wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc) accessions from South Korea and other countries. Crop Science (in press)

Zhu, J., Alvarez, S., Marsh, E., Lenoble, M.E., Cho, I.J., Sivaguru, M., Chen, S., Nguyen, H.T., Wu, Y., Schachtman, D.P., Sharp, R.E. 2007. Cell wall proteome in the maize primary root elongation zone. II. Region-specific changes in water soluble and lightly ionically bound proteins under water deficit. Plant Physiol. [Epub ahead of print]

Zhang, X.C., Wu, X., Findley, S., Wan, J., Libault, M., Nguyen, H.T., Cannon, S.B., Stacey, G. 2007. Molecular evolution of lysin motif-type receptor-like kinases in plants. Plant Physiol. 144(2):623-36.

Shannon, J.G., J.A. Wrather, D.A. Sleper, H.T. Nguyen, and S.C. Anand. 2007. Registration of Stoddard soybean. J. of Crop Registrations 1: 28-29.

Shannon, J.G., J.A. Wrather, D.A. Sleper, R.T. Robbins, H.T. Nguyen, and S. Anand. 2007. Registration of Jake soybean. J. of Crop Registrations 1: 29-30.

Kumar, R., Qiu, J., Joshi, T., Valliyodan, B., Xu, D., Nguyen, H. T. 2007. Single Feature Polymorphism Discovery in Rice. PLoS ONE 2(3): e284.doi:10.1371- /journal.pone.0000284

Li, Y., Uhm, T., Ren, C., Wu, C., Santos, T.S., Lee, M-K., Yan, B., Santos, F., Zhang, A., Scheuring, C., Sanchez, A., Millena, A. C., Nguyen, H.T., Kou, H., Liu, D., Zhang, H-B. 2007. A plant-transformation-competent BIBAC/BAC-based map of rice for functional analysis and genetic engineering of its genomic sequence. Genome 50: 278-288.

Harris, K., P.K. Subudhi, A. Borrell, D. Jordan, D. Rosenow, H. Nguyen, P. Klein, R. Klein, and J. Mullet. 2007. Sorghum stay-green QTL individually reduce post-flowering drought-induced leaf senescence. J. Exp. Bot. 58: 327-338.

Poroyko, V., W.G. Spollen, L.G. Hejlek, A.G. Hernandez, M.E. LeNoble, G. Davis G., H.T. Nguyen, G.K. Springer, R.E. Sharp, and H.J. Bohnert. 2007. Comparing regional transcript profiles from maize primary roots under well-watered and low water potential conditions. J. Exp. Bot. 58: 279-290.

2006

Chao, S., G.R. Lazo, F. You and others. 2006. Use of a large-scale Triticeae EST resource to reveal gene expression profiles in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Genome 49: 531-544.

Chappel, A.S., A.M. Scaboo, X. Wu, H.T. Nguyen, V.R. Pantalone, and K.D. Bilyeu. 2006. Characterization of the MIPS gene family in Glycine max. Plant Breeding 125: 1-8.

Guo, B., D.A. Sleper, P. Lu, J. G. Shannon, H. T. Nguyen and P.R. Arelli. 2006. QTLs Associated with Resistance to SCN: Meta analysis of QTL locations. Crop Science 46: 595-602.

Guo, B., D.A. Sleper, H. T. Nguyen, P. R. Arelli and J.G. Shannon. 2006. Quantitative trait loci underlying resistance to three soybean cyst nematode populations in Soybean PI404198A. Crop Science 46:224-233.

Guo, B., D. A. Sleper, J. Sun, H. T. Nguyen, P.R. Arelli and J.G. Shannon. 2006. Pooled analysis of data from multiple quantitative trait locus mapping population: QTLs associated with resistance to soybean cyst nematode. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 113:39-48.

Lu, P., J. G. Shannon, D. A. Sleper, H. T. Nguyen, S. R. Cianzio, P. R. Arelli. 2006. Genetics of Cyst Nematode Resistance in Soybean PIs 467312 and 507354. Euphytica 149:259-265.

Nunberg, A., J.A. Bedell, M.A. Budiman, R.W. Citek, S.W. Clifton, L. Fulton, D. Pape, Z. Cai, T. Joshi, H.T. Nguyen, D. Xu, and G. Stacey. 2006. Survey sequencing of soybean elucidates the genome structure and composition. Functional Plant Biology 33: 1-9.

Ramalingam, J., M. S. Pathan, O. Feril, Miftahudin, K. Ross, X.-F. Ma, A. A. Mahmoud, J. Layton, M. A. Rodriguez-Milla, T. Chikmawati, B. Valliyodan, R. Skinner, D. E. Matthews, J. P. Gustafson, and H. T. Nguyen. 2006.. Structural and functional analyses of the wheat genomes based on expressed sequence tags (ESTs) related to abiotic stresses. Genome 49:1-17.

Valliyodan, B. and H.T. Nguyen. 2006. Understanding regulatory networks and engineering for enhanced drought tolerance in plants. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 9: 1-7.

2005

Guo, B., D. A. Sleper, P. R. Arelli, J. G. Shannon and H.T. Nguyen. 2005. Molecular Identification of QTLs Associated with Resistance to Soybean Cyst Nematode Races 2, 3 and 5 in Soybean PI 90763. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 111: 965-971.

Hazen, S.P., M.S. Pathan, A. Sanchez and others. 2005. Expression profiling of rice segregating for drought tolerance QTLs using a rice genome array. Integr. Funct. Genomics 5: 104-116.

Pratt, L.H., Chun Liang, Manish Shah and others. 2005. Sorghum Expressed Sequence Tags Identify Signature Genes for Drought, Pathogenesis, and Skotomorphogenesis from a Milestone Set of 16,801 Unique Transcripts. Plant Physiology 139: 869-884.

Poroyko, V. , L.G. Hejlek, W.G. Spollen, G.K. Springer, H.T. Nguyen, R.E. Sharp and H.J. Bohnert. 2005. The Maize Root Transcriptome by Serial Analysis of Gene Expression. Plant Physiology 138: 1700-1710.

2004

Babu, R.C., J. Zhang, A. Blum, T-H- David Ho, R. Wu, and H.T. Nguyen. 2004. HVA1, a LEA gene from barley confers dehydration tolerance in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) via cell membrane protection. Plant Sci. 166:855-862.

Conley, E. J., V. Nduati, J. L. Gonzalez-Hernandez and others. 2004. A 2600-locus chromosome bin map of wheat homoeologous group 2 reveals interstitial gene-rich islands and colinearity with rice. Genetics 168:625-637.

Hossain, K. G., V. Kalavacharla, G. R. Lazo and others. 2004. A chromosome bin map of 2148 EST loci of wheat homoeologous group 7. Genetics 168:687-699.

Lazo, G. R., S. Chao, D. D. Hummel and others. 2004. Development of an expressed sequence tag (EST) resource for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): EST generation, unigene analysis, probe selection, and bioinformatics for a 16,000-locus bin-delineated map. Genetics 168:585-593.

Linkiewicz, A. M., L. L. Qi, B. S. Gill and others. 2004. A 2500-locus bin map of wheat homoeologous group 5 provides new insights on gene distribution and colinearity with rice. Genetics 168:665-676.

Miftahudin, K. Ross, X.-F. Ma and others. 2004. Analysis of EST loci on wheat chromosome group 4. Genetics 168:651-663.

Munkvold, J. D., R. A. Greene, C. E. Bermudez-Kandianis and others. 2004. Group 3 chromosome bin maps of wheat and their relationship to rice chromosome 1. Genetics 168:639-650.

Nguyen T.T., Klueva N, Chamareck V, Aarti A, Magpantay G, Millena AC, Pathan MS, and Nguyen HT. 2004. Saturation mapping of QTL regions and identification of putative candidate genes for drought tolerance in rice. Mol. Gen. Genet. 272:35-46.

Peng, J. H., H. Zadeh, G. R. Lazo and others. 2004. Chromosome bin map of expressed sequence tags in homoeologous group 1 of hexaploid wheat and homoeology with rice and Arabidopsis. Genetics 168:609-623.

Qi, L. L., B. Echalier, S. Chao and others. 2004. A chromosome bin map of 16,000 EST loci and distribution of genes among the three genomes of polyploid wheat. Genetics 168:701-712.

Randhawa, H. S., M. Dilbirligi, D. Sidhu and others. 2004. Deletion mapping of homoeologous group 6-specific wheat ESTs. Genetics 168:677-686.

Robin, S, M.S. Pathan, B. Courtois, R. Lafitte, C, Scarandang, S. Lanceras, M. Amante, H.T. Nguyen, and Z. Li. 2004. Mapping osmotic adjustment in an advanced backcross inbred population of rice Theor. Appl. Genetics 107: 1288-1296.

Sharp, R.E., V. Poroyko, L.G. Hejlek, W.G. Spollen, G.K. Springer, H.J. Bohnert, and H.T. Nguyen. 2004. Root growth maintenance during water deficits: physiology to functional genomics. J. Exp. Bot. 55:2343-2351.

Zhang, D., D. W. Choi, S. Wanamaker and others. 2004. Construction and evaluation of cDNA libraries for large-scale EST sequencing in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Genetics 168:595-608.

2003

Akhunov, E. D., J. Andrew Goodyear, Shu Geng and others. 2003. The organization and rate of evolution of the wheat transcriptome are correlated with recombination rates along chromosome arms. Genome Research 13:753-763.

Akhunov, E.D., Alina R. Akhunova and others. 2003. Synteny perturbations between wheat homoeologous chromosomes caused by locus duplications and deletions correlate with recombination rates along chromosome arm. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA) 100: 10836-10841.

Babu, R.C., B. D. Nguyen, V. Chamarerk, P. Shanmugasundaram, P. Chezhian, P. Jeyaprakash, S. K. Ganesh, A. Palchamy, S. Sadasivam, S. Sarkarung, L. J. Wade and H. T. Nguyen. 2003. Genetic analysis of drought resistance in rice by molecular markers: association between secondary traits and field performance. Crop Sci. 43: 1457-1469.

Sorrells, M.E., C.M. La Rota and others. 2003. Comparative DNA Sequence Analysis of Wheat and Rice Genomes. Genome Research 13: 1818-1827.