Blueberry Breeder Extraordinaire: Jessica Gilbert Company: Driscoll’s (Watsonville, California) Role: Molecular Blueberry Breeder
Snapshot: For the past 5 ½ years, Jessica Gilbert has helped Driscoll’s efficiently breed the best berries using a combination of traditional and molecular techniques. As the molecular blueberry breeder, she designs trials to determine the genetic basis of blueberry traits important to Driscoll’s breeding program, such as flavor, texture, color,
disease resistance and stress tolerance. Fun fact: she also has a passion for using wild species to incorporate genetic diversity and novel traits into Driscoll’s blueberry populations. Jessica’s Favorite Part About the Job: “ My favorite part about being a blueberry breeder at Driscoll’s has been the opportunity to collaborate with so
many smart, fun, helpful scientists to work on creative strategies to improve blueberries across the globe. My biggest accomplishments have been as part of the team to discover and develop our blueberry program’s very first molecular markers, and in deploying those markers to screen thousands of seedlings for better tasting blueberries!”
[left] Jessica helping harvest blueberries for a trial in Driscoll’s test plot in Chao, Peru. [right] Jessica hand pollinating in the greenhouse.
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