Meet Dr. Jugpreet Singh, Assistant Professor of Tropical Fruit Breeding at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in Homestead, Florida. Dr. Singh’s career path spans continents and disciplines, from traditional plant breeding to computational biology and now, tropical fruit research.

In this interview, Dr. Singh shares how he started, what he’s working on now, and his advice for students entering the field.

 

Can you share a bit about your journey in horticultural sciences and how it led to your current role?

I started my Ph.D. in Horticultural Sciences at UF. I’m originally from Punjab, a small state known as the “breadbasket of India“. I had a master’s in plant breeding and genetics, which was a traditional breeding program, but I wanted to learn more advanced technologies for genetic improvement in different plants.

So, I applied to horticultural sciences – Dr. Eduardo Vallejos was looking for a student; he had an NSF grant and picked up my application. The project really fascinated me because it was very advanced compared to conventional breeding. This project offered the opportunity to learn new genetic tools, techniques, and marker development technologies that could be implemented in breeding programs. He accepted me as a graduate student, and that’s when the journey began.

 

What impact did your mentors have?

I think I was very lucky to have really good mentors who taught me really well, whether it was field breeding protocols, breeding experiments, or more thoroughly thinking about biological problems.

I really want to mention Eduardo Vallejos. When I was working with him, he was very patient in terms of teaching those tools and techniques. I still remember when I was taking his plant molecular biology class (it was a hardcore lab class). He asked, “Who hasn’t touched a pipette yet?” I was his student, and my hand went up. He stood by me in the lab and taught me how to extract DNA, how to do lab work, and how to approach problems with rigorous thinking. That’s the best mentoring experience I’ve had. Also, in terms of writing and thinking thoroughly about scientific approaches, I learned that all from Eduardo.

Similarly, most of the field breeding experience I learned was from Dr. Narinderpal Singh Dhillon, a cucurbit breeder at the World Vegetable Center. 

 

What was your experience like during your Ph.D.?

Initially, it was hard to adjust here to the U.S. environment. There was a lot of coursework but all of that was really useful. All I have done, all the courses I have taken – were all useful throughout my entire career.

I had the opportunity to learn many skills that I did not know before my Ph.D. Throughout the program, I interacted with other people and learned about different technologies. For example, we were working on root system architecture, and I had the opportunity to interact with computer science students. I tried to understand how they code and how they approach these kinds of problems. 

Eventually, with the availability of sequencing technologies, I became motivated to learn new computational work, which not only helped me get future jobs but was also applicable to my current research program.

In terms of how it’s helping me now, the skills I developed, whether in analytical techniques or the tools I learned to use during the program, have been very valuable in making breeding decisions. The interactions and collaborations I built with others, most of those started when I was a graduate student at the University of Florida.

 

What path did you take after finishing your Ph.D.?

After my Ph.D., I joined the USDA, working in a lab focused entirely on the computational biology of legumes. The skills I developed during my Ph.D. in horticultural sciences were extremely useful there.

I later returned to UF as a postdoc to manage Dr. Eduardo Vallejos’ lab while he served as a program officer at NSF. During that time, I also received a fellowship from the UF Informatics Institute. We submitted a proposal, it was accepted, and the fellowship provided financial support for my research.

When that funding ended, I interviewed at Cornell and accepted a position there, and later on moved to an industry job working on Cannabis. Now, I’m here at TREC!  

 

What does your work look like now at TREC?

Our extension work focuses on engaging with growers and providing information on best practices. One major project underway is setting up a papaya trial. Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) is a big, big problem.

 Every two years, growers have to remove all their trees because the virus kills them. All commercial cultivars, everyone we’ve tested, are susceptible to PRSV. I thought, why not explore wild germplasm to see if they have any resistance sources? We scouted areas around Lake Okeechobee, Miami-Dade County, and surrounding regions to locate wild papaya plants. These grow along roadsides or near water bodies – very random. They’re not native to South Florida but were likely introduced through Caribbean migration.

We collected almost 100 accessions of wild germplasm and are evaluating them against PRSV to see if we can identify a natural source of resistance. We have also targeted projects on mango and avocado, all based on the major production issues in these fruit crops. 

Right now is a pretty good time to visit the field because the mango collection has fruit on it. We’re trying to see if we can select something that’s pretty unique, flavorful, and of good quality. We will try to make crosses based on that next year.

 

 

How do you work with growers as part of your extension efforts?

My program is new; it’s not even one year old. We are planning to do field demonstration trials. We have diverse germplasm planted: papaya, dragon fruit, passion fruit, mango, and a big avocado collection. These are our main strengths in tropical fruit germplasm here at TREC. They’re useful for both research and planned extension efforts.

If a grower asks, we also go to their field, take samples to see if they have PRSV, and look at the strain diversity. We look to see if new strains are coming that can overcome existing resistance, including in GM papayas.

We have markers in the lab that we can run to tell them whether PRSV is present. Some growers buy seedlings and later see weird symptoms, so this helps confirm whether it’s PRSV or not.

 

What emerging technologies do you think will most impact plant breeding?

AI and CRISPR – both.

There’s so much data now: genome sequences, field data, weather data, but we don’t have the tools to integrate all of them. AI tools are efficient in handling large-scale datasets. They can improve decision-making for selection and cultivar release.

CRISPR is efficient when challenges like PRSV can’t be solved through conventional breeding. For example, there’s a different species of papaya, like Vasconcellea, that has resistance to PRSV, but even if initial crosses work, most or all progeny individuals die due to cross-incompatibility.CRISPR can help by knocking down genes that interact with the virus, and that might help us develop durable disease resistance.

 

 

Any advice you would give to students considering plant breeding as a career?

Students should widen their horizons and learn new techniques, data science, and data analytics. That will be helpful for downstream paths. I started with conventional breeding, but I moved into quantitative genetics and computational biology. All the skills I gained are now applicable to tropical fruit breeding.

It’s the same for students in lab-based programs. If you’re doing a lot of lab work, get involved in fieldwork or breeding experiments, either through courses or by working with faculty. That’s also beneficial when applying for jobs; it’s an additional asset for professional growth.