Congratulations to Associate Professor Marcus Samuel, who is this year’s recipient of the C.D. Nelson Award, given for outstanding research contributions to plant biology with special consideration for originality and independence of thought. The award is one of the most prestigious for plant biologists in Canada.
CALGARY (August 1, 2017): Faculty of Science researchers at the University of Calgary under the leadership of Associate Professor Marcus Samuel, have identified how drought tolerance is controlled in a model plant system, which could lead to new ways to make Canada’s valuable canola crop more drought-tolerant in a warming world.
The biological sciences research group — in an international collaboration that included the University of Toronto and the University of Tasmania in Australia — uncovered the molecular mechanisms that control drought tolerance in a standard plant system widely used by plant biologists.
Their study “Farnesylation mediates brassinosteroid biosynthesis to regulate abscisic acid responses” has been published in Nature Plants, one of the top-ranked Nature series of science journals.
“This could lead to a generation of crop plants that are drought-tolerant, particularly in Canada,” says Marcus Samuel, an author on the study and associate professor of integrative cell biology (plant biology) in the Department of Biological Sciences. “Our findings can be translated into a technology for canola, and possibly wheat, to make these crops more drought-tolerant. Under water-stressed conditions, crop yield could be improved by at least 20 per cent.”
Read more about the research findings: https://www.ucalgary.ca/utoday/issue/2016-08-25/new-research-may-lead-more-drought-tolerant-canadian-canola
The group’s research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Samuel’s lab is also supported by the private, not-for-profit Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund Ltd.
Considering all his outstanding research contributions to plant biology, Canadian Society of Plant Biologists honoured Marcus Samuel as the recipient of the C.D. Nelson Award 2017.
The Award is given for outstanding research contributions to plant biology, with special consideration given to originality and independence of thought.
Marcus hails from Tamilnadu, His parents are Dr. Samuel Gnanadoss (from Tamilnadu) (eye surgeon and Dean), Leela Samuel from Kottayam (Nursing Superintendent).
Marcus Graduated with a perfect OGPA of 4.0/4.0 from Tamilnadu Agricultural University (TNAU) with a BSc. in Agriculture. He received 5 University Gold medals as the top student in various subjects. After graduation, he was selected based on an All India Agricultural Biotechnology entrance examination (only 18 selected each year) to pursue MSc. in Ag. Biotech at TNAU (1994-1996).
During this time, he captained the University Soccer team and was also the University Badminton champion.
Following this, Marcus was chosen to do a direct PhD at the University of British Columbia in the reputed lab of Dr. Brian Ellis. He held the University Graduate Fellowship during his PhD and graduate in 2002 with a PhD in Plant Biotechnology. Although, he was awarded an Industrial Research Fellowship by the Federal Government to be employed in a Biotech firm, he chose to pursue a post-doctoral position at the University of Toronto to achieve his dream of becoming a Professor. After four years of PDF. in 2008, he was offered a Faculty position at the University of Calgary.
At the University of Calgary, he has established a CFI funded state-of-the-art Plant molecular and Cell biology lab and has published a significant number of research articles in prestigious journals. He has graduated 4 PhD students and 2 MSc students so far and has mentored over 50 undergraduates in undergraduate research programs. He has been the Chair of the Plant Biology programs and has been nominated for Excellence in Teaching Award. He has also been an invited speaker in various institutions in the last nine years.
Marcus has been successful in securing various research funding from provincial and federal sources including the Strategic Grant to create drought-tolerant canola lines. His research focusses on understanding plant development at a molecular level and his lab emphasizes on translational research to transfer the technology to crop plants such as canola and wheat. His long term goal is help improve/develop stress tolerant crop plants that could help sustain the rapidly growing global population.
Marcus is married to Dr. Soni Rajan (Madras Medical College) who works as an ultrasound specialist at the Foothills hospital. They have two girls, Anna Samuel (15) and Lisa Samuel (10) and also have an adorable Golden doodle, Tussie (6). The family loves to travel and enjoy hiking, biking and fishing.
Daughter (Anna Samuel) about his dad (Marcus Samuel): “My dad grew up in Madurai, India. If you go and visit, I guarantee someone will tell you a story about the way he scored the winning goal at a soccer game, or how amazing his cooking was using a microwave. But alas, my dad has two different identities. My dad is one of the most professional people that you could ever meet. He is a success story that does not happen to many people. And many thought that he would never get to the position that he is at now. Most people know my dad as the soccer and badminton player that made it big in Canada, they know him as the professor with ambition. But anyone who really knows him, knows that my dad worked very hard for every single thing he has achieved. Starting with nothing, he basically built a life, career and image for himself that he could be proud of. And throughout it all, he maintained his values without budging one bit. Throughout his adolescence, he learned the hard way that those values are what make you who you are, and they are still with him to this day. Yes, people know him as the success story, but I know him as the goofball that belts out Jason derulo during car rides. He is the man that will let his kids pull his hair out just to keep them happy. My dad is a great person, and I am proud to be able to call him my father. “
Once again, Congratulations ! Prof. Marcus Samuel on this prestigious Success!!
Report by: Jaison Mathew (CMN News)
