CURRICULUM VITAE
Truyen N Quach
EDUCATION
 PhD, Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Missouri Columbia, USA, 2011. Genetics of drought
tolerance.
 MSc, Plant Breeding, University of Adelaide, Australia, 2004. Salt tolerance in wheat.
 BSc, Agronomy, Hanoi Agricultural University, Vietnam, 1997. Micro-nutrition on hybrid maize.
WORK EXPERIENCE
1/2014-present, interim director, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Biochemistry and Farm Product Quality,
Field Crop Research Institute, Vietnam.
 Marker assisted selection for crop plants.
 Genetic engineering crop plants for stress tolerance.
 Physiology of stress tolerance in crop plants
 Analytical service and investigation of farm product (staple and forage crops) nutritional and commercial
quality.
2011 – 12/2013, Post-doctoral research associate, Plant Transformation Core Facility and Center for Plant
Science Innovations, University of Nebraska, USA.
 Development of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation for the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
Applicable solution to correct severe deletion of non-selectable region of TDNA by re-designing a twoborder selection protocol for successful transformation of the algae.
 Vector construction for multiple gene cassettes, plant tissue culture and transformation for soybean, maize
and sorghum.
 Genetic analysis for a transposon-tagging soybean population using various sequencing techniques,
genome mapping and sequence analysis.
 Plant genetic engineering for nitrogen use efficiency: Greenhouse (soil mix and hydroponics culture) and
field evaluation of transgenic wheat and sorghum for nitrogen use efficiency and photosynthesis. In detail,
I was in charge of development of transgenic plants, transgenic analyses, gene expression analyses,
enzyme assays for nitrogen assimilation and carbon metabolism, and growth analyses.
 Investigation of the gene controlling domestication of wheat in corn. Engineering sorghum and wheat for
higher biomass by introduction of a maize interference RNA, which leads to hyper-production of
branches and converts plants to their native types.
2005 – 2011, PhD in Plant Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Missouri Columbia, USA.
 Functional genomics of drought response in soybean:
o Transcript profiling of genes in response to abiotic stress, development and hormonal treatments.
o Data analyses: database mining, sequence alignment and assembly, expression data normalization
and visualization.
o Functional analysis of candidate genes using molecular and transgenic approaches in relation to
plant water relation and drought response.
o Root growth and maintenance under water deficit conditions: agar plate, greenhouse pot and in
slanted transparent tube system. Root imaging analysis using EZ-Rhizo image analysis software
and microscopy visualization.
 Drought adaptation in soybean and Arabidopsis: Design, data collection, normalization & statistical
analysis for drought tolerance and/or avoidance. Advanced skill in design of drought experiment involved
multiple controls for normalization of data.
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Phytosterols improvement: Characterization of squalene synthase, 24-C-methyltransferase in phytosterol
improvement. Compliment assays to verify functions of soybean proteins using yeast mutants.
2003 – 2004, MSc in Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Adelaide, Australia
 Mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL) in bread wheat.
 Investigation of response of wheat and barley to stresses of salt and boron toxicity, and zinc deficiency
using hydroponic and sand based culture.
1997 – 2002 and 2005, Soybean breeder, Vietnam Agricultural Science Institute, Vietnam
o Evaluation of legumes germplasms: food and forage legumes for breeding programs.
o Soybean breeding. Monitoring soybean breeding programs for Northern Vietnam to improve
yield, seed quality, maturity and thermo/day-length-sensitivity.
o Crop management for highland farming systems in collaborations with ICRISAT and CSIRO.
 Accomplishments
o Release of high yielding soybean variety ĐT22 in 2005 (link)
MAJOR PROJECT PARTICIPATION
 National Science Foundation “Nanohybrid Materials & Algal Biology”, 2010-2015.
 National Science Foundation “A Genetic Resource for Gene Discovery in Soybean”, 2012-2015.
 National Science Foundation “Functional Genomics of Root Growth and Root Signaling under Drought”,
2002-2006.
 Vietnamese Government “National Legumes Seed Production Systems”, 2001-2004.
 ICRISAT-ADB-VASI “Improved Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed
Agriculture” during 1999-2002.
 Vietnam MARD “National and Regional Soybean Breeding Programs”, 1997-2000 and 2001-2004.
 ACIAR “Soybean Variety Adaptation & Improvement in Vietnam and Australia”, 2000-2003.
SCIENTIFIC SERVICE:
 Academic reviewer for journals of PLOS ONE, Crop Science, In vitro Cellular and Developmental
Biology, Vietnam Journal of Science.
 Advisory committee member, KOPIA ABS Project.
 Graduate student adviser, Hanoi Agricultural University.
 Scientific Committee Member, Legumes Research and Development Center.
 Agriculture Section Chair, Vietnam Education Scientific Conference 2006.
PUBLICATIONS
1. Quach TN, HTM Nguyen, B Valliyodan, T Joshi, D Xu, HT Nguyen. 2015. Genome-Wide Expression
Analysis of Soybean NF-Y Genes Reveals Potential Function in Development and Drought Response
(Accepted to Molecular Genetics and Genomics)
2. Guttikonda S. Valliyodan B, Neelakandan A, Tran SLP, Kumar R, Quach TN, Voothuluru P, GutierrezGonzalez J, Aldrich D, Pallardy S, Sharp RE, Ho D and Nguyen H. 2014. Overexpression of AtDREB1D
transcription factor improves drought tolerance in soybean. Mol Biol Rep (link)
3. Quach TN, Tran PLS, Vallyodan B, Kumar R, Nguyen TMH, Neelakandan A, Guttikonda S, Aldrich D,
Robert E Sharp and Nguyen HT. 2014. Drought Inducible Soybean GmNAC003 and GmNAC004
Transcription Factors Stimulate Lateral Root Development in Arabidopsis. PLOS ONE (link)
4. Nguyen HTM, Neelakandan AK, Quach TN, Kumar R, and Nguyen HT. 2013. Functional analysis of
soybean squalene synthases in phytosterol improvement. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. 73: 23–32
(link)
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5. Le DT, Aldrich DL, Valliyodan B, Watanabe Y, Ha CV, Nishiyama R, Guttikonda SK, Quach TN,
Gutierrez-Gonzalez JJ, Tran LS, Nguyen HT. 2012. Evaluation of Candidate Reference Genes for
Normalization of Quantitative RT-PCR in Soybean Tissues under Various Abiotic Stress Conditions. PLoS
One (link).
6. Neelakandan AK, Nguyen HTM, Kumar R, Tran PLS, Guttikonda SK, Quach TN, Aldrich D, W. David Nes
and Nguyen HT. 2010. Molecular characterization and functional analysis of Glycine max sterol methyl
transferase 2 genes involved in plant membrane sterol biosynthesis. Plant Mol Biol 74: 503-18 (link).
7. Tran LS, Quach TN, Guttikonda SK, Aldrich DL, Kumar R, Neelakandan A, Valliyodan B and Nguyen HT.
2009. Molecular characterization of stress-inducible GmNAC genes in soybean. Mol Genet Genomics.
281:647-64 (link).
8. Tran Dinh Long, Tran Thi Truong, Hoang Minh Tam, Quach Ngoc Truyen, Nguyen Thi My Hanh. 2006.
Ket qua nghien cuu chon tao going dau tuong ĐT22. Tuyen tap khoa hoc va cong nghe nong nghiep 2006.
NXB Nong nghiep.
9. Quach TN, Nguyen HTM, James AT and Tran LD, Ngo TQ and Tran TT. 2004. Effects of genotype and
sowing time on growth of soybean in the mountain region of Northern Vietnam. Proceedings of the 4th
International Crop Science Congress, 26 Sep – 1 Oct 2004, Brisbane, Australia. Published on CDROM.
Web site www.regional.org.au/au/cs (link)
10. Quach TN, James AT, Tran LD, Ngo TQ, Hoang TM, Nguyen HTM, Nguyen LT, Nguyen CT. 2003.
Varietal Development CS/95/130 ACIAR Projects in Hoa Binh, Bac Giang, Ha Tay and Ha Noi provinces.
National Soybean Conference in Vietnam, 25-26 February 2003, Hanoi, Vietnam. ACIAR Project CS/95/130
Soybean Adaptation and Development in Vietnam and Australia pp. 57- 78
11. Quach NT, Tran DL, Ngo QT, Hoang MT, Nguyen TMH and James TA. 2000. Photo-thermal adaptation of
soybean in Vietnam. Annual results of agricultural research – year 2000. Vietnam Agricultural Science
Institute. Agricultural Publisher. Pp. 99-106.
Manuscript under consideration or preparation
 Dante F Placido, Kevin Begcy, Shirley J Sato, Natalya Nersesian, Truyen Quach, Sarah M Blecha, Thomas
E Clemente, Paul E Staswick & Harkamal Walia. The LATERAL ROOT DENSITY gene regulates drought
tolerance response and promotes grain productivity in wheat (submitted to Nature Communications).
 Quach TN, Sato SJ, Behrens MR, Black PN, DiRusso CC, Cerutti HD, Clemente TE. A facile
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method for the model unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii (in preparation).
Posters
 2012. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. ASPB
Midwestern Section Meeting. Lincoln, NE.
 2012. Transposition of The Maize Ds Element In The Soybean Genome. 14th Biennial Molecular & Cellular
Biology of Soybean Conference, Des Moines, IA, USA.
 2012. Monitoring Ds Transposition in Soybean Genome. American Society of Plant Biologists, Midwest
Section Annual Meeting, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
 2011. Ds Transposition in Soybean Genome. Center for Plant Science Innovation, Research group meeting.
Univrsity of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE, USA.
 2010. Drought Inducible Soybean GmNAC003 and GmNAC004 Transcription Factors Stimulate Lateral Root
Development in Arabidopsis. Missouri’s Life Science Week. University of Missouri Columbia, Columbia,
MO, USA
 2010. Drought Inducible Soybean GmNAC002 Transcription Factors Enhances Drought Tolerance in
Arabidopsis. NCSB Symposium, University of Missouri Columbia, Columbia, MO, USA
 2010. Characterization of Drought Inducible Soybean NAC Transcription Factors. International Plant
Molecular Biology Conference. St. Louis, USA
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2010. Drought tolerance in soybean: from gene discovery to translational genomics. World Soybean Research
Conference VIII. Beijing, China.
2009. Strategies for improving plant productivity under drought and global climate changes. Energy Summit.
University of Missouri.
2009. Discovery and characterization of regulatory factors associated with drought tolerance in soybean.2009.
Plant Biology: Honolulu, Hawaii
TALKS
 2012. Agrobacterium- mediated transformation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. University of Nebraska, USA.
 2007. Biotechnologies in Plant Breeding. Vietnam Academies of Agricultural Science, Hanoi, Vietnam.
 2005. Opportunities and Challenges in Biotechnology Applications in Vietnam. National Conference for
Biotechnology. Hanoi, Vietnam (link).
AWARDS
 2010. Honorable award for poster presentation, Life Sciences Week, University of Missouri Columbia.
 2009. NSF Conference grant to attend IMBP 2009 conference, St Louis, MO, USA.
 2005. VEF fellowship for PhD program, USA Government.
 2004. Conference grant, ICSC 2004, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. ICSC.
 2003. MOET scholarship for Vietnamese Overseas studies for a Master degree, Vietnam Education
Department.
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP: American Society of Plant Biologist
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