2019 TPS Alumni
Current Employment
USDA-ARS Postdoctoral Research Associate
Vegetable Crops Research Unit
United State Department of Agriculture,
Madison, Wisconsin
Education
PhD, Translational Plant Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2019
BS, Biology, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, 2013
Research Focus
As an undergraduate, Bill worked in Michelle Graham’s USDA-ARS soybean genetics lab where he studied changes in gene expression in response to the pathogen Phialophora gregata. After graduation he continued in the lab as a technician, working to improve Virus Induced Gene Silencing methods to study Rps2 resistance for the pathogen Phytophthora sojae. For his PhD, Bill studied genetic resistance mechanisms in soybean with the goal of understanding of how genetic information can be applied to a breeding program, leading to better soybean cultivars.
In his position as a postdoctoral researcher, Bill conducts genome-wide association studies, genomic prediction and population genetic analysis with large genomic datasets and phenotypic information on economically important carrot traits. The team that Bill works with is developing an expanded carrot database, with the goal of cataloging genomic and phenotypic information of interest for reaserchers.
TPS Experience
- Rotations: Dr. Thomas Mitchell, Dr. Leah McHale & Dr. Anne Dorrance
- Advisors: Dr. Leah McHale (primary) & Dr. Anne Dorrance
- Internship: Aracadia Biosciences
Grants & Awards
- 2018 Third Place, Soy2018 Conference Graduate Student Poster Competition
- 2017 SEEDS: OARDC Research Enhancement Competitive Grants Program recipient
- 2016 Ohio Soybean Council Scholarship
- Tri-Societies, Second Place Poster (genetics and genomics)
- Horticulture and Crop Sciences, First Prize, Oral Presentation PhD
Publications
Rolling W, Lake R, Dorrance AE, McHale LK. Genome-wide association analyses of quantitative disease resistance in diverse sets of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] plant introductions. PLoS One. 2020;15(3):e0227710. Published 2020 Mar 20. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0227710
Schneider R, Rolling W, Song Q, Cregan P, Dorrance AE, McHale LK. Genome-wide association mapping of partial resistance to Phytophthora sojae in soybean plant introductions from the Republic of Korea. BMC Genomics. 17:607