Management

Neil Kenneth Howes

email: nhowes triticarte.com.au

A Manager of Triticarte and Diagnostics Program Manager for Value Added Wheat CRC Ltd, Neil is experienced in managing research programs and commercialising technology. As part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s cultivar development team, Neil participated in the breeding of new wheat cultivars, by developing early generation screening tests for polyphenol oxidase, gliadin and glutenin electrophoresis methods and antibody screening. He co-managed the development of a wheat doubled haploid (DH) production system generating more than 12,000 DH lines per year for Canadian wheat breeding programs. This work was recognised by an AAFC award, and has resulted in the release of a number of DH wheat varieties, including AC Superb and AC Snowbird (the first sprout-tolerant white wheat in Canada). Since 1997, Neil has created and manages a commercial doubled haploid service for seven Australian wheat breeding or germplasm development organisations, producing 10,000 DH lines per year on a commercial fee for service basis. Neil has published 48 refereed journal papers, 2 book chapters and 45 conference papers and proceedings.


Present Post	Associate Professor, University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute, PMB 11 Cobbitty, NSW 2570, Australia.
	Also Diagnostics Program Manager for Value Added Wheat CRC Ltd since 2001, Neil's research interests are in applying biotechnology to wheat breeding: wheat doubled haploids, genetics, molecular markers, antibody based diagnostics, and small scale quality and disease testing methods. Neil teaches undergraduate Molecular Plant Breeding at the University of Sydney and is co-superviser of a number of PhD students.
1996-2003	Senior Research Scientist, Wheat Biotechnology/SARDI
	1998-1999: Program Leader, Abiotic Stress, CRC Molecular Plant Breeding
1978-1996	Research Scientist, Cereal Biotechnology, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Adjunct Professor, University of Manitoba.
	1993: Executive, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Wheat Cultivar Development Network
	1988-1989: Chairperson, American Association of Cereal Chemists, Prairie Section 14.
1976-1978	Research Associate, University of Tennessee, Memorial Research Hospital, Knoxville, USA
1975-1976	Research Fellowship, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
1972	National Research Council of Canada, Postdoctoral Fellowship
1969-1972	PhD University of Queensland (Joint Botany/Biochemistry)