Published in Probe Volume 5(2): April-June 1995
Steven D. Tanksley's recent election to the National Academy of Sciences (see related story in this issue) caps a career studded with activity and achievement.
Tanksley is the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Breeding at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, a position he has held since last year. He also is principal investigator for the Solgenes database, which contains mapping and related information for the Solanaceae - tomato, potato, eggplant, and bell pepper.
In 1993, Tanksley was among a team of Cornell scientists who successfully cloned the first gene for disease resistance in tomato, using a technique known as map-based cloning developed for the Human Genome Project. This research opened the possibility of cloning similar resistance genes in other plant species.
Tanksley joined Cornell's faculty in 1985 as an associate professor, and became a professor of plant breeding in 1991. Before coming to Cornell, he was an assistant professor at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, since 1981. In 1979, he was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California-Davis, where he earned his doctorate in genetics.
Tanksley earned his bachelor's degree in agronomy from Colorado State University in 1976. He is a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.