Biosketch

Michael D. Purugganan is Silver Professor in the Department of Biology and Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University (NYU), and is on the affiliated faculty of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and NYU Abu Dhabi. He obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of the Philippines, M.A. at Columbia and Ph.D. at the University of Georgia, and did his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California in San Diego. He served as the Dean of Science at NYU, as director of the NYU Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, both in New York and Abu Dhabi, and director of 19 Washington Square North. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, and was appointed a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College at the University of Oxford. He was also elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a corresponding member of the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines. Dr. Purugganan has been a trustee of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and served on the Biological Sciences Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation and as the US representative to the Council of Scientists of the Human Frontiers Science Program. Prior to joining the NYU faculty in 2006, he was the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Genetics at North Carolina State University.

Research Interests

Dr. Purugganan studies plant molecular evolution, with an emphasis on the domestication of crop species. Domesticated plant species are fascinating subjects for evolutionary study, since they are examples of species that have undergone diversification in their mutualistic interaction with humans. His group investigates the evolution of genes and genomes in domesticated species using tools of molecular genetics, systems biology and evolutionary genomics, providing insights into the processes and mechanisms that accompany the diversification on plant species during domestication events.

Membership Type

Member

Election Year

2024

Primary Section

Section 25: Plant Biology

Secondary Section

Section 62: Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences