Laureen Blahut-Beatty joined the Parent lab in January 2026 as a research technician from the Ottawa Research and Development Centre at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She is investigating methods to generate tetraploid B. oleracea using chemical and traditional interploidy crosses to achieve the highest success for fertile plants, as well as studying expression of genes controlling demethylation which impact reproductive development. Laureen completed her BSc Hons in Biology and MSc in Plant Development and Molecular Biology from the University of Saskatchewan. She began her career at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon in 1999 working on genetic manipulation of condensed tannin synthesis in forage crops in Margie Gruber’s lab. She then moved to Isobel Parkin’s lab to identify and map RFLP and microsatellite markers related to glucosinolates in segregating B. napus populations. In 2005, Laureen joined Daina Simmonds’ lab at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre where she examined transgenic options for controlling Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (white mold) in soybean, some aspects of which she is still studying in her current lab.
Search for Laureen Blahut-Beatty's papers on the Research page