Candy Hirsch

Candy Hirsch
Interim Department Head, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Professor
She/Her/Hers
[email protected]
612-301-9522
518 Borlaug Hall
Hirsch Lab Website
Education

PhD - University of Wisconsin-Madison (2010)

Areas of Interest

Maize Genetics and Genomics 

Teaching

I teach a graduate level plant genomics course AGRO5431: Applied Plant Genomics and Bioinformatics. This course provides students with skills necessary to analyze, interpret, and visualize large plant genomic datasets. Students who take this course learn basic computer programming, applying large-scale genomics to answer basic and applied biological questions, understanding the limitations of each application, and presenting concise visual findings from large-scale datasets. This course involves lectures and computer lab activities in which students utilize publicly available bioinformatics datasets and resources and the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI) to analyze genomic data.

Research

The research in the Hirsch lab in centered on translational genomics in maize. Our research involves the integration of big data including high throughput genome and transcriptome sequencing, high throughput phenotyping, and extensive environmental measurements with the end goal of improving corn as a crop plant.

Select Publications

Della Coletta, R., S. Fernandes, P. Monnahan, M. Mikel, M. Bohn, A. Lipka, C. Hirsch. 2023. Importance of genetic architecture in marker selection decisions for genomic prediction. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 136:220.

Della Coletta, R., S. Liese, S. Fernandes, M. Mikel, M. Bohn, A. Lipka, C. Hirsch. 2023. Linking genetic and environmental factors through marker effect networks to understand trait plasticity. Genetics. 224(4):iyad103.

Sweet, D, S. Tirado, N. Springer, C.N. Hirsch, C.D. Hirsch. 2022. Opportunities and challenges in phenotyping row crops using drone-based RGB imaging. The Plant Phenome Journal. 5:e20044.

Burns, M., J. Renk, D. Eickholt, A. Gilbert, T. Hattery, M. Holmes, N. Anderson, A. Waters, S. Kalambur, S. Flint-Garcia, M. Yandeau-Nelson, G. Annor, C. Hirsch. 2021. Predicting moisture content during maize nixtamalization using machine learning with NIR spectroscopy. Theoretical and Applied Genetics (TAG). 

Della Coletta, R., Y. Qiu, S. Ou, M. Hufford, C. Hirsch. 2021. How the pan-genome is changing crop genomics and improvement. Genome Biology. 22(3):1-19.

Hufford, M., A. Seetharam, M. Woodhouse, K. Chougule, S. Ou, J. Liu, W. Ricci, T. Guo, A. Olson, Y. Qiu, R. Della Coletta, S. Tittes, A. Hudson, A. Marand, S. Wei, Z. Lu, B. Wang, M. Tello-Ruiz, R. Piri, N. Wang, D. Kim, Y. Zeng, C. O’Connor, X. Li, A. Gilbert, E. Baggs, K. Krasileva, J. Portwood II, E. Cannon, C. Andorf, N. Manchanda, S. Snodgrass, D. Hufnagel, Q. Jiang, S. Pedersen, M. Syring, D. Kudrna, V. Llaca, K. Fengler, R. Schmitz, J. Ross-Ibarra, J. Yu, J. Gent, C. Hirsch, D. Ware, R.K. Dawe. 2021. De novo assembly, annotation, and comparative analysis of 26 diverse maize genomes. Science. 373(6555):655-662.

Qiu, Y., C. O’Connor, R. Della Coletta, P. Monnahan, J. Noshay, A. Gilbert, S. Anderson, S. McGaugh, N. Springer, C. Hirsch. 2021. Whole genome variation of transposable element insertions in a maize diversity panel. Genes Genomes Genetics | G3.

Renk, J., A. Gilbert, T. Hattery, C. O’Connor, P. Monnahan, N. Anderson, A. Waters, D. Eickholt, S. Flint-Garcia, M. Yandeau-Nelson, C. Hirsch. 2021. Genetic architecture of kernel compositional variation in a maize diversity panel. The Plant Genome. e20115.

Tirado, S., C. Hirsch, N. Springer. 2020. UAV based imaging platform for monitoring maize growth throughout development. Plant Direct. DOI: 10.1002/pld3.230.

Ou, S., W. Su, Y. Liao, K. Chougule, J. Agda, A. Hellinga, C. Santiago, B. Lugo, T. Elliot, D. Ware, T. Peterson, N. Jiang**, C. Hirsch**, M. Hufford**. 2019. Benchmarking transposable element annotation methods for creation of a streamlined, comprehensive pipeline. Genome Biology. 20:275 **co-corresponding authors

Read more of Candy Hirsch's published research here.

Honors and Awards

  • Presidential Professorship in Plant Genomics and Excellence in Academic Unit Service, 2023
  • CFANS Distinguished Diversity and Inclusion Award
  • M. Rhoades Early-Career Award
  • CSSA Women Science Mentoring Award
  • McKnight Land-Grant Professorship
  • DuPont Young Professor Award