Johanna Osterman is a promising early-career researcher who began working as a plant breeder at Lantmännen while completing her PhD at the Department of Plant Breeding, SLU Alnarp. Her work focuses on applying genomic selection in forage species, and she proudly says that it is the data science side, not the lab work, that truly excites her. Curious to know more? Read the interview below!
What is currently at the top of your research agenda?
My work focuses on implementing genomic selection models in forage species, specifically Red clover and Timothy grass. It concerns everything from finding the perfect genomic prediction model, selecting the most informative markers and creating speed breeding protocols. This is quite a lot, but I do not work alone. Through the SLU Grogrund projects genomic selection in Red clover and a similar project in Timothy, we have results on the genetic resources available in Scandinavia and how to predict breeding values based on our target traits. With the recently started Grogrund project BreedForage, we will design speed breeding protocols for forage species as well as address species-specific challenges such as estimation of dominance in red clover and forage quality in timothy. At Lantmännen, I then design data workflows and analytic pipelines based on the research results. All to elevate forage breeding.
Tell us about your latest publication.
My latest publication was published in late 2024, it was a paper based on my PhD thesis. We looked at how to best design genomic prediction models for multiple traits, in red clover, forage quality and biomass yield are important traits. Furthermore, red clover is harvested multiple times per season for multiple years, thus, we also want to consider the changes in the traits over time. What we found was that if we used traits with a genetic correlation of +- 0.5 or stronger, we improved our predictions. However, we noticed some discrepancies in our results, which could be an effect of dominance deviations. This is what we will further study in BreedForage.
What led you to your particular field of research?
I have always been passionate about biology and sustainability. At first, I thought about a career in biotechnology, but I quickly realised that the data science part was much more fun than the lab work. So, when I could apply for a PhD in red clover, I was super excited. The challenges a forage species presents were really intriguing for me and still are!
What are the implications of your research for society?
My goal is to implement the research from the ground project I partake in. So maybe my research does not have a large implication on society, but I hope to help my collaborators have their research make an impact. With the changing climate, restrictions on irrigation, and changing regulations regarding pesticide usage, effective breeding has become an increasingly important issue. To enhance breeding, we not only need great science but also swift applications of the science in industry.
Finally, let´s say you have unlimited research funds; where would your research be five years from now?
As the data nerd I am, I would want to create a similar network as NBIS, but with plants in focus and beyond bioinformatics. With databases for results, courses for both academia and industry and an open-source library for novel applications. The goal would be that in Scandinavia, we work with data and code in a collective manner. Where industry can easily apply novel results, and academia can have a better understanding of what research questions have the greatest impact and what novel questions arise.
Picture by: Edit Jonsson, Lantmännen