Dr. Irfan Afzal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. He is in the Bradford lab from October 2007 through July 2008 as a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Afzal's interests are in seed priming and salinity tolerance.
Pedro Bello has a BS degree in Systems Analysis from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas in Brazil. He is working as a Junior Specialist on a project using a new instrument (Q2 from Astec) to measure respiration rates from individual seeds in relation to their vigor and quality. This project is funded by a grant from the American Seed Trade Association Permanent Vegetable and Flower Seed Research Fund.
Dr. Peetambar Dahal is a Staff Research Associate who has worked in this capacity in the Bradford lab since 1993. He is in charge of managing the lab and conducts research on a wide range of topics related to seed biology and quality. Currently, he is measuring expression of a number of hormone-related genes in lettuce seeds in relation to seed dormancy.
Andres Schwember is a PhD candidate in the Plant Biology Graduate Group at UC Davis. Originally from Chile, he also worked in the seed industry in Brazil before coming to UC Davis to first do a MS degree and subsequently is pursuing a PhD. His research is focused on the effects of seed priming on the storability and longevity of lettuce seeds. He is pursuing a number of genetic and physiological approaches to understand why seed priming sometimes reduces seed storage life. His project is funded by the Western Regional Seed Physiology Research Group.
