Q & A with Jonathan Berlingeri

We continue our in-depth team member interviews with another member of the pre-breeding and genomics team, Jonathan Berlingeri.

Please introduce yourself: who are you, where are you from, and what is your educational/professional background?
Hello, my name is Jonathan Berlingeri, but many people know me as Jonny. I grew up in Nyack, New York, a small town just a short drive from New York City. Despite living adjacent to one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, my family had a plot in a community garden, and one of my early work experiences was on a small organic vegetable farm.
I earned a BS from Cornell University, majoring in Agricultural Sciences. While at Cornell, I conducted research focused on breeding wheat with reduced anti-nutrient factors and on developing high-throughput UAV-based phenotyping pipelines for shrub willow biofuel crops. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Horticulture and Agronomy where I continue to focus on nutritional quality and additionally am studying abiotic stress tolerance and productivity traits. From my initial work on anti-nutrient factors in wheat to my current work with GEMINI, I have consistently gravitated toward projects that are focused on addressing nutritional security challenges.

What is your role within GEMINI?

Within GEMINI, I am part of the prebreeding and genomics subteam where I primarily serve as an analyst of genomic and field metadata. I also work as a data integrator, combining traits derived our 3D biophysical crop modeling and AI-enabled sensing subteams into genetic mapping and genomic prediction experiments. 
Additionally, I help design, facilitate, and oversee UC Davis-managed field trials for common bean, cowpea, and sorghum. My work also involves coordinating, overseeing, and occasionally conducting laboratory analyses to quantify nutritional quality traits. Recently, I’ve revisited some of my earlier work on anti-nutrients by performing phytate assays in our laboratory. Phytate is an anti-nutrient found in seed tissues and is a key target for this project due to its impact on reducing two other important traits: seed iron and zinc concentrations.

How did you end up working with GEMINI and what interests you most about this project?
My path to GEMINI started during my undergraduate studies when I first learned about my current major professor and prebreeding and genomics subteam lead, Christine Diepenbrock. I encountered Christine’s work on carotenoids in maize grain in a class taught by her former PhD advisor, Michael Gore.  During this class I formed a vision for what I wanted to study in graduate school, which was inspired by the idea that breeding for enhanced nutritional quality could serve as an intervention for public health issues such as micronutrient malnutrition. I have to say that I was personally surprised when I realized that I have effectively joined forces with what was perhaps one of my original inspirations for pursing a graduate degree focused on breeding for improved nutritional quality.

What excites me most about the GEMINI project is its focus on impactful research. From the beginning, it’s been clear that GEMINI is strategically designed to accelerate genetic gains in breeding programs across Sub-Saharan Africa and here in California. Contributing to research aimed at improving farmer livelihoods and nutritional security has been a true privilege and the fulfillment of a personal dream.

Is there anything particularly exciting you are working on now or in the near future that you would like to share?
I’m thrilled to share that I, along with many GEMINI team members and other collaborators, recently co-developed a review paper discussing the integration of crop modeling and sensing into molecular breeding. The paper was submitted to an AI-focused topical collection in Theoretical and Applied Genetics and is expected to be published in the coming months.
This combination of disciplines represents an area of significant interest and untapped potential for plant breeding. I’m eager to see the discussions and collaborations this paper may inspire once it’s published.

What do you like to do outside of work (personal hobbies and interests)?
I try to infuse a sense of adventure in life, which has led me to seek out activities that allow me to explore the natural landscape. Over the years, I’ve developed a passion for outdoor recreation, including white-water kayaking, snow sports, rock climbing, and backpacking. Each of these activities offers its own unique type of excitement—whether it's navigating the rush of rapids, scaling a rock face, or trekking through breathtaking landscapes.
I’m also drawn to bigger challenges —dare I say, expeditions. In the past year I’ve climbed Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, and Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. A few things are clear to me after these types of trips, 1) is that these experiences fuel my work and 2) is that adventure is about embracing curiosity and seeking out new experiences whether that be on a mountain top in a remote wilderness or in a familiar bean field.