Our research group currently consists of one faculty member, three staff and four graduate students, focusing primarily on understanding the genetic architecture underlying maize inflorescence, carotenoid biosynthesis, and agronomic performance. Research activities include genotyping, QTL mapping, association analysis, genome-wide association studies, HPLC, field phenotyping, and molecular characterization of novel genes and gene regions.

Current research projects that members of the Rocheford lab are involved in include:

I. The Maize Carotenoid project

II. The Inflorescence project

III. The ex-PVP Material project

Click here or on the links at the right to learn more about our latest research, people in the lab and job opportunities.

Funding for research activities in the Rocheford lab is provided in part by

• The Partnership for Research and Education in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Purdue University: USDA NIFA, Purdue University, DOW Agrosciences 
• The NSF Plant Genome Research Program Grant DBI-0604923 Genetic Regulation of Maize Inflorescence Architecture
• HarvestPlus (Gates/USAID) and the National Science Foundation