Agave Genetics with Fabio Raya

When I first read Fabio's profile I was rather suspicious. A genetist in the agave realm? Isn't it the point to just leave agave alone to be glorious and genetically diverse? Well, turns out that Fabio does a significant number of great ideas to continue the centuries-old-interaction between agave and humans.

Here is Fabio's profile on his own words. You can find him in LinkedIn as Fabio Raya: I’m BA in Biotechnology (UFSCar at Araras) and MSc. in Genetics and Molecular Biology (Unicamp). I’ve worked with Next-Generation Sequencing at the Integrated Genomics Cores (HTSF - UNC at Chapel Hill), one of the largest sequencing facilities in the US. In 2017, I’ve founded ECRA Biotech, a synthetic biology start-up that develops and manufacture kits for diagnostics and genetic engineering. There, I’ve worked on the development of more than 15 biotechnological products for research and molecular diagnostics, including RNA/DNA extraction kits, DNA polymerases, reverse transcriptases, and other specialties enzymes.At Unicamp, I’m a Ph.D. candidate, also in Genetics and Molecular Biology, and the curator of the "Germplasm Bank for Climate Change". My research work focuses on Agave, plant biotechnology, plant breeding, bioeconomy, and biorenewables production in semiarid regions.