Erica Bakker

Erica Bakker has over 19 years of work experience in the field of genetics and genomics. Erica began their career in 2001 as a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Chicago, where they set up lab automation for high throughput genotyping, developed an Arabidopsis diversity panel, and analyzed sequencing data of a large set of R genes. In 2006, they moved to Oregon State University as an Assistant Professor, where they set up a lab with next-gen sequencing infrastructure, trained technicians and students, and developed bioinformatics/genomics courses. In 2008, they became an Associate Director at Exelixis Plant Sciences. From 2010 to 2015, they worked as a Senior Research Scientist and Senior Research Specialist at Dow AgroSciences, where they were a project leader, coordinated experiments, developed diversity panels, and wrote C++ scripts. In 2018, they moved to Phoenix Bioinformatics Corporation as a Scientific Curator. Currently, they are a Senior Director of Gene Discovery and Director of Discovery Research at Phylos, where they are responsible for statistical analysis of cannabis and hemp field and greenhouse data, R shiny app development, development of a linkage map, QTL mapping, and association mapping.

Erica Bakker earned a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Plant Sciences from Wageningen University & Research in 2001 after completing a Bachelor of Science (BSc)/Master of Science (MSc) in Plant Breeding and Crop Protection from the same university between 1992 and 1997.