Tim Paape, Ph.D.
Tim Paape, Ph.D., is a Research Geneticist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service based in College Station, Texas, where he leads research on plant genetics, crop biofortification, genomics, and environmental stress responses. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California San Diego. Prior to joining USDA-ARS in 2023, Dr. Paape held research and leadership roles at Brookhaven National Laboratory while working on the Department of Energy funded Science Focus Area project, The Quantitative Plant Science Initiative. He previously worked at the University of Zurich, where he was a senior postdoctoral researcher and recipient of a Marie Curie Fellowship. His work integrates analytical chemistry to quantify metabolites and micronutrients in crops along with genomics (“multi-omics”) such as transcriptomics, coexpression network analysis, and genome wide association studies. These studies seek to characterize the genetic basis of flavonoid based metabolites such anthocyanin accumulation which have antioxidant properties, and also micronutrient accumulation (such as calcium, iron and zinc) in grains, tree nuts, fruits, and leafy greens. He is directly employed with the USDA-ARS Responsive Agriculture Food Systems Research Unit (RAFSRU) located on the Texas A&M College Station campus, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. The research unit works in collaboration with the Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture, and is collocated in the Norman E. Borlaug Building.
Research Programs and Projects:
- Improving Nutrition and Health Through Responsive Agricultural and Environmental Approaches
- Benefits to Human Health, Genomics, and Metabolism of High Antioxidant Corn (Hi-A Corn)
- Enhancing the Health Benefits of Purple Rice Rich in Anthocyanins Using Traditional Breeding and Multi-omics Techniques
- Understanding Metabolic, Genetic, and Post-Harvest Drivers of Pecan Nutrition for Improved Human Health