Andriy Bilichak

Research Scientist

I am leading a program on cereal biotechnology and functional genomics. The focus of the program is adoption of genome editing (CRISPR/Cas) and/or transient manipulation of gene expression methods to increase performance and output of small grain cereals (wheat, triticale, barley, etc.) in timely and cost-efficient manner.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Morden, Manitoba

Current research and/or projects

  • Development of non transgenic genome editing methods to improve yield and stress tolerance in small grain cereals.
  • Bioinformatic mining of transcriptional factors related to “green revolution” in wheat genome.
  • Improvement of spring wheat transformation efficiency for functional genomics studies.

Education and awards

07/2013     Doctoral degree in Biomolecular Science/Plant Biotechnology from the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada

07/2008     B.Sc. (biology) with Great Distinctions, National Precarpathian University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

05/2012     Alberta Innovates Technology Features Graduate Student Scholarship

Key publications

  1. Dinushika Thambugala, Colin Hiebert, Brent McCallum, Mallorie Lewarne, Andriy Bilichak, Curtis Pozniak, Guus Bakkeren, Harmeet Singh Chawla, Curt McCartney (2023) Fine mapping of the wheat leaf rust resistance gene Lr2a. International Plant and Animal Genome Conference, January 13-18, 2023, San Diego

    2023 - View publication details

  2. Bilichak, A., & Laurie, J. D. (2022). Accelerated breeding of cereal crops. Humana Press.

    2022 - View publication details

  3. Harvey C, Araujo GT, Frick M, Laroche A, Laurie JD, Graf RJ, Bilichak A. A genetic approach to improve wheat resilience to emerging stripe rust isolates using novel R gene sequences from Thinopyrum intermedium. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting (Virtual) of the Plant Pathology Society of Alberta, Edmonton, AB 2021/11/04 - 2020/11/05. Oral presentation T1.

    2021 - View publication details

  4. Bilichak, A. and N.S. Yadav, Chapter 12 - Plant genome stability—General mechanisms, in Genome Stability (Second Edition), I. Kovalchuk and O. Kovalchuk, Editors. 2021, Academic Press: Boston. p. 201-222.

    2021 - View publication details

  5. Bilichak, A., Chapter 13 - Genetic engineering in plants using CRISPRs, in Genome Stability (Second Edition), I. Kovalchuk and O. Kovalchuk, Editors. 2021, Academic Press: Boston. p. 223-233.

    2021 - View publication details

  6. Bilichak, A., et al., Delivery of Cas9/sgRNA RNP into Wheat Microspores Using Synthetic CPP for Genome Editing and Gene Expression Modulation, in CRISPR-Cas Methods, M.T. Islam, P.K. Bhowmik, and K.A. Molla, Editors. 2020, Springer US: New York, NY. p. 191-202.

    2020 - View publication details

  7. Bilichak, A., D. Gaudet, and J. Laurie, Emerging Genome Engineering Tools in Crop Research and Breeding, in Cereal Genomics: Methods and Protocols, L.M. Vaschetto, Editor. 2020, Springer US: New York, NY. p. 165-181.

    2019 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Morden Research and Development Centre
Route 100, Unit 100-101
Morden, MB R6M 1Y5
Canada

Expertise

Agriculture›Biotechnology
Plant›Plant cell technologies
Technology›Biotechnology/genomics

Affiliations

  • The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Associate member of the School of Graduate Studies
  • Member of the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology
  • Member of the Canadian Society of Plant Biologists

Language

English

Other languages

Ukrainian