Marianela Rodriguez Carres

She is an R&D, plant science, and agricultural innovation leader with extensive experience in seeds, traits, pest and disease strategy, genomics, and scientific collaboration. She has spent more than 14 years at BASF, currently serving as R&D Director for Seeds & Traits after roles in strategic marketing, innovation scouting, collaboration management, and plant sciences research. Her background also includes advisory work with North Carolina State University’s Center for Integrated Fungal Research and research roles at Duke University, North Carolina State University, and Duke University Medical Center focused on microbial genomics, plant pathogens, and fungal genetics.