Ryan Benke

ryan.benke@wsu.edu

Ryan Benke is a postdoctoral research associate in the USDA, Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research Unit at Pullman, WA. He started in the spring of 2023 and is working on characterizing the impact of climate on wheat performance. He earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology from The University of Jamestown (formerly Jamestown College) in Jamestown, ND. He completed his Ph.D. from Purdue University in Biochemistry in December of 2022. For his dissertation, he characterized genetic and metabolomic factors that modify the plant hypersensitive response and maize lesion mimic mutants. Outside of lab, he enjoys cooking, running, and movies.