I am a post-doctoratal researcher from the United States of America working under a three-year contract in the research project EGON – Development of organically bred fruit varieties in commons-based initiatives. My research involves investigating the relatedness between apple cultivars and using that information to aid in cultivar development and to investigate genetic aspects of the cultivars used in the Apfel:gut breeding program, which is a practical application partner of the EGON project involved in the ecological breeding of apple and pear cultivars.

In addition to this role, I am also involved in a large collaborative project to identify pedigree and genetic relatedness between the world’s most culturally, economically, and historically important apple cultivars for breeding purposes, to benefit germplasm collections, to help answer various genetic questions, and to provide historical information about apple cultivars.

• Howard NP, van de Weg E, Tillman J, Tong CB, Silverstein KA, Luby JJ. Two QTL characterized for soft scald and soggy breakdown in apple (Malus × domestica) through pedigree-based analysis of a large population of interconnected families. Tree Genetics & Genomes. 2018 Feb 1;14(1):2.
• Xu Y, Ma Y, Howard NP, Chen C, Tong CB, Celio G, DeEll JR, Moran RE. Microstructure of Soft Scald in ‘Honeycrisp’ Apples. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 2017 Nov 1;142(6):464-9.
• Howard, N. P., Van de Weg, E., Bedford, D. S., Peace, C. P., Vanderzande, S., Clark, M. D., Teh, S. L., Cai, L., Luby, J. J. (2017). Elucidation of the ‘Honeycrisp’ pedigree through haplotype analysis with a multi-family integrated SNP linkage map and a large apple (Malus × domestica) pedigree-connected SNP data set. Horticulture Research, 4, 17003.
• Howard, N. P., Stimart, D., De Leon, N., Havey, M. J., & Martin, W. (2012). Diallel analysis of floral longevity in Impatiens walleriana. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 137(1), 47-50.