Kelly Swarts

Kelly Swarts is a researcher at the Gregor Mendel Institute (GMI), focusing on understanding the biological basis of climate adaptation in conifers and maize. Her work integrates quantitative genetics, computational biology, and population genetics to predict genetic resilience in forests facing rapid climate change.

Research Interests: Her research explores how long-lived conifers with slow generation times adapt to accelerated climate shifts, combining genomic analysis with ecological modeling. She also investigates ancient maize adaptation to temperate climates, leveraging large-scale genotyping and imputation techniques.

Publications: Her recent work includes studies on flowering-time adaptation in maize, rare-allele burdens in maize fitness, and methods for optimizing genotypic imputation in crops. These reflect her expertise in genomics-driven climate resilience research.

Lab Affiliation: She leads a research group at GMI, collaborating on tree-ring genomics and plant models to address adaptation challenges.