Sue Gardiner

Susan Elizabeth Gardiner is a New Zealand horticultural scientist, who works on using genetics and genomics for fruit breeding. Gardiner has received multiple awards. Gardiner has been a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi since 2020 and is a Fellow of the International Society for Horticultural Science. She is an Honorary Fellow of Plant & Food Research.

Gardiner grew up on a family farm in Waiau, North Canterbury, and was homeschooled until the age of ten.^[1] She was later educated at St Margaret's College in Christchurch, and earned a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Otago.^[1][2] Her thesis, submitted in 1977, was titled Studies on the biochemical basis for the photoperiodic control of flowering.^[3]

Gardiner worked at Plant and Food Research from 1980 until her retirement in 1991.^[2] She founded the Mapping & Markers Team.^[2] Gardiner is known for her work using genetic markers to assist fruit breeding. She developed a high-throughput platform to create new varieties of apple and kiwifruit in a more precise way, so that growers could target specific qualities to advantage growers and consumers. For instance, by specifying desired colour, texture or pest resistance.^[4] Gardiner's research is credited with leading to New Zealand's status as an international leader in the breeding and genomics of apple and kiwifruit.^[4] In her retirement, Gardiner is an Honorary Fellow of Plant & Food Research and continues to work.^[1] Gardiner is involved in molecular genetics of Rhododendron for conservation purposes.^[4]

Gardiner won the Outstanding International Horticulturist Award of the American Society for Horticultural Science in 2009.^[2][5]

Gardiner received a Science New Zealand Plant & Food Research Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. She was a member of the PSA Response Team, that won the Prime Minister’s Science Prize in 2017.^[2]

Gardiner was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2020.^[4] Her new fellows seminar was titled "Better Cultivars Faster".^[6] She is also a Fellow of the International Society for Horticultural Science.^[4][2][7]

Scholia has a profile for Sue Gardiner (Q48013518).

• Riccardo Velasco; Andrey Zharkikh; Jason Affourtit; et al. (29 August 2010). "The genome of the domesticated apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.)". Nature Genetics. 42 (10): 833–839. doi:10.1038/NG.654. ISSN 1061-4036. PMID 20802477. Wikidata Q22122060.

• Richard Espley; Cyril Brendolise; David Chagné; et al. (16 January 2009). "Multiple repeats of a promoter segment causes transcription factor autoregulation in red apples". The Plant Cell. 21 (1): 168–183. doi:10.1105/TPC.108.059329. ISSN 1040-4651. PMC 2648084. PMID 19151225. Wikidata Q48071503.

• David Chagné; Ross N Crowhurst; Michela Troggio; et al. (2012). "Genome-wide SNP detection, validation, and development of an 8K SNP array for apple". PLOS One. 7 (2): e31745. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...731745C. doi:10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0031745. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3283661. PMID 22363718. Wikidata Q28731884.

• Vladimir Shulaev; Schuyler S Korban; Bryon Sosinski; et al. (16 May 2008). "Multiple models for Rosaceae genomics". Plant Physiology. 147 (3): 985–1003. doi:10.1104/PP.107.115618. ISSN 0032-0889. PMC 2442536. PMID 18487361. Wikidata Q33335642.