Tally is leading a group in quantitative genetics within the pre-breeding department at NIAB. The group explores statistical genetics, experimental design, and diverse methods of data analysis. Tally works across a range of ongoing research projects in Cambridge Crop Research division and is involved in the analysis and design of a number of diverse and important NIAB wheat collections.
Before his current position, Tally worked as a postdoctoral researcher exploring genetic data analysis in the NIAB Genetics and Breeding group. In this role he was responsible for contributing to ongoing projects that generated large genetic data sets for gene discovery (e.g. QTL mapping, especially in multi-founder populations, GWAS), screening of genetic resources, crop genomics, and genomic selection. Tally also has a background in crop physiology, which was the focus of his PhD obtained from the University of Cambridge in 2018. He studied under a funded BBSRC PhD studentship built around the theme of ‘Agriculture and Food Security’. Tally’s studentship was based at NIAB, where he examined photosynthetic diversity in wild wheat species and how this diversity can be harnessed to improve modern wheat. His efforts were recognised in 2018 when he was awarded the PhD MonoGram Early Career Excellence Award.
Publications
Leigh, FJ, Wright, TIC, Horsnell, RA, Dyer, S, & Bentley, AR (2022). Progenitor species hold untapped diversity for potential climate-responsive traits for use in wheat breeding and crop improvement. Heredity, 128(5), 291–303.
Wright, TIC, Gardner, KA, Glahn, RP., & Milner, MJ (2021). Genetic control of iron bioavailability is independent from iron concentration in a diverse winter wheat mapping population. BMC Plant Biology, 21(1), 212.
Wright TIC, Burnett AC, Griffiths H, Kadner M, Powell JS, Oliveira HR, Leigh FJ (2020). Identification of quantitative trait loci relating to flowering time, flag leaf and awn characteristics in a novel Triticum dicoccum mapping population. Plants 9:829.
Mellers G, Aguilera JG, Bird N, Variani Bonato AL, Bonow S, Caierão E, Consoli L, Santana FM, Simmonds J, Steed A, Montan Torres GA, Uauy C, Wright TIC, Scheeren PL, Nicholson P, Cockram J (2020). Genetic characterisation of a wheat association mapping panel relevant to Brazilian breeding using a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism array. G3 (Bethesda) 10:2229–2239.
Wright, TIC (2019). Capturing photosynthetic traits from the progenitors of wheat (Doctoral thesis).