Dr Jean Finnegan, researching flowering processes.

Dr Jean Finnegan: understanding flowering

Dr Jean Finnegan researches flowering processes and epigenetics.

• 28 March 2006 | Updated 10 February 2012

Overview

• Current activities 
• Background
• Academic qualifications

Dr Jean Finnegan is Sub Program Leader of  the Control of Floral Initiation program at CSIRO Plant Industry.

Current activities

Dr Finnegan leads research into the control of the initiation of flowering and the role of epigenetic regulation in plant development.

The current focus of her work is to understand the molecular basis for the epigenetic regulation of the vernalization response in plants, that is, the subjection of seeds or seedlings to low temperature in order to hasten plant development and flowering.

Dr Finnegan and her colleagues have made a major contribution to understanding the mechanisms contributing to the down-regulation of flowering locus C (FLC) in vernalized plants.

Background 

Dr Finnegan began her work on the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation in 1992 when she isolated the first plant gene encoding a DNA methyltransferase (METI).

She generated plants with reduced levels of DNA methylation using an antisense against METI, and determined the molecular basis for the abnormal phenotypes displayed by plants with reduced levels of methylation.

Academic qualifications 

Dr Finnegan holds the following qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science (Hons), The University of Adelaide, South Australia 
• Doctor of Philosophy also from The University of Adelaide.

See a list of scientific papers published by Dr Finnegan on the next page.