Professor Dr. Tim Sharbel is a leading expert in seed biology, currently teaching in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. His areas of research include apomixis (asexual seed formation), medicinal plants, evolutionary genomics, and plant reproduction. Tim was previously the Research Chair in Seed Biology with the Global Institute for Food Security (2015-2020) and is a member of the Science and Innovation Advisory Committee with Bioenterprise.
Tim’s academic and research pursuits have taken him on a 30-year journey around the world. With humble beginnings as a “frog lab technician,” he looks back on this journey with gratitude and pride and he credits his success to a series of synchronicities.
From Polytech to PhD
Tim enrolled in vocational school without a long-term goal in mind. His parents weren’t academics, and he had no big plans for this kind of future. He was a self-proclaimed average student with a gregarious personality and becoming a scientist was not on his radar. But fate intervened when he landed in the Green Lab at McGill University – “the frog lab.”
At that point, Tim was still unaware that studying amphibians was just the beginning of his story. An innate curiosity about nature fueled his enthusiasm to learn, while a compulsion to help others brought value to his team and strengthened his confidence. With hard work and an energetic, positive mindset, Tim completed his master’s degree in 1995.
Without pause, Tim transitioned straight to a Max Planck Institute in Germany. He says this was “a wonderful experience – these institutes are absolutely incredible. It’s like heaven to be a scientist there!”
Thoroughly enjoying the ride, Tim followed the signs leading him forward. He met the right mentors at the right time, completed his PhD in Biology at the Ludwig Maximilian University, then soon discovered apomixis, or asexual seed production in plants. This was his aha moment. Tim suddenly realized the importance of his work. He remembers thinking, “Apomixis – what’s that? People need this!”
Energized, Tim says, “I began applying my evolutionary thought on the origins of sex to a technology which could totally change the way we breed plants.” His work gained attention and in 2015 Tim received a grant to bring his research group from Germany to Saskatchewan with $10 million of funding.
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