Nandini Krishnamurthy brings a global perspective and strong expertise in agricultural biotechnology to her role at Corteva Agriscience in Johnston, Iowa.
Krishnamurthy grew up in southern India, then moved to College Station, Texas, to earn a PhD in plant genetics and cell biology from Texas A&M University. She experienced both the east and west coasts of the United States with postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in New York and the University of California at Berkeley.
After a brief time working in drug discovery at Genentech in South San Francisco, she and her spouse joined DuPont Pioneer and relocated to India to start a computational biology group at the company’s research location in Hyderabad, India. After seven years, they relocated to Johnston, Iowa, for both to take on new opportunities in Biotechnology Research & Development. Krishnamurthy also worked for several years at Inscripta, working remotely from Iowa for the Colorado-based startup, then joined Corteva Agriscience in her current role in August 2023.
1. What brought you to Iowa and why have you stayed?
We relocated from India to Johnston, Iowa, for work and are happy to have called Iowa home for the past nine years! We have had a wonderful time here thanks to the diverse career opportunities in agricultural biotechnology, good school systems and a great community.
2. What are your priorities in Corteva’s R&D Biotechnology group?
As Biotechnology Discovery Portfolio Leader at Corteva, my role includes two key aspects: developing strategic capabilities that are critical to build our future products through investments in cutting-edge technologies, and building external collaborations that leverage Corteva capabilities in gene editing to benefit partners in the value-chain and smallholder farmers.
Corteva has a long history of developing innovative and sustainable solutions to help growers maximize output from their land today and build a sustainable future for tomorrow. My role fits in this mission by accelerating adoption of technologies that will strengthen our product development pipeline.
3. How do advances in biotechnology help improve sustainability for farmers and the crops they produce?
Advances in biotechnology have enabled us to develop novel products that help protect crop yields against the devastating impact of insects, weeds and diseases. As we see the escalating impacts of climate change around the world, the urgency to develop resilient plant varieties is increasing.
In response to this challenge, Corteva has developed capabilities in cutting edge technologies such as gene editing that enable us to tap into the natural potential of the crop to make it more resilient and productive. A great example is our application of gene editing in partnership with CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center). We are working with CIMMYT to develop corn that is resistant to Maize Lethal Necrosis, a devastating disease for small-holder farmers in Africa. The technology enables us to develop a solution in about half the time compared to traditional approaches and is likely to improve productivity for over 20,000 small-holder farmers.
Increasing crop productivity and resilience enables growers to be more efficient and sustainable while producing food for their communities.
4. What advice do you have for someone considering a move or return to Iowa?
I see Des Moines as a great place to live and raise a family - clean air, safe neighborhoods, good schools and a wonderful sense of community. If you are from the tropics like me and not used to intense winters, you might want to make your first visit in summer but, believe me, you will eventually start appreciating the beauty of four seasons.
5. Please share three recommendations of things to do or places to go in Iowa.
Enjoy Des Moines! My favorites are the Des Moines Arts Festival and enjoying the surprisingly great diversity of cuisines in Des Moines. There are wonderful bike trails in several parts of Iowa. And the Iowa State Fair.
Published July 2024.