Jon Turkus

Jon Turkus

Lab Manager

Jonathan Turkus is a High-Throughput Molecular Biology Technician and the Research Manager for the Schnable Lab at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL). He holds a B.S. in Biology from Hope College and an M.S. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology from the Michigan State University, where he work on wheat breeding and genetics. At the Schnable Lab, Jonathan plays a key role in high-throughput phenotyping efforts, including a nationwide gene-function initiative funded by ARPA-E. In 2024, he developed a sampling protocol that enabled the collection of 2,400 tissue samples in under two hours using a custom spill-proof tray system. He also manages multi-location field experiments and uses tools like Trello and Microsoft To-Do to streamline logistics. His work advances efficient data collection and supports cutting-edge research in crop genetics.

In the News

  • JonTurkus Wins the 2025 Outstanding Employee Award

    Our exceptional lab manager Jonathan Turkus named the 2025 Outstanding Employee. Jon’s determination and creativity have made just a big impact not only on our lab, but on groups across the country over the past five years. Congratulations, Jon!

  • ARPA-E Summit representation

    Jon Turkus and Chidu Ullagaddi highlighted the lab’s ARPA-E project at the 2025 ARPA-E Summit in Washington, DC.

Recent Publications

  • Creach M, Webster B, Newton L, Turkus J, Schnable JC, Thompson AM, VanBuren R (2025) Predicting complex phenotypes using multi-omics data in maize. bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2025.09.30.679283 Preprint
  • Zaremehrjerdi H, Coffey L, Jubery T, Liu H, Turkus J, Linders K, Schnable JC, Schnable PS, Ganapathysubramanian B (2025) MaizeEar-SAM: Zero-shot maize ear phenotyping. arXiv doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2502.13399 Preprint
  • Mathivanan RK, Pedersen C, Turkus J, Shrestha N, Ali W, Torres-Rodriguez JV, Mural RV, Obata T, Schnable JC (2025) Transcripts and genomic intervals associated with variation in metabolite abundance in maize leaves under field conditions. BMC Genomics doi: 10.1186/s12864-025-11580-3 bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2024.08.26.609532
  • Davis JM, Coffey LM, Turkus J, López-Corona L, Linders K, Ullagaddi C, Santra DK, Schnable PS, Schnable JC (2025) Assessing the impact of yield plasticity on hybrid performance in maize. Physiologia Plantarum doi: 10.1111/ppl.70278 bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2025.01.21.634104
  • Shrestha N, Powadi A, Davis J, Ayanlade TT, Liu H, Tross MC, Mathivanan RK, Bares J, Lopez-Corona L, Turkus J, Coffey L, Tubery TZ, Ge Y, Sarkar S, Schnable JC, Ganapathysubramanian B, Schnable PS (2025) Plot-level satellite imagery can substitute for UAVs in assessing maize phenotypes across multistate field trials. Plants Planet People doi: 10.1002/ppp3.10613 agriRxiv doi: 10.31220/agriRxiv.2024.00251
  • Mangal H, Linders K, Turkus J, Shrestha N, Long B, Kuang X, Cebert E, Torres-Rodriguez JV, Schnable JC (2025) Genes and pathways determining flowering time variation in temperate adapted sorghum. The Plant Journal doi: 10.1111/tpj.70250 bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2024.12.12.628249
  • Torres-Rodriguez JV, Li D, Turkus J, Newton L, Davis J, Lopez-Corona L, Ali W, Sun G, Mural RV, Grzybowski M, Zamft B, Thompson AM, Schnable JC (2024) Population level gene expression can repeatedly link genes to functions in maize. The Plant Journal doi: 10.1101/2023.10.31.565032 bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2023.10.31.565032
  • Grzybowski M, Mural RV, Xu G, Turkus J, Yang J, Schnable JC (2023) A common resequencing-based genetic marker dataset for global maize diversity. The Plant Journal doi: 10.1111/tpj.16123
  • Sun G, Mural RV, Turkus JD, Schnable JC (2021) Quantitative resistance loci to southern rust mapped in a temperate maize diversity panel. Phytopathology doi: 10.1101/2021.04.02.438220 bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2021.04.02.438220