b'Cathy BreadnerAge: 66Location: OntarioKnown for: Inspiring others to become seed analystsBreadner worked in the seed testing business for more than four decades as a senior analyst and seed lab auditor and was heavily involved with the Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada and served as national presi-dent. She was one of the first analysts to start an independent seed testing lab called Canadian Seed Lab, notes Sarah Foster, president of 20/20 Seed Labs. Cathy was very influential and inspiring, bringing seed testing to the forefront of industry leaders and government. Cathy has always been a true mentor and gave selflessly of her time, Foster says.Breadner says being a seed analyst takes a lot of patience and a lot of time, which likely helped her learn to be a good mentor. Seed analysis is not in a book. You work with a lot of seeds and a lot of samples. You need someone with you to help you describe them and explain them, and then you make your own collection. That becomes a reference for your lifes work, she says. Ive had people call and say, Can you send me the seed analyst book? Im thinking about being a seed analyst myself. Theres just no such thing. It takes about three years of on-the-job training to become an analyst and you need a good teacher.Daniel PerryAge: 61|Location: ManitobaKnown for: Helping usher in a quiet revolution of DNA-based seed testingDaniel Perry, now retired from the Canadian Grain Commission as program manager for variety identification research and monitoring, worked at the fore-front of a quiet revolution bringing DNA-based testing into accepted routine use.Tasked with the practical necessities of maintaining Canadas class-based grain quality system, his working principle that variety gives class meant that the same tools used in molecular breeding to create new varieties needed to be used in recognizing them after commercial release. He developed a database of DNA fingerprints using microsatellite markers able to distinguish among historical and registered wheat and barley varieties. This classic marker size differentiation methodology has continued to work through the lifting of kernel visual distinguishability requirements, re-organiza-tion of the wheat classes, and new variety registrations. Perry also re-created his VID database using single nucleotide polymor-phism markers to work on newer OpenArray and dPCR technologies. The latter approach has been a key tool enabling bulk seed analysis of varietal blends, says Kim Kenward, R&D manager for 20/20 Seed Labs.Daniel set a model for reputable quality DNA-based testing on a routine basis. He passed his methodology on through scientific publication, work-shops, and even one-to-one interactions in his lab. Its application in commer-cial testing improves quality throughout the industry, Kenward notes.Perrys advice to others in the space? Have fun in your work.I didnt really look at my job as work. It was fun. I loved explaining to people the practical application of genetics, he says. SEPTEMBER 2022GERMINATION.CA 15'