Mirko Celii is a Research Specialist at the Plant Breeding and Genetics Lab at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, led by Prof. Jesse Poland. My work focuses on plant genomics, with a particular emphasis on the date palm.His current research centers on genome assembly, population genetics, and sex determination.

At KAUST, he also collaborated with Prof. Rod Wing, working on the genomics of date palm and other native Saudi Arabian species and generated an updated gap-free, telomere-to-telomere genome assembly for date palm (variety Ajwa), along with over 20 high-quality date palm genomes. Additionally, I have been involved in generating high-quality genome assemblies for several native species, including Salvadora persica (Arak), Ziziphus spina-christi (Sedr), Coffea arabica (Kahwlani variety), and Primula boveana (Sinai primrose), as well as other palm species such as Phoenix caespitosa and Hyphaene thebaica.