Institute Highlights

Incoming Students for Spring, 2024

• Chloe Delacerna
• Anita Giabardo
• Jackline Litunya
• Khyathi Madduru
• Saptarshi Mondal
• Sindoora Nalajala
• Gurjot Sidhu
• Samantha Wan

Incoming Students for Fall, 2024

• Achyut Duwadi
• Tanner Hamerling
• Rose Muruo
• Zack Myers
• Tosin Olorunwo
• Anne Collart Pavia
• Pallavi Rathore
• Leah Tomey

Boerma Plant Breeding for Excellence Lecture Series

On September 13, 2024 the PBGG faculty and students gathered on the Tifton campus for the 3rd annual Boerma Plant Breeding for Excellence Lecture Series.

The 2024 lecture was presented by Dr. Philipp Simon, USDA-ARS VCRU Research Leader and Professor of Horticulture at UW-Madison. It was our honor to welcome Dr. Simon, who is a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science and has been awarded the National Association of Plant Breeders Lifetime Achievement Award, to the UGA-Tifton campus. 

It was a great opportunity for students to meet and talk with such an impactful plant breeder and scientific leader, particularly since the talk was followed by a dinner/mixer at Tifton’s Black Shank Pavilion.

This lecture is held to honor the legacy of Dr. Roger Boerma. The Boerma Lecture not only allows us to meet and hear from such amazing researchers, but also provides the student-led organizing committee with a leadership opportunity in planning this event.  We are looking forward to the next Boerma Lecture, which will be held in Athens in January 2025!

The annual Boerma Lecture is made possible by the Cindy and H. Roger Boerma Academic Support endowment fund.

IPBGG Annual Retreats have become much-anticipated events that are indispensable to maintain our identity across our three campuses, build new relationships, brainstorm research ideas, network with faculty and industry personnel from out of state, and give graduate students and postdocs experience in event planning and in presenting their research.

The 2024 Annual Retreat was hosted by the IPBGG members of the Athens Campus, and was held at Lake Chatuge in north Georgia. The lake-side setting provided the ideal atmosphere in which to de-stress, and promote interactions and team-building activities.   

Invited speakers were Mike Nuccio (Inari), Siela Maximova and Mark Guiltinan (PennState), and Joyce van Eck (Boyce Thompson Institute).

Dr. Peggy Ozias-Akins gave a research update on her apomixis work. Retiring faculty member, Dr Paul Raymer, recalled his career and accomplishments at UGA and provided advice for students and younger faculty, for which he received a standing ovation, followed by cake for all.

Our 2024 John Ingle Innovation in Plant Breeding Awardees -- Stephanie Botton, Nathaniel Burner, and Yongjun Yue – presented the research they had done with the funding. This fund was established to promote grantsmanship and entrepreneurial skills among the Institute students.

Retreat Poster Competition

A key feature of the retreat is the traditional poster competition for Institute graduate students and postdocs.

2024 Poster Competition Winners

• MS section
  • 1^st - Rachel Rackers: Understanding the role of miRNAs in AMF symbiosis to increase sorghum biofuel production
  • 2^nd - Sydney Webb: Breeding for improved disease resistance in Arachis hypogaea: A focus on Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
• PhD section
  
  • 1^st - Qian Feng: Identification and Characterization of an E8 Paralog in Flavor Aroma Volatile Production in Tomato Fruits
  • 2^nd - Anne Frances Jarrell: Mining the wild species Solanum microdontum for the improvement of cultivated potato
  • 3^rd - Anita Giabardo: The High-Resolution Transcriptional Landscape of Xylan Biosynthesis: Insights from Single Cell RNA-seq
• Staff/Postdoc section
  
  • 1^st - Dan Laspisa: Genetic Determinants of Aerial Root Formation in Maize: Prospects for Harnessing Biological Nitrogen Fixation
  • 2^nd - Jianxin Zhao: single amino acid variant in a knotted-1 transcription factor modulates S/G lignin ratios in switchgrass