Maize genetics & genomics, transposable elements, seed development

Dr. Rajeev Arora's research is focused on plant hardiness, with crop hardiness in winter being his main focus.

Dr. Diane Bassham's research interests focus on understanding the biogenesis and functions of the plant vacuole.

Dr. Thomas Baum's research focuses on the compatible interaction between cyst nematodes and their hosts. Dr. Baum's is particularly interested in characterizing the changes in soybean and nematode gene expression during the different phases of parasitism.

Dr. Madan Bhattacharyya teaches the Plant Genetics course (Agron 527) for graduate students. His main focus of research is soybean sudden death syndrome, though he is also interested in other plant-pathogen interactions.

Dr. Nick Christians' area of research interest is in the development of naturally-occurring herbicides for the turf industry. He also conducts research on reducing the pesticide and fertilizer input for the management of quality turf in the golf, lawn-care, and sports-turf industries.

Dr. Shui-zhang Fei's research is mainly focused on crop hardiness, such as stress responses of crops and the impact of cold weather on crops.

Arabidopsis Genetics, Receptor kinase, Transcriptional Regulation

Dr. Matthew Hufford's research involves the adaptation of crops to various climates. Dr. Hufford is interested in examining adaptations of domesticated crops as compared to their wild relatives.

Our lab studies auxin regulated plant growth and development in maize and Arabidopsis using genetic and genomic approaches.

Mass Spectrometry

Molecular bases of plant-insect interactions
Plant RNA biology

Plant Viruses

Plant Functional Genomics

Biosynthesis and physiological functions of plant natural products, particularly labdane-related diterpenoids, including gibberellin phytohormones

Genetics, Phenomics, Bioinformics

Research Geneticist

I am a professor of Agronomy [Plant Breeding] with particular interests in soybean and millets improvement. My professional interest is to help improve agricultural production through research and crop breeding activities for the benefit of farmers and agriculture industry. I am interested in cyber-agricultural systems and their deployment in breeding and crop production.

Plant developmental biology, Shoot architecture, Functional genomics, Transposable elements

Plant Systematics and Evolution

Plant-environment Interactions, Systems Biology, Proteomics

Explore and develop novel technologies for plant genetic transformation and genome editing; study under-investigated plant species for basic and applied purposes; investigate the functional roles of Agrobacterium non-coding RNAs.

Plant Genome Evolution

Molecular Plant Pathology

Plant Genetics, Molecular Biology

We use genetics, genomics, computational modeling, phenomics as well as molecular and biochemical approaches to study the regulation of plant growth and drought stress responses by steroid hormone Brassinosteroids (BRs).

The focus of Yu’s program is to address significant questions in quantitative genetics by combining cutting-edge genomic technologies and plant breeding.

Mechanisms of cell wall polysaccharide biosynthesis and functional organization of glycosyltransferase complexes in Golgi. Polysaccharide compositional dynamics and cell wall-mediated stress responses.

Oluwatoyosi is from Nigeria, West Africa, and her research focus area is Molecular Plant-Microbe interactions, specifically on Nonhost resistance mechanisms. She is a member of The Bhattacharyya lab in the Department of Agronomy.

Ephraim is from Nigeria and is currently a ​Ph.D. candidate in Wang Lab, Department of Agronomy. His research focuses on understanding the genetic mechanisms involved in Agrobacterium host interaction.

Plant Biology

Megan DeTemple is from Salt Lake City, Utah. She studied biology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Currently, she is a first year PhD student in the IPB program doing lab rotations.

Brianna Griffin hails from Florida where she graduated from Florida State University in December 2017 with her B.S. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate studying Plant Biology with a specialization in Predictive Plant Phenomics, in Dr. Justin Walley’s lab. Her work focuses on the role of post-translational modifications in plant-pathogen interactions. She is also an Ambassador for the American Society of Plant Biologists.

Plant Biology, Plant-Pathogen Interactions, Plant Phenotyping

Plant Autophagy

Plant Biology

Samantha Snodgrass studies the genetic models of hybrid vigor and genome evolution across the genus Zea under Dr. Matthew Hufford. By understanding how evolutionary and population dynamics have affected the genome structure of maize and its wild relatives, and then relate those processes to phenotype, this research will provide important foundational information to plant domestication which can be used to improve existing crops or accelerate domestication of wild plants or orphan crops.

Cell Biology, Molecular Biology

Plant Cell Biology

Plant Cell Wall