Tags: plant biology

image of biosensors (left) and Chris Dundas headshot (right)

UGA researchers build “living measuring sticks” to track impacts of engineered plants

RNA engineering has the potential to grow stronger, more resilient crops, but scientists still need to know how engineered plants impact their environment.  With $650,000 in new federal funding, University of Georgia plant biologist Chris Dundas is developing microbial biosensors—tiny environmental surveyors—to help answer that question.    Dundas's research team, along with Michigan State University chemical engineer and…
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How a Franklin researcher is combining AI and genetics to improve agriculture

Humans have participated in selective breeding for millennia to cultivate more resilient crops one generation at a time. Now, one UGA postdoctoral researcher is studying how machine learning can make the process exponentially more efficient.   Hongwoo Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at Franklin College of Arts and Science's Department of Genetics, researches how to use machine learning to guide DNA sequence manipulation for specific…
Sergio Bernardes and Vietnamese delegation at cemetery

UGA, Vietnam deepen partnership to recover missing war dead

When a government delegation from Vietnam visited the University of Georgia Aug. 12, members weren’t coming to see a single laboratory or one breakthrough technology.  Instead, they visited a university where historians, archaeologists, geographers, geologists, chemists, engineers, biologists, geneticists, and computer scientists are working together to solve one of the most difficult legacies of war: locating and identifying service…
plants in test tubes

$21.1M in research awards secured by Franklin faculty over summer 2026

More than $21 million in external research funding was secured by faculty in the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences during May, June, and July 2026.  The 31 awards from federal agencies, foundations, and industry partners underscore the breadth of Franklin's research enterprise and will support discoveries while providing new opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.  Among the largest…
Magdy Alabady with students in the greenhouse.

A carnivorous plant offers clues to one of biology's biggest questions

New research into a carnivorous pitcher plant is helping University of Georgia scientists understand one of biology's most challenging questions: how plants assemble and maintain stable, functioning microbial communities. The work could eventually help researchers design beneficial microbial communities for crops.  The research is moving microbiome science beyond simply cataloging microbes and their genes toward uncovering the genetic…
seedlings in globe

Franklin researchers receive prestigious award for environmental science study

Researchers from UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences have been recognized with one of the Ecological Society of America’s top honors in plant ecology and environmental science. Congratulations to Jill Anderson in genetics and the Odum School of Ecology, Megan DeMarche in plant biology, recent plant biology Ph.D. graduate Derek Denney, and their collaborators on receiving the 2026 W.S. Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America.…
summer in front of plants

First-generation Franklin Ph.D. candidate extends family legacy in plant science

In Covina, California, just outside Los Angeles, education shaped Summer Blanco’s family for generations. Her great-grandfather earned a bachelor’s degree in 1940, followed by her grandmother, mother, and siblings. Raised by a Tejano mother who works in payroll processing and a Nicaraguan father employed by a major airline, Blanco grew up in a household where college was expected. Graduate school had not yet been part of that path. Now, as a Ph…
Riley Thoen in front of tree

Ph.D. candidate Riley Thoen turns fieldwork into a mission to protect native species

Riley Thoen grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, in a family shaped by rural roots. Both parents were raised in farm country before choosing a more urban life. Thoen found a way to bridge those worlds, returning often to rural landscapes through fieldwork in plant ecology. “I was fascinated by the plant diversity in rural areas,” Thoen says. “But seeing those landscapes fragmented by agriculture sparked my interest in…
Justin in gray and red frame

2026 Franklin Ph.D. candidate explores mutations to build a more secure food future

Growing up in Sartell, Minnesota, Franklin Ph.D. candidate Justin Scherer developed an early appreciation for the natural world, shaped by his close-knit community and the surrounding landscape. What began as curiosity grew into a commitment to understanding how living systems work and how that knowledge can help address real-world challenges. After earning his B.S. in plant biology from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2021, Scherer will…
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Franklin College awards seed grants to stimulate multidisciplinary research and teaching

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences has awarded eight seed grants to support multidisciplinary research and teaching projects through its Rapid Interdisciplinary Proposal (RIP) and Innovation in Interdisciplinary Instruction (I-Cubed) programs and seven seed grants through its Research-Intensification System (RIS) program. RIP supports early-stage research through rapid idea generation, data collection, and team building. The I-Cubed…
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New research suggests 'unique duality' of wild and domesticated yeasts

New research from the University of Georgia suggests our familiarity with yeast traces back to the footsteps of our ancestors. Humans domesticated baker’s yeast as early as 7000 BCE to make bread, beer, wine and sake. However, wild varieties of the same yeast species also live on trees. These domesticated and wild yeast look different genetically, but UGA researchers wanted to explore possible links between the two: “Other studies had just…
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UGA plant biologist leads new advances in biotech

The evolutionary lineage leading to Amborella diverged from all other flowering plant lineages approximately 150 million years ago. In 2013, an international research team co-led by UGA Plant Biology faculty member Jim Leebens-Mack and collaborators announced the newly sequenced genome of the Amborella trichopoda plant became the foundation for comparative analyses of genes tracing back to the origin of flowering plants and earlier.…
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Ancestry of Sanford Stadium hedges goes into the lab

In a terrific story combining genome analysis, a love for the hedges and UGA history— a Franklin College faculty member and his students found that the same family of hedges have stood tall for nearly 100 years: Plant biology professor and hedges researcher James Leebens-Mack decided to sequence the genome of the Sanford Stadium hedges. His goal was to combine service-learning with his own areas of research, comparative genome biology and the…
photo of gloved hands with tube in lab with plant stem

Getting to the roots of climate solutions

As responses to climate change move toward adaptive solutions, plant genetics research faculty at the University of Georgia are seeking plant-based solutions. Some of these colleagues – from across campus, within and beyond the Franklin College – conduct studies at the cellular level, while others investigate plants as whole organisms. Still others are exploring how epigenetics shape entire ecosystems. And while a number of UGA geneticists…
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Schmitz receives Charles Albert Shull Award from American Society of Plant Biologists

University of Georgia faculty member Bob Schmitz was honored with the 2024 Charles Albert Shull Award from the American Society of Plants Biologists (ASPB). The award, initiated in 1971 by the Society to honor Dr. Charles A. Shull, is a monetary award made annually for outstanding investigations in the field of plant biology by a member who is generally under forty-five years of age on January 1st of the year of presentation, or is fewer than…
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Momany elected to American Academy of Microbiology

University of Georgia faculty member Michelle Momany is one of 65 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Microbiology, Class of 2024. Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced…
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Divisional Spotlight: Biological Sciences

Like the heart has four chambers, the Franklin College as the heart of UGA consists of five divisions. We want to begin the new year by highlighting this element of our organizational structure and the academic units contained in each division.  We begin today with the division of BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES! Spanning the broad field of natural sciences concerned with the study of life and living organisms, the Division of Biological Sciences…
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Focused on the fuel

Franklin College faculty and graduate students across the life sciences are engaged in bringing next-generation transportation fuels to market through a variety of ongoing research efforts. From  refinement of living organisms to breaking down sugars to release the energy in biomass, extraordinary researchers are developing new methods for displacing fossil fuels from the carbon budget. Our colleagues in the Office of Research share the…
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Research Q & A: Katrien Devos

Katrien Devos is Distinguished Research Professor with joint appointments in the University of Georgia’s departments of Crop & Soil Sciences and Plant Biology in the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (CAES) and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, respectively. Specializing in plant genetics, she also is a member of CAES’ Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics & Genomics. In this interview, she discusses her…
graphic with colored leaf detail and lines with scissors and notches

CRISPR enables plant biologists to engage grand challenges

New research from UGA plant scientists describe how CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology has a significant role to play in developing sustainable agriculture. The study and illustrations are featured on the cover of the August issue of the CRISPR Journal, which details how recent studies in the deployment of genome editing in trees are opening new avenues for sustainable forestry: The widespread success of CRISPR medicines in the clinic is…
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Bensasson uses yeast to unlock life’s greatest mysteries

What comes to mind when you think of yeast? To a baker, it might mean the ability to make their dough rise. A brewmaster might associate it with the fermentation of beer and wine. Many others may associate these types of fungus with one dreaded infection or another. Yeast serves many functions. For the University of Georgia’s Douda Bensasson, it’s all of these—and more. An associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts & Science’s…
photo of three people in a laboratory

Model mycology: UGA scientists fight fungi for the rest of us

It starts out with a cough and slightly slurred speech. Then come the muscle spasms and dramatic mood shifts. In HBO’s hit show “The Last of Us,” these are the beginning signs that a human has contracted a fungal infection that turns people into zombies and rips through the fabric of modern society. The premise may sound improbable, but it is based on a very real fungus that really does infect brains and bodies, turning its victims into mindless…
photo of woman in greenhouse, day

Chung studies how microbes shape ecosystems

University of Georgia plant biologist and ecologist, Anny Chung studies the smaller things in life to understand how microscopic organisms can influence entire ecosystems. As an assistant professor jointly appointed in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Plant Pathology and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Plant Biology, Chung studies how plant-microbe interactions…
graphic with hypodermic needles on red background

New vaccine targets life-threatening fungal infections

A new study from University of Georgia researchers describes a vaccine that could be the first clinically approved immunization to protect against invasive fungal infections, a growing concern as antifungal drug resistance increases:   The experimental vaccine is designed to protect against the three most common fungal pathogens that are responsible for more than 80% of fatal fungal infections. The study tested the vaccine’s efficacy…
pictorial diagram of fern leaf parts and sections, with text on white

Genome evolution in the modern fern

Defying all expectations, a fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the title for highest chromosome count, with a whopping 720 pairs crammed into each of its nuclei. This penchant of ferns for hoarding DNA has stumped scientists, and the intractable size of their genomes has made it difficult to sequence, assemble and interpret them. Two new papers published in the journal Nature Plants are rewriting history with the first full…
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