Grey Monroe has received a CAREER Award for the Faculty Early Career Development Program from the National Science Foundation. Monroe is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. Monroe’s award expands on his recent work making breakthroughs in our understanding of genetic mutation in plants (published in Nature). This grant provides more than $1 million over the next five years.
Jorge Dubcovsky’s ground-breaking research on wheat genetics will receive an additional seven years of support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dubcovsky and team, in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, are looking for ways to make wheat less likely to spark allergic reactions in people – a condition that affects about 3 million Americans.
New lines of tomatoes are being made available for research, and they carry the pluck of a desert-dwelling distant cousin that could make future crops better able to thrive in heat and drought.
The African Orphan Crops Consortium launched with a lofty goal in 2013: to help scientists in Africa develop more nutritious, productive and resilient varieties of commonly used but rarely studied crops to improve public health.
Vincent L. D'Antonio, a long-time staff research associate in the former UC Davis Dept. of Vegetable Crops, died on Sept. 23 in Vacaville, Calif. He was 74.
Shuxiao “Susan” Zhang wants to figure out how pistachio trees can do such a good job dealing with drought and saline soil. And, did you know? Pistachio nut shells naturally split when they ripen! She’s trying to figure that out, too.
Doctoral student Marie Klein won the competition for best elevator talk describing her research at the recent annual meeting of the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, held in June in Asheville, N.C.
Mitchell Feldmann has been hired as an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and continues with the internationally prestigious UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program. His assistant professor position began this month.
Ten UC Davis students and postdoctoral researchers recently attended the annual Vegetable and Flower Conference of the American Seed Trade Association. They enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their research during poster sessions, hear speakers and network with people in the industry. More than 800 seed professionals from 33 countries attended.
Among those attending from the Department of Plant Sciences were: