University earns $20M for partnership to improve crop productivity
by Gillian Klucas | Research and Economic Development
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a $20 million, Nebraska-based research effort to improve crop productivity.
The Plant Diseases Across Nebraska 2017
The Plant Diseases Across Nebraska (PLPT 891) course took place June 5-9 with 14 enrolled students and was led by Tamra Jackson-Ziems and Sydney Everhart. This year’s class spent the week traveling to stops, such as Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, the UNL Plant & Pest Diagnostic Clinic, wheat diseases with Stephen Wegulo, UNL South Central Ag Lab near Clay Center, Schindler Ag Flying Service, O’Neill Ventures hydroponic tomatoes, Shamrock Nursery, Ziems Farm near Ewing, Lambert Melons near Chambers, and Rasmussen Christmas Tree Farm near Plainview.
Suzana Fernandes receives Masters Degree
Farewell to Suzana Fernandes. She is moving home to Mozambique. She received her Masters Degree August 2017. Her thesis title: Molecular and culture-based methodologies to pathogen in fungal/oomycete complex associated with root/crown rot of beans in Mozambique. Congratulations, Suzana!
Her advisor: James R. Steadman.
Dr. James Steadman received the Meritorious Achievement Award
Dr. James Steadman received the Meritorious Achievement Award presented by the Feed the Future Legume Innovation Lab at the Grain Legume Research Conference in Ouogadowgou, Burkina Faso. It is sponsored by USAID and The Gates Foundation.
Dr. Tamra Jackson-Ziems Promoted to Professor
Dr. Tamra A. Jackson-Ziems is promoted to Professor effective July 1, 2017. Dr. Jackson-Ziems earned her B.S. at the University of Central Arkansas in Biology in 1996; she continued with her M.S. at the University of Arkansas, in the Department of Plant Pathology, which she completed in 1999; and received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Department of Crop Sciences in 2005. She joined the UNL Department of Plant Pathology as an Assistant Professor in April 2005.
Postdoctoral Associate Position in Plant Biotic Interactions
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in Dr. Lirong Zeng’s lab in the Center for Plant Science Innovation (PSI) and the Department of Plant Pathology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (http://plantpathology.unl.edu/lirong-zeng). The Zeng lab utilizes a combination of molecular, biochemical, genetic, and genomic approaches to understand the mechanistic basis underlying plant immunity against microbial pathogens.
Graduate Research Assistantship Available
The Plant-Virus Interactions Lab at The Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is seeking highly motivated, goal oriented candidates for a Ph.D. graduate research assistantship. Our research program is focused on molecular mechanisms of plant-virus interactions. The successful applicant will be part of a team working on the molecular mechanisms of antiviral defense, virus replication, and their interactions.
Rich Wilson earns $570,000 grant to study fungal growth in rice cells
Lincoln, Neb. — Richard Wilson, associate professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has earned a $570,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, which causes rice blast disease. Rice blast is a global food security threat that causes a 10 to 30 percent reduction in annual rice yields.
Lirong Zeng promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure
Lirong Zeng is promoted to Associate Professor with tenure effective July 1, 2016. He received a BS in Agronomy from the Hunan Agricultural University and a MS in Biochemistry from the Zhongshan (Sun Yat-Sen) University, China. In 2005 he earned his PhD in Molecular Plant Pathology from the Ohio State University. He then did his postdoctoral research at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University with Gregory B.
Becky Higgins Named Recipient of Outstanding Employee Award
Becky Higgins, research technologist in the Department of Plant Pathology, has been named a recipient of IANR’s 2015 Third Quarter Outstanding Employee Award.
Higgins balances her time between two laboratories in the Department of Plant Pathology. She focuses on fungal pathogens in the laboratory of James Steadman, and works with plant-parasitic nematodes in the laboratory of Thomas Powers. She manages this transition daily with no drop-off in productivity.