Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, & Genomics at University of Georgia

Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, & Genomics at University of Georgia Institute faculty conduct research and train graduate students in modern plant breeding & genomics.

Institute faculty conduct research and train graduate students in modern plant breeding methodology and technique – including applying genetic and genomic tools to cultivar (variety) development.

🌱🍇Tomorrow begins the Fall 2026 IPBGG Student Seminar Series! Achyut will be starting the series off with his presentati...
09/09/2026

🌱🍇Tomorrow begins the Fall 2026 IPBGG Student Seminar Series! Achyut will be starting the series off with his presentation entitled “Protecting grapes from the mummy’s curse”!

🍓🌱🧬The third speaker in our Student-Led Seminar Series will be hosted by the Athens campus and was organized by PhD stud...
09/02/2026

🍓🌱🧬The third speaker in our Student-Led Seminar Series will be hosted by the Athens campus and was organized by PhD student Annie Pavia. Dr. Dan Laspisa’s career research goal is to understand the relationships between genomic variation, environment, and phenotype for complex traits and apply this to crop improvement. In early 2025 he was hired by Driscoll’s as a subtropical plant breeder in Florida where he is engaged in the development of globally adaptable berry varieties and advancing the integration of predictive breeding and high throughput phenomics.

🌱🧬The IPBGG had a lot to celebrate during August!Sindoora Nalajala (Chu Lab) for 1st place in fruit breeding oral compet...
09/01/2026

🌱🧬The IPBGG had a lot to celebrate during August!

Sindoora Nalajala (Chu Lab) for 1st place in fruit breeding oral competition at the recent ASHS annual meeting

Gaurab Bhattarai (Conner Lab), whose published paper from his dissertation won the “Outstanding Fruit Publication of the Year” at the same meeting

TifTuf - the Wayne Hanna-Brian Schwartz Bermudagrass that came in 2nd in the 2026 “Coolest Thing Made in Georgia”.

Finally, CAES held its 2nd annual competition last Friday. IPBGG was ably represented by Anita Giabardo and Andrew Marchetti. The first place award in the PhD division went to Anita Giabardo (Buell Lab).

Congratulations to all!🏆

👕🌱Plant breeding is an art, and so is tie dyeing t-shirts! Tifton students had a fantastic time displaying their artisti...
08/31/2026

👕🌱Plant breeding is an art, and so is tie dyeing t-shirts! Tifton students had a fantastic time displaying their artistic abilities at their tie dye t-shirt event!

🌶️🫑Our second external seminar series speaker, taking place Thursday 8/27, will be hosted by the Tifton campus and was o...
08/26/2026

🌶️🫑Our second external seminar series speaker, taking place Thursday 8/27, will be hosted by the Tifton campus and was organized by PhD student Rachel Hill. Dr. Dennis Lozada is an assistant professor at New Mexico State University, where he leads the Chile Pepper Breeding and Genetics program, the longest running program for the improvement of Chile pepper in the world. The primary objectives of Dr. Lozada’s program are to develop superior varieties and improve Chile pepper production in New Mexico using tools such as marker-assisted selection, genomic prediction, genetic mapping, and high-throughput phenotyping.🧬

Tomorrow is our first journal club of the Fall 2026 semester! The journal club is open to everyone in the IPBGG communit...
08/20/2026

Tomorrow is our first journal club of the Fall 2026 semester! The journal club is open to everyone in the IPBGG community - students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and staff.

🍕 Pizza and snacks will be provided at all locations.

Host: Zack Myers (Clevenger Lab)
Topic: Can we finally unlock recombination in cold spots?
Article: Gamboa et al. 2026: The deSUMOylase SPF2 and the cohesin regulators SGO2 and CTF18 suppress crossovers near centromeres (Nature Plants).

We hope to see you there!

🍑Our Fall 2026 Student-Led Seminar Series begins today! The Griffin campus welcomes José X. Chaparro, with the event org...
08/20/2026

🍑Our Fall 2026 Student-Led Seminar Series begins today! The Griffin campus welcomes José X. Chaparro, with the event organized by PhD student Cynthia Anukege 🥑

Dr. José X. Chaparro is a Professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida whose research focuses on fruit breeding and genetics in citrus, peach, and avocado. His research primarily focuses on disease resistance and adaptation to subtropical climates, while his work in peach and citrus utilizes interspecific hybridization to introduce novel traits.

🏆As July 2026 comes to an end, the IPBGG would like to celebrate these accomplishments from our hard working students an...
07/31/2026

🏆As July 2026 comes to an end, the IPBGG would like to celebrate these accomplishments from our hard working students and faculty! Congratulations to all!🌱

Achyut (Conner Lab) received a Traditional Scholarship award from the American Society of Enology and Viticulture to support his work on muscadine

Ashmita (Clevenger Lab) won 1st place in the Joe Sugg PhD oral competition at the recent APRES annual meeting in Puerto Rico.

Daniel (Bertioli Lab) won 2nd place in the Joe Sugg PhD oral competition at the recent APRES annual meeting in Puerto Rico.

David Bertioli was elected Fellow of APRES

Soraya Leal-Bertioli and David Bertioli won the Bailey award for the best paper presented at APRES

Josh Clevenger was elected Fellow of APRES. Josh is a Hudson-Alpha faculty member, and an adjunct faculty member in the IPBGG

🏅Introducing our 2026 IPBGG John IngleInnovation in Plant Breeding Award winners!🌱Khyathi MadduruEmily BetenivaluSindoor...
07/20/2026

🏅Introducing our 2026 IPBGG John Ingle
Innovation in Plant Breeding Award winners!🌱

Khyathi Madduru
Emily Betenivalu
Sindoora Nalajala

These awards are in the form of small grants and are administered by the University of Georgia Research Foundation/Innovation Gateway to foster the development of novel plant breeding approaches to overcome cultivar development challenges, and to provide students and postdocs with an opportunity to hone their grantsmanship skills. Congratulations to our three award recipients!

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111 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA
30602

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+17065425607

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