Plant Biology News | Plant Biology | The Huck Institutes (en-US)

A new program offered by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences will provide growers with knowledge that can help them succeed in the expanding market for microgreens. Credit: Francesco Di Gioia/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 09, 2024

New project to support microgreens producers with risk management education

Faculty members in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have launched a new project to help agricultural producers tackle the challenges of microgreens production.

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While the findings are preliminary, the work is a promising first step in finding new therapies against tuberculosis, according to the researchers. Credit: Mathias Katz/Unsplash. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 02, 2024

Plant compound used in traditional medicine may help fight tuberculosis

A compound found in African wormwood — a plant used medicinally for thousands of years to treat many types of illness — could be effective against tuberculosis.

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Francisco Dini-Andreote, assistant professor of plant science, was named the Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Sep 26, 2024

Plant scientist named Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology

Francisco Dini-Andreote, assistant professor of plant science in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, has been awarded the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology.

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In anaerobic soil disinfestation, after organic amendments are mixed in, the soil is irrigated to saturation and covered with impermeable plastic, as shown here, creating no-oxygen conditions that suppress weeds.

Sep 25, 2024

$1M USDA grant to perfect weed killing method in organic crop production

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a four-year, $1 million grant to a team led by plant scientists and an economist from Penn State to investigate anaerobic soil disinfestation to support transitioning from conventional to organic production systems.

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Nine faculty members were named the 2024 IEE Fellows. In the front row, from left, are Heather Preisendanz, Nilanjan Ray Chaudhuri, Li Li and Miriam Freedman. In the back row, from left, are Adri van Duin, Charles Anderson, Armen Kemanian, Siela Maximova, Enrique Gomez (Not pictured: Karen Fisher-Vanden) Credit: Kevin Sliman. All Rights Reserved.

Sep 13, 2024

Nine researchers named Institute of Energy and the Environment Fellows

Nine Penn State researchers have been named fellows of the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) for 2024. The program recognizes and assists the exceptional achievements and unparalleled research impacts of highly successful researchers in the areas of energy and the environment. Nominees for the fellowship were submitted by the University community.

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Aug 29, 2024

Research teams receive $1.1 million to study microbiomes in agriculture

Two Penn State-led research teams have received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for projects investigating the ways microbiomes — the microorganisms in a particular environment, such as in soil or a living organism — can affect disease dynamics in agriculture.

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Aug 20, 2024

Penn State students awarded USDA pre-doctoral fellowships for research

A Plant Biology trainee was among the ten Penn State graduate students awarded predoctoral fellowships by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture

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Aug 01, 2024

How duplicated genomes helped grasses diversify and thrive

Grasses cover about 40% of the Earth’s land surface, thriving in a multitude of environments. The evolutionary success of this plant family, which includes rice, maize, wheat and bamboo, likely results from a history of whole-genome duplications, according to a new analysis led by Penn State biologists.

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Jul 30, 2024

HGSAC Co-Chairs Awarded for Service

Outgoing graduate advisers Avery Sicher and Jessica Walnut recognized by Huck Institutes for their leadership efforts during the 2023-2024 academic year

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Jul 29, 2024

$1.7M grant continues support for graduate students studying gene regulation

Renewed support for a training program established at Penn State in 2018 ensures five additional years of funding for graduate students conducting cross-disciplinary studies of the mechanisms controlling where and when genes are used in cells.

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