2021 Plant Breeding Consortium Retreat

The Fall 2021 Plant Breeding Consortium Retreat will be hosted at the Turfgrass Field Lab; 3920 Dr. Bill Gilbert Way, Raleigh, NC 27603. Below is the retreat scheduled for Friday, October 22nd.

Schedule

2:00 Opening Remarks
2:10 Cultivar Releases: Session I (Moderator: Lena Wilson)

• Hudson Ashrafi, Assistant Professor, Blueberry Genetics & Genomics, Horticultural Science. ‘The current status of the blueberry breeding program at NC State‘
• Jeff Dunne:, Assistant Professor, Peanut Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Three NC Peanut Releases for the Virginia-type Market‘
• Gina Fernandez, John D. and Nell R. Leazar Distinguished Professor, Small Berries Breeding, Horticultural Science. ‘Von, Nantahala, Rocco and Liz‘
• Susana Milla-Lewis, Professor, Turfgrass Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Lobo^TM Zoysiagrass and XSA 11377 St. Augustinegrass‘

2:50 Lightning Talks Session I (Moderator: Jeff Dunne)

• Nicole Choquette, PhD candidate, Maize Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Selection works: case study #524 with tropical maize‘
• James Duduit, PhD student, Translational Genomics and Plant Bioengineering, Horticultural Sciences. ‘Coordinated Transcriptional Regulation of the Carotenoid Biosynthesis Pathway Genes Contributes to Fruit Lycopene Content in High-Lycopene Tomato Cultigens‘
• Daniela Miller, PhD student, Wheat Genomics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Genetic Control of Glaucousness in Winter Wheat‘
• Cassie Newman, PhD student, Peanut Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Tailoring Modern Genotyping and Phenotyping Techniques to Virginia-Type Peanut‘
• Lauren Redpath, PhD student, Blueberry Genetics & Genomics, Horticultural Science. ‘Genome-wide association mapping of fruit quality-related traits  in a diversity panel of blueberries‘
• Greta Rockstad, MS student, Turfgrass Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Introducing UAVs into St. Augustinegrass Drought Resistance Phenotyping‘
• Ashley Schoonmaker, PhD student, Bioinformatics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Assembly of a Reference Genome for St. Augustinegrass and Identification of Resistance to Gray Leaf Spot‘

3:25 BREAK
3:40 Cultivar Releases Session II (Moderator: Nico Lara)

• Matt Krakowsky, Associate Professor, Maize Breeding & Genetics, USDA-ARS. ‘NC524, NC526, NC528 and NC 530‘
• Vasu Kuraparthy, Professor, Cotton Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Germplasm enhancement through random mating in cotton‘
• Ramsey Lewis, Professor, Tobacco Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘NC 1226‘
• Tom Ranney, JC Raulston Distinguished Professor, Nursery & Bioenergy Crops Breeding, Horticultural Science. ‘Must-Have NC State Landscape Plants‘

4:20 Lightning Talks Session II (Moderator: Ramsey Lewis)

• Katie Sheehan-Lust, MS student, Small Berries Breeding, Horticultural Science. ‘A public-private partnership to uncover genetic treasures in Rubus‘
• Navin Shrestha, PhD candidate, Cotton Breeding & Genetics, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Cotton: Improving resistance to biotic stresses‘
• Mallory Simpson, MS student, Maize Disease Genetics/Maize Breeding & Genetics, of Entomology & Plant Pathology/Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Microbial Effects on Maize Seed Germination‘
• William Smith, MS student, Plant Molecular Biology, Crop & Soil Sciences . ‘A Novel Approach to Reducing Nicotine in Tobacco‘
• Trevor Walker, PhD candidate, Tree Genomics, of Forestry and Environmental Resources. ‘Genomic relationships improve within-family selection in loblolly pine‘
• Zach Winn, PhD candidate, Small Grains Breeding, Crop & Soil Sciences. ‘Imputation of Fusarium Head Blight QTL via Machine Learning and GBS Data‘
• Ashley Yow, PhD candidate, Plant Genetics and Nutritional Genomics, Horticultural Science. ‘Leveraging advanced genomic resources to understand the genetic mechanisms controlling flowering time in pineapple‘

4:55 Plant Breeding Club Updates: Nico Lara, President
5:00 Closing remarks
5:05 Q&A Happy Hour
5:30 Dinner