Baby Benjamin Gimode

Congratulations to Winnie and Davis on the birth of their son Benjamin Adili Gimode on May 17th 2019. 

Winnie shines in CAES Brodus Browne competition

Winnie Gimode was awarded the second place (Ph.D.) in the 2019 E. Broadus Browne Awards for Outstanding Graduate Research. The Broadus Browne awards are meant to encourage research creativity and effective communication among the more than 500 graduate students in the  UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The awards was presented at the 2019 Awards and Leadership Banquet on April 30th at the Georgia Center.

Dr. Allen Moore (CAES Associate Dean for Research), Winnie Gimode (2nd Ph.D.), Ruby Harrison (1st Ph.D.) and Dr. Josef Broder (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs).

Dr, Tim Smalley (Acting Dept Head - Horticulture), Winnie Gimode (2nd Ph.D), Will Hemphill (2nd M.S.), Mary Lewis (1st M.S), and Dr. Cecilia McGregor

Flourishing Greenhouse

The greenhouse is in full swing this spring! We have a multitude of watermelons ready to be harvested and some new additions this summer with the growth of green peppers!
Greenhouse workers and grad students have been constantly maintaining the greenhouse by pollinating and trailing the plants. As the watermelons grow, students bag them in order to maintain support on the vine until they are ready to be removed.

Dr. McGregor attends CucCAP meeting

Dr. McGregor visited Cornell on April 12 & 13, 2019 to attend the 4th annual CucCAP  team meeting at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, NY.

Large Plant Screening

A couple weeks prior to when the above images were taken, these plants were infected with pathogens in order to determine which were more susceptible to diseases. In the top image, graduate student Winnie Gimode is inspecting each plant individually. Her inspection requires her to apply a specific rating system which represents the severity of disease on the plants. This screening was a large scale experiment and was conducted in a greenhouse with controlled temperature and humidity levels.

Pathogen Inoculation Process II

A few weeks ago, we posted the inoculation process. This week we are showing the results of those inoculations! The top image shows growth after just a few days of inoculation. The bottom image was taken a couple weeks later showing the rapid growth of the pathogen over an extended amount time. As shown in the above images, the pathogens tend to grow radially. To promote the growth process, the petri dishes are set under fluorescent lights with 16h light and 8h darkness.

Pathogen Inoculation Process

Recently in the lab, workers have been preparing quarter strength potato dextrose agar (QPDA) and full strength potato dextrose agar (FPDA) in order to grow the pathogens. In the image above, graduate student Winnie is using petri dishes with the QPDA and inoculating the pathogen in a laminar flow hood. This process requires extreme care in order to prevent any contamination, hindering the pathogen from growing properly. The image below is after inoculation is complete. Over the next few weeks, graduate students will be monitoring their growth before moving on to the next steps.

Weekly Screening

Over the past few months, lab workers have been assisting graduate students with frequent screenings. This process includes infecting plants with pathogens in order to see which plants are more susceptible to disease and which are more resistant. Screenings are conducted in a controlled humidity chamber in order accelerate the growth process of the gummy stem blight.

Fusarium Incoculum (Disease Screening Preparation)

(Image above taken in October 2018)

In the lab, we have to do a lot of preparation over a period of time in order to conduct research. The above image shows a quick snapshot of that preparation. These are erlenmeyer flasks filled with fusarium incoculum. This was mixed on the shaker tables for an extended amount of time in order to prepare them for use in disease screenings.

SR-ASHS in Birmingham AL

Graduate students from the lab attended the SR-ASHS and the Watermelon Research Working Group in Birmingham AL this past weekend.
Jorge Reyes won third place in the Warren S. Barham Ph.D Graduate Student Paper Competition for this presentation entitled "Detection of the Gummy Stem Blight-Causing Pathogens (Stagonosporopsis spp.) in Watermelon Using Species-Specific LAMP Assays."
 Winnie Gimode won best overall graduate student poster, for the poster entitled "Fine mapping of a Major Quantitative Trait Locus Qdff3-1 Controlling Flowering Time in Watermelon." Winnie was also voted the 'audience favorite' for the paper presentation entitled "Identification of Quantitative Trait Loci Associated with Gummy Stem Blight Resistance in Watermelon."

Congratulations to Jorge and Winnie!

DNA Extractions

For the past few weeks in the lab, student workers and graduate students have been doing plant DNA extractions for marker development. You can see the small DNA pellet in the image!

Cucurbitaceae 2018

November was an exciting month as the lab members traveled to California to present their research at the Cucurbitacae Conference.

Dr. Cecilia McGregor giving her presentation on "Chromosomal Locations of Four Loci Controlling Watermelon Seed Coat Color", in California at the Cucurbitacae Conference in 2018.

Graduate student Winnie giving her presentation on fine-mapping and flowering time for watermelons at the Cucurbitaceae conference in 2018. 

Graduate students Reeve and Jorge also made posters and presented their research at the conference held at UC Davis.

Plant Center Fall Retreat 2018

Members of the lab attended the annual Plant Center Fall Retreat at Unicoi State Park. Reeve, Winnie and Jorge were among the approximately 100 graduate students and postdocs who presented poster at the event. Congratulations to all the participants and especially Winnie who won 1st prize for her poster entitled "Fine-mapping of a Major Quantitative Trait Locus Qdff3-1 Controlling Flowering Time in Watermelon."

The watermelon harvest season of 2018 is coming to a close and the McGregor Lab wants to express our sincere gratitude to our undergraduate workers for putting up with all of the mud, sweat, weeds, and bugbites that make our research possible!

Thank you for all of your hard work Christie, Emma, Jackie, Sam and Becca!

Field season in full swing

Summer is always a busy time in our program. Here is Jackie Do, one of our undergraduate students helping to make selections in the field for the breeding program. Doens't that look delicious!

Congratulations Marin!

Marin Lonnee won first prize at the CAES Young scholars poster competition (Athens) for her poster entitled "Evaluation of Gummy Stem Blight Resistance in Watermelon Using Stagonosporopsis spp. Isolates". Congratulations to Marin and her mentor, Winnie Gimode.

Marin, with her mentor, Winnie Gimode

Proud parents!

Marin presents her poster at the YSP conference

Marin Lonnee presented her poster at the UGA CAES Young Scholar Internship Program Pre-Collegiate Research Conference.  Marin carried out research with Winnie Gimode on the resistance of watermelon genotypes to specific fugal species and isolates that cause gummy stem blight in watermelon.

Summer Twilight Field Day

Twilight field day at the Durham Horticulture Farm in Watkinsville. We were excited to tell everybody about watermelon. Thanks to all who who came by and talked to us.

Graduation Patry for Lucky

Congratulations Lukcy!

Congratulations to Lucky Paudel for successfully defending his M.S. thesis entitled "Refining the Egusi Locus and Mapping of Seed Coat Color Genes in Watermelon". Lucky did a great job and we are all very proud of him!