Summer has begun!!

 The 2021 watermelon field evaluation has been transplanted today, marking the official start of Summer! 

In a short time, this field will be thriving with delicious fruit.

As you can see from all the happy faces, it was a great day to be outside working in the field. This is Samikshya's first year getting to enjoy this experience.

Seeking Graduate Student

A graduate student position (MS or PhD) is available in our lab to do research on whitefly-transmitted virsus resistance in cucurbits. Interested parties should contact Dr. McGregor.

New Lab Member

 Welcome Samikshya Rijal! 

Samikshya graduated with a B. S in Agriculture Sciences from Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 2017 and a master’s degree in agricultural sciences from the University of New Hampshire in 2020. Her previous work involved marker-assisted breeding, and tissue culture. Her focus was QTL mapping for the flowering trait in strawberries. 

She will be continuing  work on gummy stem blight resistance in watermelon, as part of the CucCap 2 project (National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, award number 2020-51181-32139).

QTL and markers for selection of Gummy Stem Blight resistance in watermelon

 We just published a new paper in Theoretical and Applied Genetics describing QTL mapping of gummy stem blight resistance in watermelon. You can read more about it here.

 

New markers for selection fo flesh color in watermelon

In collaboration with Dr Geung-Joo Lee from Korea a new study was just published in Genes on PPR-derived markers for flesh color in watermelon. 

UGA Cucurbit Breeding

 Drs McGregor and Boyhan contributed to the  Vegetable and Specialty Crop News magazine. The article entitled Breeding Better Cucurbits appeared in the September issue of VSC News.

2020 Watermelon Field Evaluations

 We just finished our watermelon field evaluation for summer 2020. Due to Covid we did not have as many field plots as usual, at least we got something out of this season. Thanks for everybody's help with planting, trailing and harvesting.

Congratualtions Winnie!

Congratulations to Winnie for completing her Ph.D! She did an excellent job and we wish her all the best for the future. May all your dreams come true!

Informal (covid) Graduation Ceremony

At last - Field plots 2020!

Due to covid all our field trials were delayed and we scaled down our summer field plots significantly. But al last we were able to transplant some watermelon this week! As you can see we are all staying safe in the field!

Winnie Gimode (PhD student) is very excited that this will be her last watermelon field transplanting. She will be graduating in August.

And here is Sammy Josiah (PhD student) planting his first field experiment.

Reading suggestions during shutdown

If you are looking for something to read during the shutdown here are two great books for those interested in Plant Breeding and Genetics

Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding by Noel Kingsbury

She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer

Filling Pots is Fun!

The Greenhouse Team makes filling pots look like a lot of fun! Thanks for all your hard work keeping the greenhouses in top shape.

From left to right: Erin Gantt, Jarrod Smith, Jesse Kuzy, Ingrid Brindle and Jared Gilstrap.

Deciphering gummy stem blight : Team Effort!!!

Time for just one more screen before the year ends! We sowed seeds for our next big GSB screen in the greenhouse!

Dr McGregor co-authors publication on Fruit Shape and Size of Cucurbits

The paper Genetic Architecture of Fruit Size and Shape Variation in Cucurbits: a Comparative Perspective was just published in Theoretical And Applied Genetics

The joys of Pollination

One of the things we do every week is to pollinate watermelon flowers in our green house, and to enjoy the view of these flowers.

Plant Center Retreat in Helen, GA

McGregor Lab participated in the 2019 UGA Plant Center Retreat held in Helen, GA. Little Benjamin was not left out in the poster presentations!!!

PostDoctoral Position available

The Vegetable Breeding, Genetics and Genomics lab searches for an energetic and creative postdoc. The applicant will participate in cucurbit breeding and genetics for resistance to whitefly and whitefly transmitted diseases as part of a team in the southeastern USA. The applicant will work on identifying sources of resistance, resistance loci and genes, doing functional analysis of genes, and introgression of resistance into elite material. The candidate will work in collaboration with molecular biologists, plant pathologists, entomologists and extension faculty.

The position will start on 1 Oct 2019, but a later start is negotiable. We provide competitive salary, and benefits. Screening of applicants will begin immediately and applications will be considered until position is filled. Interested parties should submit their application at UGA Jobs (https://www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/106233), including a curriculum vitae (CV), a cover letter, statement of how your research interests are related to the interests of the lab, and contact information for 3 references.

UPDATE: This position has been filled.

Precious Cargo

We are currently working hard to identify squash resistant to whitefly transmitted viruses.

Potential resistant genotype (left) vs  susceptible genotype (right).

Transporting our precious leaf samples back to the lab.

UGA CAES part of extensive research study aimed at whitefly management

The McGregor Lab is part of a $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fight whiteflies on vegetable crops.

Another successful watermelon season!

Over the summer everybody in the lab worked hard in the watermelon fields. And of course we ate a lot of delicious watermelon!

Mathew Li Wins First Place in Young Scholar Oral Presentation Competition!

Over this summer our lab had the pleasure of hosting Stevenson High School student Mathew Li through the UGA CAES Young Scholar program. Mathew worked with one of our graduate students on determining the sporulation rates of various isolates of Stagonosporopsis fungi so that they can be used for phenotyping watermelon lines for resistance to gummy stem blight. Mathew’s work helped to identify 8 isolates with sufficient spore production for making GSB inoculum, as well as determining which species of Stagonosporopsis each of the isolates belonged to. Mathew took first place in the Athens division of the Young Scholar oral presentation competition, continuing the McGregor lab's tradition of victory in the Young Scholar program. We look forward to seeing great things from Matt and hope that he chooses UGA to continue his educational journey.