Former HLA graduate student and post-doctoral research associate Dr. Fatemeh Sheibani, Professor Celina Gómez, and Professor Emeritus Cary Mitchell have co-authored an article entitled Phasic Environmental Optimization for Indoor-grown Baby and Leafy Greens Utilizing Crop-level Gas-exchange Analysis.
Anna Paltseva received the 2026 Emma Marie Antonie Täuber Award from the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) during the 23rd World Congress of Soil Science held June 7–12, 2026, in Nanjing, China. The award recognizes outstanding early-career contributions to soil science. During the congress, Anna presented her research, “Who Bears the Burden? Trace Element…Read more about Anna Paltseva Receives IUSS Early-Career Award for Soil Science Research[Read More]
Congratulations to Mearaj Shaikh, postdoctoral researcher in the Widhalm Lab, on receiving a Best Poster Award at the 2026 Phytochemical Society of North America (PSNA) Annual Meeting. Mearaj was one of eight awardees selected from 95 poster presentations. Mearaj’s poster highlighted research from a joint USDA project between the Dudareva and Widhalm labs focused on…Read more about Mearaj Shaikh Earns Best Poster Honors at PSNA Annual Meeting[Read More]
Celina Gómez recently traveled to Capitol Hill as part of her American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) Leadership Program, representing the organization in meetings with staff members from the offices of Representative Jim Baird, Senator Jim Banks, Senator Todd Young, and Representative Mark Messmer. During her visit, Gómez advocated for continued federal support of horticultural…Read more about Celina Gómez Advocates for Horticultural Research on Capitol Hill[Read More]
Members of the Hoagland Lab travelled to Wahington DC for the first ASM: Environment and Applied Microbiology Meeting. Shubham Dubey presented a poster and rapid fire presentation entitled: From Root Metabolites to SynComs: Microbiome-Based Strategies for Tomato Salinity Stress. Elisa Garcia presented a poster called: Did domestication disrupt root-to-shoot microbiome signalling in tomato? Comparing defense…Read more about Hoagland Lab Presented at ASM[Read More]
On May 13, the Purdue Center for Plant Biology (CPB), led by Director Josh Widhalm, hosted a research retreat, bringing together approximately 90 attendees for a day of research presentations, networking, and recognition. The retreat featured a poster session with 20 research posters and multiple talks including presentations by Freddie Mildenhall (Varala Lab) and Leo…Read more about Center for Plant Biology Hosted Retreat[Read More]
Former HLA Post-Doctoral Research Associate Dr. Gioia Massa and Professor Emeritus Cary Mitchell, along with collaborators from NASA, federal contractors, and aerospace industry, have published an article in BMC Plant Biology entitled Stress and light spectral quality influence the transcriptome of a tomato crop grown on the International Space Station. The article can be accessed…Read more about New Article from Dr. Gioia Massa, Dr. Cary Mitchell, and Collaborators[Read More]
Freddie Mildenhall (PhD student, Varala lab) won 1st place in the Graduate Student Speaking Award category at ASPB Midwest held at the University of Missouri! He also gave a lightning talk at the 2026 Corteva Plant Science Symposium that occurred one day before the ASPB meeting at the same location.
The Tomato Organic Management and Improvement (TOMI) project led by HLA Prof. Dr. Lori Hoagland collaborated with the Culinary Breeding Network to create a Tomato Zine for the general public. The zine highlights the history of the crop, introduces some basic botanical traits and culinary attributes, and explains how the TOMI project is working to help tomato…Read more about Dr. Lori Hoagland Collaborated to Create Tomato Zine[Read More]