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]
Anna Paltseva recently published a new study in PLOS ONE analyzing 1,290 soil samples across Lafayette, Louisiana, showing that urban soil contamination is highly patchy and strongly influenced by land use, with localized hotspots rather than widespread risk. The findings underscore the importance of site-specific soil testing to better inform urban agriculture and public health…Read more about New Article from Anna Paltseva[Read More]
The Nemali Lab has published a new article in Frontiers in Plant Science. The research was conducted by graduate student, Sangrak Son, with Drs. Lori Hoagland, Amanda Deering, and Jin Wei-Kocsis as committee members. Nutrient release and yield comparison between customized organic and conventional fertilizers in hydroponic lettuce production.
Dr. Avtar K. Handa and his colleagues published a new refereed publication: Meza-Ortega, E.A.; Handa, A.K.; Tiznado-Hernández, M.E.; López-Guzmán, G.G.; Peña-Sandoval, G.R.; Ochoa-Jiménez, V.A.; Berumen-Varela, G. Integrative Bioinformatic, Transcriptional, and Enzymatic Analysis Reveals Differential Regulation of Rhamnogalacturonan Lyase During Postharvest Ripening of Soursop (Annona muricata L.) Varieties. Agronomy 2026, 16, 323.
Former HLA graduate student and postdoctoral Research Associate Dr. Fatemeh Sheibani, Professor Celina Gómez, Michigan State Professor Erik Runkle, and Professor Emeritus Cary Mitchell have published a research article in JASHS entitled Interaction of far-red radiation and CO2 concentration at moderate total photon flux density stimulates biomass accumulation in young leaf lettuce.