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Complementary Mutations: A Rollercoaster of Scientific Discovery

Author: Mollie Rappe

Foreground: grassland with native flowers. Background: three metal and tarp structures with dark clouds overhead.

Aug 28, 2020

New Grants Support Microbiome and Resiliency Studies

Christine Hawkes and Kevin Garcia recently received separate federal grants to study plant and soil microbiomes to understand how the soil captures carbon and how symbiotic root fungi help legumes get potassium. This research will improve the resiliency of agriculture. 
Foreground: grassland with native flowers. Background: three metal and tarp structures with dark clouds overhead.

Aug 28, 2020

New Grants Support Microbiome and Resiliency Studies

Two CALS researchers recently received grants from federal agencies to continue their work studying the communities of microorganisms that live on, in and near plants, also known as the plant… 
Josip Simunovic (left), Pablo Coronel, Michael Druga and Amanda Vargochik (right) at the 2015 Edison Innovation Awards.

Aug 3, 2020

The Economic Impact of Microwave Processing: From Greene County to Kenya

Josip Simunovic has a passion for improving the world. One food product at a time. His microwave processing technology to turn ugly produce into long-lasting puree has had a major economic impact on communities from eastern North Carolina to Kenya. 
Photo of Amy Grunden in NC State's Phytotron.

Jul 13, 2020

Grunden Named Assistant Director of NCARS

Amy Grunden, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Microbiology, was named assistant director for the life sciences for the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service (NCARS). She started in the position on July 13. 
Three different varieties of sweetpotatoes with different skin colors.

Jul 10, 2020

‘Map’ of Sweetpotato Genome to Improve Breeding Efforts

NC State scientists recently published a scientific paper that mapped the genetic locations of economically important traits in sweetpotatoes such as higher yield and disease resistance. Their genetic map may lead to breeding better sweetpotatoes. 
A sandy field of soybeans

Jun 30, 2020

Using Leaf Fungi to Improve Crop Resilience

An interdisciplinary team led by Christine Hawkes is identifying beneficial fungi found in five key crops with the aim of using them to help plants fend off diseases and tolerate drought stress. 
A group of students in a corn field as the sun sets. (From Summer 2019)

Jun 22, 2020

CALS Researchers Return to the Bench and Field

As NC State ramps up the Research Restart process, here’s how three researchers from across the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are returning to the lab bench and test field after time away due to COVID-19. 
Cupped hands hold poultry feed

Jun 18, 2020

Faculty Focus: Ferket Works with Companies to Improve Poultry Health and Growth

Peter Ferket has spent more than 30 years working with many companies in the poultry, feed and allied industries to improve poultry health, nutrition and production efficiency. 
A small white box on PVC pipe poles over plots of soybeans in sandy soil.

Jun 9, 2020

Low-Cost Cameras Could Be Sensors to Remotely Monitor Crop Stress

Researchers from CALS and COE, led by postdoctoral research scholar Paula Ramos-Giraldo, have worked together to construct a low-cost camera system to monitor crop stress remotely. Their StressCam will aid researchers, plant breeders and ultimately farmers. 
Seedlings with mutations in genes involved in making a plant growth hormone have curly cotyledons, the first two “leaves” of a plant shoot, or short roots. (Labeled seedlings on black)

Jun 3, 2020

Complementary Mutations: A Rollercoaster of Scientific Discovery

NC State researchers discover a new genetic mutation that could “fix” another mutation in the same gene, an enzyme involved in making a plant growth hormone — after a rollercoaster of ups and downs.