BGRI and Global Wheat Health Alliance seed grants support student-led research on rust, Fusarium head blight and wheat blast
Seven students from six U.S. universities have been selected as the first recipients of the Translational Wheat Health Seed Grants from the Global Wheat Health Alliance and Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI).
The projects target stem, leaf, and stripe rust, Fusarium head blight, and wheat blast, diseases that can wipe out large shares of a harvest and keep evolving to overcome disease resistance bred into modern wheat varieties. The students will identify new resistance genes and develop better ways to screen for disease, and three will work directly with researchers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Canada, and Mexico.
The grants are part of the Global Wheat Health Alliance, an international effort to connect gene discovery, field testing and breeding so that farmers get disease-resistant varieties sooner. The BGRI coordinates the competitive grants program at Cornell University.
“We need wheat breeders and pathologists who can work across borders, and the best way to train them is to give students ownership of problems breeding programs care about right now,” said Maricelis Acevedo, BGRI director of science and a research professor in Cornell’s School of Integrative Plant Science. “Each of these seven projects will deliver something a partner can put to use, and that’s how better wheat ends in farmers’ fields.”
The program provides two types of awards: Focused Seed Grants of up to $10,000 for student-led research, and Translational Team Grants of up to $20,000 for student projects conducted in partnership with national agricultural research programs or CIMMYT. Both emphasize results that can inform breeding decisions, improve disease monitoring, or provide practical tools for wheat improvement.
Focused Seed Grant Recipients
Anju Maan Ara, a Ph.D. student in plant pathology at Oklahoma State University, will investigate two winter wheat varieties — Orange Blossom CL Plus and OK Corral — that become resistant to stripe rust as mature plants despite susceptibility as seedlings. Genetic analysis and field trials in the United States and Ethiopia will help identify the resistance genes and develop molecular markers.
Keunha Kim, a Ph.D. student in genomics, phenomics and bioinformatics at North Dakota State University, will investigate promising leaf rust resistance genes derived from wild relatives of wheat. The project characterizes these underutilized resistance sources and develops diagnostic molecular markers to help breeders incorporate them into new wheat varieties.
Jennifer Owiyo, an undergraduate biological sciences student at Cornell University, will investigate resistance to Fusarium head blight, a disease that reduces wheat yields and contaminates grain with harmful toxins. Using genome-wide association studies, the project will identify genetic variants that could help breeders develop more resistant wheat varieties.
Sven Sierra, a master’s student in plant breeding and plant genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, will study genetic factors that influence the effectiveness of Lr34, a gene providing durable disease resistance in wheat. The findings could help breeders strengthen resistance to leaf rust, stem rust and stripe rust.
Translational Team Grant Recipients
Israel Oluwatomide Akinlabi, a Ph.D. student in plant science at South Dakota State University, will pair two decades of wheat breeding and disease records from Kenya with genetic analysis to identify promising sources of stem rust resistance. In partnership with CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Akinlabi will develop resources to help breeders select and combine resistance genes in future wheat varieties.
Susmita Sigdel, a Ph.D. student in plant pathology at the University of Georgia, will investigate whether fungal strains associated with turfgrass and oats could pose an emerging threat to wheat. In partnership with CIMMYT, the project will identify resistant wheat varieties and investigate plant defense mechanisms to inform future wheat blast-resistance breeding.
Subash Thapa, a Ph.D. student in plant breeding and genetics at South Dakota State University, will refine the smartphone-based tool WheatAI that uses artificial intelligence to rate Fusarium head blight severity and grain damage. With CIMMYT researchers in Mexico, Thapa will validate WheatAI so breeding programs can score disease more accurately and consistently.
