1st and 2nd oral presentation winners at 103rd APS-SD Meeting
Congratulations to Alexi Dong and Dan Matusinec for earning first and second place, respectively, in the Graduate Student Oral Competition at the 2026 American Phytopathological Society Southern Division Meeting in Athens, GA. Their presentation titles were:
“Raiders of the lost traits: unearthing wild defenses against peanut early leaf spot”
“Potential new sources of stem rot resistance from wild peanuts”
Alexi will go on to represent APS‑SD at the National APS Conference in Rhode Island with her presentation on ELS resistance!
March, 2026
Article Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
We have a new perspective piece published in PNAS – Reviving Vavilov’s Vision: The Tragedy of Biodiversity Governance and Principles for Reform. This article uses stories, emotional resonance, and (most importantly) rigorous analysis to show that current biodiversity governance—though well intentioned—has ended up undermining what it was supposed to support. We then use some foundational philosophy, the shared norms of science and open societies, to propose Principles for Reform and a way forward.
Read the article full here!
December, 2025
Visit from The Georgia Peanut Commission
Don Kaehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission, visited the UGA Wild Peanut Lab to tour the facilities and learn about our ongoing research. During his visit, he observed a bioassay currently testing peanut lines for stem rot resistance.
October, 2025
APS Plant Health I.E. Melhus Graduate Student Symposium and Lightning Talk Winner
Congratulations to Alexi Dong who was awarded the opportunity to present her research entitled “Arachis Assemble: Recruiting New Heroes for Peanut Early Leaf Spot Resistance” in the I.E. Melhus Graduate Student Symposium at the 2025 APS Plant Health Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. She also competed in the student lightning talk competition, and was awarded first place!
August, 2025
IPBGG John Ingle Innovation in Plant Breeding Award
Congratulations to Danielle Essandoh who awarded the 2025 John Ingle Innovation in Plant Breeding Award for her project entitled “High-Throughput Image-Based Phenotyping of Leaf Spot Resistance in Peanut Lines Derived from IAC 321 x [(A. magna x A. diogoi) 4x].”
July, 2025
Wild Peanut Lab Featured in New York Times
During the Mars Wrigley delegation’s visit, New York Times reporter Kim Severson joined to learn more about the research efforts underway. Her resulting article highlights Mars’ investment in developing the next “perfect peanut,” featuring the UGA Wild Peanut Lab as one of the research groups supported through this initiative.
Read the full NYT article here
July, 2025
57th Annual APRES Meeting Awards
Congratulations to Samuele Lamon who won third place at the Joe Sugg Ph.D. oral presentation competition at the 57th American Peanut Research and Education Society meeting in Richmond, VA.
Congratulations to Soraya Leal-Bertioli who received the Corteva Agriscience Award for Excellence in Research.
July, 2025
Visit from Mars Wrigley delegation
Mars Wrigley delegation visited and toured the UGA Wild Peanut Lab (Athens, GA)
May, 2025
2nd Place E. Broadus Browne Research Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Research
Congratulations to Dan Matusinec for winning 2nd place in the E. Broadus Browne Research Awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Research! This is a competitive award with nominees from each department in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and is given to students who demonstrate both research creativity and effective communication. Dan’s research focuses on identifying stem rot resistance in wild peanuts, so that we can develop new stem rot resistant peanut cultivars.
March, 2025
2025 New Peanut Line Release
RBS-226C possesses strong resistance to rust derived from the wild species A. batizocoi. Currently, the only peanut rust resistance available in the market is derived from A. cardenasii, and therefore, amenable to being overcome by the pathogen. This is the first time A. batizocoi is used to produce lines with rust resistance. This line also has cultivated peanut-like traits: good architecture, yield comparable to the best local varieties, and partial resistance to other foliar diseases.
March, 2025
2025 IPBGG Spring Retreat
Dr. Soraya , Alyr, Dan, Namrata, Ama, and Milli attended the 2025 IPBGG Spring Retreat. Dan, Alyr, and Namrata all presented posters and competed in the annual poster session. A special congratulations to Dan for being awarded 2nd place in the PhD Division!
March, 2025
The Glenn & Helen Burton Feeding the Hungry Scholarship Award
Congratulations to Emile Barnes for being awarded The Glenn & Helen Burton Feeding the Hungry Scholarship Award.
December, 2024
2024 UGA Global Food Security Forum
September 16, 2024
Dr. Soraya Leal-Bertioli, Namrata Maharjan, Ama Essandoh, and Milli Avosa attended the 2024 UGA Global Food Security Forum – hosted by the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. Dr. Soraya presented an invited talk and Namrata presented a poster. This forum had delegates from 11 different countries and focused on extension outreach and building collaborations to better global food security.
1st place FFAR Fellow 2024 Lightning Talk Competition
July 30, 2024
Congratulations to Samuele Lamon who won the first place at the 2024 FFAR Fellow Lightning Talk Competition.
IPBGG John Ingle Innovation in Plant Breeding Award
Congratulations to Daniel Matusinec who awarded the John Ingle Innovation in Plant Breeding Award for his research aiming to harness novel resources for Southern Stem Rot resistance outside of the cultivated peanut primary gene pool.
July 23, 2024
1st and 2nd oral presentation winners at 56th APRES meeting
Congratulations to Emile Barnes (first from left) and Alexi Dong (second from left) who won first and second place respectively at the Joe Sugg Ph.D. oral presentation competition at the 56th American Peanut Research and Education Society meeting in Oklahoma City, OK.
July 11, 2024
Visit from Mars Wrigley delegation
Mars Wrigley delegation visited the UGA Wild Peanut Lab (Athens, GA)
June 21, 2024
M. Terry and Elizabeth S. Coffey Graduate Fellowship Recipient
Congratulations to Emile Barnes who awarded the UGA M. Terry and Elizabeth S. Coffey Graduate Fellowship.
Spring, 2024
3rd Place Graduate Student Paper at the 2024 Georgia Association of Plant Pathologists
Alexi Dong, a doctoral student in the Department of Plant Pathology, was awarded third place in the graduate student oral presentation competition at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Plant Pathologists (GAPP)
May 29, 2024
2023 Plant Pathology Graduate Student Publication Award
Yun-Ching “Wendy” Tsai, a post-doc in the Department of Plant Pathology, was awarded the 2023 Graduate Student Publication of the year award 2024 Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Plant Pathologists (GAPP)
May 29, 2024
2024 Faculty Research Excellence Award
Soraya Leal-Bertioli, senior research scientist and PI of the UGA Wild Peanut Lab, has been selected for the 2024 Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award.
March 29, 2024
The Economist: Letters to the editor
David Bertioli, GRA/GSD Distinguished Investigator & PI at the UGA Wild Peanut Lab, corresponds with The Economist. Read full article here
March 21, 2024
2023-24 Peggy Ozias-Akins Leadership in Science Scholarship Award
January, 2024
Samuele Lamon, a doctoral student in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has been selected for the 2023-24 Peggy Ozias-Akins Leadership in Science Scholarship Award. Link
Wild about peanuts – using crop wild relatives to improve today’s crops
Some crop breeders at the University of Georgia Wild Peanut Lab released a new disease-resistant variety of peanut thanks to help from the crop wild relative. Read full article here
September 22, 2022
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut African Groundnut Breeders Workshop in Saly, Senegal
David Bertioli and Soraya Leal-Bertioli participated to Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut Workshop. The Lab was established in 2018 thanks to the cooperation of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the University of Georgia.
September 3-5, 2022
UGA CAES News & Events – CAES student selected for FFAR Fellows program
Samuele Lamon, a doctoral student in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has been selected for the 2022-25 cohort of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Fellows program. Read full article here
August 25, 2022
UGA CAES News & Events – Peanut innovation projects under way in Uganda
Scientists, students and advisors working on Peanut Innovation Lab projects in Uganda met in late May for a launch meeting in Kampala to celebrate the start of work and share questions and insight about the direction of projects. Read full article here
July 3, 2019
UGA CAES News & Events – UGA peanut researchers win accolades for international impact
Peanut researchers from the University of Georgia met with hundreds of peanut scientist from around the world to discuss the international impact of peanut research and to recognize top researchers. Read full article here
July 18, 2019
UGA CAES Media NewswireBreeding – Powerful Traits into Peanut Varieties
Peanut’s oldest known relatives held some secret defenses in their genes when South American farmers first crossed the two wild species around 8,000 years ago to create the modern peanut. Read full article here
July 3, 2019
The NY Times – Grow Faster, Grow Stronger: Speed-Breeding Crops to Feed the Future
Plant breeders are fast-tracking genetic improvements in food crops to keep pace with global warming and a growing human population. Read full article here
June 17, 2019
USDA (ARS) – Peanut Genome Sequenced with Unprecedented Accuracy
Led by University of Georgia researcher David Bertioli, the effort is a continuation of the “International Peanut Genome Initiative” and involve scientists from four ARS laboratories and other partner organizations in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, China and India. Read full article here
May 1, 2019
Science Daily – Peanut Genome Sequenced with Unprecedented Accuracy
Scientists undertook this large project to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin the peanut plant’s growth and development, as well as the expression of desirable traits. Read full article here
May 1, 2019
Growing Georgia – UGA Researchers help to identify “the Mother of Peanut”
Researchers working as part of the International Peanut Genome Initiative have previously pinpointed one of the peanut’s two wild ancestors and shown that the peanut is a living legacy of some of the earliest human agricultural societies in South America. Read full article here
May 1, 2019
PHYS ORG – Peanut Genome Sequenced with Unprecedented Accuracy
Led by University of Georgia researcher David Bertioli, the effort is a continuation of the “International Peanut Genome Initiative” and involve scientists from four ARS laboratories and other partner organizations in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, China and India. Read full article here
May 1, 2019
UGA Today – UGA Researchers help identify “the Mother of Peanut”
Working to understand the genetics of peanut disease resistance and yield, researchers led by scientists at the University of Georgia have uncovered the peanut’s unlikely and complicated evolution. Read full article here
May 1, 2019
Seed Today – University of Georgia crop geneticists receive grants to aid in production
The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded University of Georgia (UGA), Athens, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) plant breeders almost $1 million in grants this fiscal year to produce improved cotton and peanut varieties. These plant breeders have been tapped to make Georgia’s most profitable row crops more sustainable and productive. Read full article here
Aug 16, 2018
UGA Awarded $935K to Breed Softer Cotton, More Resilient Peanuts
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) plant breeders almost $1 million in grants this fiscal year to produce improved cotton and peanut varieties. Read full article here
Jul 24, 2018
The Red & Black
Scientist of the week: Soraya Bertioli’s peanut research leads to lower production cost, less insecticides. Read full article here
Feb 18, 2018
UGA Today – Peanut genetic expert joins CAES as first Distinguished Investigator
David Bertioli, a world-class expert in the genetics and genomics of peanut species, will join the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences as a professor and the university’s first Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator. Read full article here
Jul 17, 2017
Georgia Research Alliance
MEDIA NEWSWIRE – Partnership between UGA and Georgia Research Alliance brings new peanut genetics expert to Georgia. Read full article here
Jun 1, 2017
Nature – Decoding the ancestors of peanut
Cultivated peanut has a large, complex genome, so obtaining its entire sequence is challenging. Denovo assemblies of two diploid ancestor genomes provide high-quality reference sequences for decoding allotetraploid peanut genomes, and will become valuable resources for breeding and evolutionary studies. Read full article here
Apr 5, 2016
Genes of Ancestral Peanuts May Help Feed the World
Researchers have sequenced the genome of peanuts and its ancient cousins, which could lead to disease and drought-resistant varieties. Read full article here
Mar 28, 2016
Scientists use peanut ancestors to sequence the legume’s genome
By analyzing the DNA of two wild ancestor species of the modern peanut, scientists have been able to chart the popular legume’s genetic history and to help improve its yield and nutrition in the future. Read full article here
Mar 23, 2016
Researchers trace peanut crop back to its Bolivian roots
Athens, Ga. – Researchers at the University of Georgia, working with the International Peanut Genome Initiative, have discovered that a wild plant from Bolivia is a “living relic” of the prehistoric origins of the cultivated peanut species. Read full article here
Feb 22, 2016
Daily Mail – Tracing the birthplace of the peanut
“Living relic” plant reveals the popular snack originated in ancient Bolivia. Read full article here
Feb 22, 2016
Peanut genome is sequenced
Mapping was done with two ancestral species; information can help in the search for more resistant varieties. Read full article here (portuguese)
Feb 22, 2016
Utilization of wild species for broadening the genetic diversity of peanut
Plant Breeding and Genetics Seminar. Cornell University. February 9, 2016. Watch video here
Feb 9, 2016
The peanut genome – making a better peanut
A group of scientists representing nine countries have sequenced the peanut genome. What does that mean for peanut producers. Read full article here
Jul 8, 2014
AOCS – Peanut Genome Sequenced
The International Peanut Genome Initiative (IPGI) – a multinational group of crop geneticists who have been working with The Peanut Foundation – announced on April 2, 2014, that they have successfully sequenced the peanut (groundnut) genome. Read full article here