Plant Biology Faculty

Only faculty affiliated with ILS are listed on this page.  Learn more about Plant Biology faculty. The Plant Biology Graduate Coordinator is Wolfgang Lukowitz (lukowitz@uga.edu).

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Alabady, Magdy

Magdy Alabady Associate Research Faculty Plant Biology Genomics and computational biology of plant – microbiome interactions, RNA post-translation regulatory networks, and genome characterization Website

Bar-Peled, Maor

Maor Bar-Peled Associate Professor Plant Biology Molecular cell biology of the wall, Biofuel and BioEnergy, Golgi as model for System biology, Plant Immunity. Website

Barb, Jessica

Jessica Barb Assistant Research Scientist Plant Biology Crop breeding and genetics. Website coming

Bensasson, Douda 

Douda Bensasson Associate Professor Bioinformatics; Plant Biology Genome bioinformatics, ecological and evolutionary genomics of yeast. Website

Brickman, Peggy

Peggy Brickman Professor Plant Biology Factors that motivate undergraduates to learn science; scientific literacy skill acquisition; and effective methods to provide instructional feedback. Website

Buell, C. Robin

C. Robin Buell Professor GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics Plant Biology, Bioinformatics Plant genome biology with a focus on crops and medicinal plants; Synthetic biology; Evolution of natural product biosynthesis Website

Burke, John

John Burke Distinguished Research Professor and Department Head Plant Biology Evolutionary genetics; molecular evolution; genomics. Website

Chang, Shu-Mei

Shu-Mei Chang Professor Plant Biology Evolutionary Ecology of flowering plants; Plant mating system evolution. Website

Dawe, Kelly

Kelly Dawe Distinguished Research Professor Genetics; Plant Biology Plant centromere and kinetochore structure and function. Website

DeMarche, Megan

Megan DeMarche Assistant Professor Plant Biology Plant evolutionary ecology; population dynamics; responses to climate change Website

Devos, Katrien

Katrien Devos Distinguished Research Professor Bioinformatics; Plant Biology Crop genetics, comparative genomics and genome evolution. Website

Dundas, Chris

Chris Dundas Assistant Professor Department of Plant Biology & Institute of Bioinformatics Using plant and microbial synthetic biology to study and design plant form/function, engineer plant microbiomes, and aid biological carbon sequestration. Website

Khang, Chang Hyun

Chang Hyun Khang Associate Professor Plant Biology Mechanisms of disease and immunity in the rice blast system; Fungal effector proteins; Nutrient uptake in fungi. Website

Leebens-Mack, Jim

Jim Leebens-Mack Associate Professor Plant Biology Phylogenetics, genetics of diversification including speciation; molecular basis of adaptation; evolutionary genomics; evolution of plant reproduction; organismal and molecular coevolution. Website

Lin, Xiaorong

Xiaorong Lin Professor Microbiology; Plant Biology Human fungal pathogens, sexual reproduction and development in fungal pathogenesis Website

Lukowitz, Wolfgang

Wolfgang Lukowitz Associate Professor Plant Biology Fertilization, and early cell-fate decisions in plant embryos. Website

Mohnen, Debra

Debra Mohnen Professor Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Complex Carbohydrate Research Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Plant Biology Biosynthesis and function of the plant cell wall polysaccharide pectin. Anti-cancer effects of pectin. Website

Momany, Michelle

Michelle Momany Professor Plant Biology Cellular and molecular biology of polar growth in fungi. Website

Nelms, Brad

Brad Nelms Assistant Professor Plant Biology Cell differentiation during plant reproduction, genomics and gene regulatory networks, single-cell RNA-sequencing, reprogramming cell fate Website

Paterson, Andrew

Andrew Paterson Regents Professor and Head, Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory Plant Biology; Genetics; Bioinformatics My unit’s work addresses dimensions of plant genome biology relevant toward a more bio-based economy, linking increased fundamental knowledge to improved human lives. Website

Peterson, Chris

Chris Peterson Professor Plant Biology Response and vulnerability of forests to natural (e.g. wind, fire) and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. salvage logging), and geographic patterns of disturbance severity. Website

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin

Kathrin Stanger-Hall Associate Professor Plant Biology; Adjunct Faculty in Entomology and the College of Education Phylogeny and Signal Evolution in Fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae); Science education research. Website

Trapnell, Dorset

Dorset Trapnell Assistant Professor Plant Biology Evolutionary biology and population genetics of natural plant populations, specifically evolutionary factors that shape patterns of genetic variation and mechanisms for partitioning and maintaining species-wide diversity. Website

Tsai, C.J.

C.J. Tsai Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Bioinformatics; Genetics; Plant Biology Growth-defense tradeoff, phenylpropanoid metabolism and carbon allocation, gene family evolution and functional diversification, alternative splicing and gene duplication. Website

van der Knaap, Esther

Esther van der Knaap Professor Genetics; Plant Biology The regulation of fruit shape and size of tomato and other Solanaceous crops Website

Ye, Zheng-Hua

Zheng-Hua Ye Professor Plant Biology Website